slothbecca's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Slavery
Moderate: Child death
tamaralgage1's review against another edition
3.0
So this is an interesting but short story told by one of the last African brought to America as a slave about 1859. I liked the stories he told of the power struggles between tribes and their way of life. Certainly, I would have like to learn more ... but, the book spent too much time discussing the research by the author which I was less interested in reading.
It's probably not a book I would recommend. But, I am glad that I read it.
It's probably not a book I would recommend. But, I am glad that I read it.
sarful's review against another edition
4.0
Absolutely fascinating story of Cudjo (Kossula)’s life from Nigeria as a captive, to the US as a slave, to an African trying to live his life and have his family. So much of this was heartbreaking as he recounts his life and capture by the neighboring tribe in Africa. How greed and apathy towards human life led to his and countless other Africans’ lives by Africans and by whites.
Cudjo is more of a refugee than anything else. He dearly wishes to go home, but the cost is too high. He joins with other Africans to form a home of Africa in America. He’s not an American, doesn’t identify as, nor do black Americans treat him and his family as such. Which tells of prejudice by black Americans, but it’s never addressed by Hurston. He is a refugee and it’s a story I’ve never read before, as this is not a slave narrative and has no political objective.
Hurston sets out to tell the story, through his own words, of the last black cargo. She wants to preserve the history of African Americans and she does with this account. It’s not thorough, but it’s concise. We don’t have the stories of all those who were stolen, enslaved and “freed” without a cent to call their own. Yet, with this, we can glean an idea of this one man who lived and in it we have a voice, a face and a name to the experience so disgusting in US history of slavery.
Definitely worth the read.
Cudjo is more of a refugee than anything else. He dearly wishes to go home, but the cost is too high. He joins with other Africans to form a home of Africa in America. He’s not an American, doesn’t identify as, nor do black Americans treat him and his family as such. Which tells of prejudice by black Americans, but it’s never addressed by Hurston. He is a refugee and it’s a story I’ve never read before, as this is not a slave narrative and has no political objective.
Hurston sets out to tell the story, through his own words, of the last black cargo. She wants to preserve the history of African Americans and she does with this account. It’s not thorough, but it’s concise. We don’t have the stories of all those who were stolen, enslaved and “freed” without a cent to call their own. Yet, with this, we can glean an idea of this one man who lived and in it we have a voice, a face and a name to the experience so disgusting in US history of slavery.
Definitely worth the read.
emkellreads's review
4.0
"All these words from the seller, but not one word from the sold. The Kings and Captains whose words have moved ships. But not one word from the cargo. The thoughts of the 'black ivory,' the 'coin of Africa,' had no market value. Africa's ambassadors to the New World have come and worked and died, and left their spoor, but no recorded thought."
Barracoon is that - the recorded thought of a man who was turned into property by not only his white buyers but also his black countrymen who sold him.
Kossola, or Cudjo as he was named when he became a slave, has his own voice in this book and I highly recommend listening to it.
Barracoon is that - the recorded thought of a man who was turned into property by not only his white buyers but also his black countrymen who sold him.
Kossola, or Cudjo as he was named when he became a slave, has his own voice in this book and I highly recommend listening to it.
rick2's review against another edition
4.0
The actual book is very short and quite interesting. Cudjo lived one hell of a life. Full of sorrow and pain.
However, the editors notes and extended introduction was petty and frustrating.
However, the editors notes and extended introduction was petty and frustrating.
pamiverson's review against another edition
4.0
Ms. Hurston was an anthropologist before she was a novelist, and this is an example of her bringing both skillsets together. Written in the 1930's but published only recently, she tells of interviewing an old man, the last survivor of the slave trade (he was captured and brought to this country decades after slave trade was outlawed). A very human account.
colin_cox's review against another edition
5.0
This past semester, like most semesters, I taught Booker T. Washington’s Up From Slavery. It’s a seminal entry in the slave narrative genre, and for many of my students, it's an emotional tale that reaffirms certain foundational assumptions about what America, when at its best, can be. This is an oversimplified reading of Washington, but one that’s all too familiar from first-year students. Even after studying smart critiques of Washington, many students cling to a reading of him as a figure who articulates significant and optimistic ideas about what America represents, instead of seeing him as a smart, well-intentioned yet complicated and potentially shortsighted figure.
Given a chance, I would ask future students to read Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon as a response to Washington. In this short but affecting text researched and written in 1927, Hurston articulates Langston Hughes’ “dreamed deferred” in harrowing detail. Barracoon tells the story of Cudjo Lewis or Kossola, a captive of the last slave ship to make the transatlantic journey from Africa. Repeatedly, Kossola voices his desire to return to Africa instead of remaining displaced in a country that has little room (both figurative and literal) for him. Unlike Up From Slavery, Kossola’s story is not one of triumph and success; it doesn't speak to the enduring spirit of a people and a place. Instead, Hurston leaves her reader with this singular, isolated figure who “In spite of his long Christian fellowship...is too deeply a pagan to fear death” yet remains “full of trembling awe before the altar of the past” (94). As Hurston suggests, it's a past brimming with the worst sorts of violence and objectification. Of course, it's a violent past that didn't begin in America, even if America is where the worst of it reached its zenith.
Given a chance, I would ask future students to read Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon as a response to Washington. In this short but affecting text researched and written in 1927, Hurston articulates Langston Hughes’ “dreamed deferred” in harrowing detail. Barracoon tells the story of Cudjo Lewis or Kossola, a captive of the last slave ship to make the transatlantic journey from Africa. Repeatedly, Kossola voices his desire to return to Africa instead of remaining displaced in a country that has little room (both figurative and literal) for him. Unlike Up From Slavery, Kossola’s story is not one of triumph and success; it doesn't speak to the enduring spirit of a people and a place. Instead, Hurston leaves her reader with this singular, isolated figure who “In spite of his long Christian fellowship...is too deeply a pagan to fear death” yet remains “full of trembling awe before the altar of the past” (94). As Hurston suggests, it's a past brimming with the worst sorts of violence and objectification. Of course, it's a violent past that didn't begin in America, even if America is where the worst of it reached its zenith.
amh007's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.0
A fascinating piece of scholarship. I am very glad I read it.
leigh_reidelberger's review against another edition
5.0
This is such a powerful story.
There are moments in history we like to think we understand and know about, like the slave trade, slavery in America, when the slaves were 'freed', but so much of that history has been condensed to focus on the highlights. Most people will never be exposed to the personal narratives and experiences, like those written about in Barracoon.
Hurston does an excellent job of sharing Cudjo's story. She writes it in his dialect and that makes the story all that more powerful, like you can really hear him tell his story.
There are moments in history we like to think we understand and know about, like the slave trade, slavery in America, when the slaves were 'freed', but so much of that history has been condensed to focus on the highlights. Most people will never be exposed to the personal narratives and experiences, like those written about in Barracoon.
Hurston does an excellent job of sharing Cudjo's story. She writes it in his dialect and that makes the story all that more powerful, like you can really hear him tell his story.