A review by jiyoung
Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston

4.0

Published posthumously, Barracoon is the collection of interviews Hurston conducted with Cudjo Lewis, at the time the last known survivor of the last known slave ship to come to the US. Cudjo, originally named Kossola, was captured by the Dahomey people and sold/shipped off to America. This is the story of his life, starting from the traditions and politics of his forefathers all the way through his capture and travails in enslavement. Hurston preserves Cudjo’s speech by spelling out his accent and vernacular as separate from standard English; this book is thus a vessel of Cudjo’s oral storytelling. Very interesting and heartbreaking snapshot of history from the perspective of a jovial, resilient man.