Joycelyn Davis knows firsthand of the importance of preserving family history, especially family “stories,” as from a child her listening ears could follow the windward waves that transported her ancestors from the shores of Africa, across the Atlantic’s Middle Passage, and then to the waters of Alabama where they were secretly swept. 

 Joycelyn Davis

In towns packed with high interest stories but small populations, many locals become part of the collage of faces used to open the town’s heart to others. Near Alabama’s Mobile River is Africatown, also known as Plateau. Within the heart of Africatown, is Joycelyn Davis, one of the residents helping unfold this hamlet’s spirited history. Joycelyn has been interviewed by various reporters and authors, has been a National Geographic panelist, and, recently appeared on 60 minutes with other Africatown residents to discuss the town’s environmental issues with Anderson Cooper.

During one of her conversations with Dignity Justified, Joycelyn shared childhood memories - including walks with her dad, who “was so into history” and who repeatedly advised: “You need to know about your history.”  During many of their walks, they visited family historian, Lorna Woods and listened to her stories about the lives of their African descendants. As a child, Joycelyn looked forward to family activites, especially the drumming which took place during family festivals held in the community known as Lewis Quarters. There was warmth and delight in her voice upon saying, “One of my great memories is picking black berries for my grandmother when she made blackberry cobbler for me.”  

The town was founded around 1866 and has a population of approximately 2000 people. Many are descendants of the 110 African men, women, and children kidnapped from West Africa, transported aboard the schooner Clotilda, and enslaved in Alabama 52 years after international slave trade was outlawed in the US.

After Emancipation, the road to the regaining of freedom and liberty for the Africans did not lead back to Africa, which was their hearts’ longing. The former Clotilda captives instead pooled funds and ideas and purchased land from former owners. Together, they built a self-governing, African-tradition based community for themselves – naming it “Africa Town” to honor their homeland. They laid the foundation of cultural history by telling the stories which were passed down through generations. While descendants held on to those treasured stories, many outsiders viewed them as possible folklore.

Kazoola “Cudjo Lewis, has been the most well-known Clotilda captive, as he was interviewed, filmed, and written about by cultural anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston starting in 1927.  “I am a direct descendant of one of the captured African men, Oluale, who was given the slave name ‘Charlie.’ He was also called ‘Big Poppa’ and was one of the founding members of Africatown. People know a lot about Cudjoe Lewis, but I also want people to know more about Charlie Lewis and the Lee, Allen, Keeby and other descendant families,” Davis said. She also noted that many of the other ancestors were not only written about but were also illustrated in a 1914 book by Emma Langdon Roche, a native of Alabama.

In 2018, the community organization C.H.E.S.S and other Africatown supporters gathered at the Mobile County Training School to discuss ways to formally celebrate the town’s heritage. The local planning was successful, and the decision was made to organize a festival

Then in April 2018, the small town was propelled into worldwide interest when the slave ship’s wreckage was reportedly located by Ben Raines and The University of Southern Mississippi. This was confirmed by the Alabama Historical Commission in 2019.  

The Africatown story continues developing thanks to collaborative efforts of the National Park Service, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) Slave Wrecks Project, SEARCH, Inc., National Geographic, and others. Locating and detailing the history of the sunken schooner that is the last known vessel to have transported enslaved Africans to America, has become an international, collaborative effort. As for the story’s unfolding on the streets of Africatown, I am willing to bet that someone has emphatically remarked: “Well, we told you so.”

Inspired by her family, books she has read, and a ‘call to action’ feeling after meeting Mrs. Elliott with Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, Jocelyn Davis has immersed herself into her personal responsibility as a descendant of the Africans. “I want people to know about the ship because it’s a part of the history, but I want them to know about the stories of our descendants from Africa who survived and worked together and built this town. They were survivors, and we want to honor them. I grew up here, went to the school and attended the church they started,” she says with the confidence of a community leader. She also adds, “I also want young people in the town to continue to be involved because it will be their responsibility to pass on our history. Responsibilities will be passed on to them just as they have been passed to me.”

In February 2021, for Africatown’s third annual festival, virtual audiences will be able to hear the stories and to learn about the Alabama Africans and their descendants. This year, the festival’s focus will be on the women who survived. “We want their stories told, too. They also helped build the town that still stands today,” said Joycelyn.

Festival: February 13, 2021 @ 1:00 CST

2021: Spirit of Our Ancestor’s Festival, “Women of Worth-Honoring & Celebrating Women of the Clotilda” Keynote speaker—Dr. Durkin a professor at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, who has identified “Last Clotilda Descendants.”

2020: Spirit of Our Ancestors Festival: Keynote speaker—Dr. Deborah G. Plant presented information on her New York Times 2018 best-selling book Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo.”  The book is a result of the unpublished manuscript Zora Neale Hurston.

2019: Spirit of Our Ancestors Festival: Keynote speaker—Natalie Robertson author of The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Making of Africatown, USA: Spirit of Our Ancestors, which chronicles the smuggling of Africans into Alabama in 1860 by wealthy Alabama businessmen.