Olualê Kossola: The Words of the Last Enslaved Black Man

In this seminal work by the author of Their Eyes Saw God , Olualê Kossola: The Words of the Last Enslaved Black Man brings the powerful account of one of the last survivors of the Atlantic slave trade brought to the United States.

In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston traveled to the Plateau community in Alabama, near Mobile, to interview Cudjo Lewis, who was 86 years old. One of the millions of men, women, and children enslaved in Africa and brought to the United States, Cudjo was the only person alive to tell an important part of the country's history. Hurston was there to record firsthand Cudjo's—or Olualê Kossola, his African name—account of the attack that led to his capture and enslavement, 50 years after the United States outlawed human trafficking.

In 1931, Hurston returned to Plateau, the African community nearly three miles from Mobile founded by Cudjo and other formerly enslaved people from his ship. Spending more than three months there, she had in-depth conversations with Cudjo about the details of his life. During those weeks, the young writer and the elderly formerly enslaved man ate peaches and watermelons growing in his yard and discussed Cudjo's past: memories of his childhood in Africa, the horrors of being captured and taken to a barracks to be chosen by slave owners in the United States, the harrowing experience of crossing the Atlantic with more than a hundred other souls aboard the Clotilda, his years as a slave until the end of the Civil War, and life afterward.

Based on these interviews, featuring Cudjo's unique language, and written from Hurston's perspective with the compassion and singular style that made her one of the most prominent American authors of the 20th century, Olualê Kossola: The Words of the Last Enslaved Black Man masterfully illustrates the horrors of Black enslavement. Offering insight into the pernicious legacy that still haunts American society, this moving and powerful work is an invaluable contribution to our history and culture.

“A profound impact on the literary legacy of Zora Neale Hurston.” - The New York Times

“One of the greatest authors of our time.” - Toni Morrison