Barracoon

What a journey. What a story. What a life.

I wrote in my last review that I don't remember the last time it took so long to read a book. Then, I devoured this one in a single Sunday morning.

In recent weeks, race and systemic racism have been part of nearly every conversation. It's as if with the death of a Black man in 2020, a nation's eyes opened to the sins of hundreds of years. 

I saw so many people sharing lists of books that white people should read to understand the plight of people of color in our communities. I wonder, how many people actually bought and read those books? For how many people is this more than something novel to post on social media, then move back into our privilege?

But, buried in one of those lists, this man's eyes caught my breath. I had never heard of this book or this story. On the day our local library opened back up for pickup, Barracoon was ready on my list.

The man with the shining eyes was born Oluale Kossola in West Africa. Along with many in his village, he was captured and sold into slavery in America. At the time he told this story in 1928, he was the last living person to have been brought as a slave to America. 

By the time he was telling his story, a free man for decades the community he and other freed slaves built in Alabama, Kossola was living by the name Cudjo Lewis. He had lived several more lifetimes by then; as a slave, then a free man, then a husband, then a father. The book tells his stories in his dialect and you can feel the pain and glory through his words.

His story isn't just about slavery, but about life in Africa before he was captured. It also reveals history not often told, of African kings raiding villages to kidnap people to sell into slavery. 

Kossola spent his life yearning for Africa, even after building his life in AfricaTown. There are times as he's recalling the stories of his life that he is so consumed and transformed by the memories of the raid that altered his life forever, that the author leaves him be. 

There is some triumph here, too, when you read about the work these freed slaves did to build their own homes and lives and community. But, Kossola's story is proof that the wounds of slavery and loss are far too deep for most of us to ever imagine. This man endured so much loss, even long after he lost his freedom.

This is a remarkable read and a story nearly lost to history. For reasons explained in the afterword, the manuscript sat for 80+ years before being published. 

As the author met with Kossola for the last time, she asked to take his picture. He put on a suit jacket and left his feet bare, saying he wanted it to resemble Africa, where after all these years, he still wishes he could be.

This is a powerful, compelling, haunting and important read. Now, of course, given the conversations. But, always.