The last survivor of the transatlantic slave trade in the United States

Wreck of the slave ship Clotilda. Image from the book Historic sketches of the South written by Emma Langdon Roche, 1914.
Wreck of the slave ship "Clotilda". Image from the book "Historic sketches of the South" written by Emma Langdon Roche, 1914 - the ship name spelling was mistaken in the publication. 

Her name was Matilda McCrear and she came to America at age 2. The Yoruba girl was captured and enslaved with her mom and a sister by the army of the Kingdom of Dahomey. 

Cudjoe Kazoola Lewis recounted the Dahomey warriors raid to his town to Emma Langdon Roche:

They were aroused from slumber and in a few minutes death or captivity was upon them; even the infants were torn from their mothers' breasts and carried away. Those who were not killed were overpowered. Dahomey's Amazons vanquished the most stalwart men and bound them as captives.

The Dahomeyans cut off the heads of their dead victims, leaving the bodies where they had fallen. The heads were to be taken home as evidence of individual valor and as trophies to be hung on the Dahomey huts.

Little Matilda was transported in the ship Clotilda, the last reported vessel to brought slaves from Africa to the US. His captain, William Foster, got 125 slaves at Whydah for $100 each. He wrote in his diary:

Having agreeably transacted affairs with the Prince we went to the warehouse where they had in confinement four thousand captives in a state of nudity from which they gave me liberty to select one hundred and twenty-five...

Having to depart in a hurry, Captain Foster only took 110 slaves on board. 

Matilda McCrear ended in Mobile, Alabama. Her mother and sister were sold away, and the girl didn't see them anymore. Matilda died in 1940. 

Prior to the research from 2020, Redoshi was thought to be the last survivor of the Clotilda and of the transatlantic slave trade to North America.

Photos of Matilda and Redoshi in the article: Last victim of the transatlantic slave trade discovered.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chekika: Forgotten spot of Everglades National Park close to Miami

Image
During our last visit to Chekika ( map ), we found closed roads and dilapidated buildings. This was our fourth time here. Little by little, nature is coming back. Wilderness taking over what was always its property.            The closed entrance to the Grossman Hammock -  License our images here .   Everglades National Park closed indefinitely the Chekika Day Use Area in 2013. They claimed budget constraints. One year later, Chekika was on the news when a juvenile Nile crocodile was removed from the area - the animal was captured in a canal north from the Grossman Hammock. Two others were caught in 2009 and 2012 further to the east. You know the script with invasive species: they escaped, or someone released them.  The Everglades already have the mighty Pythons running wild. I don’t want to imagine the River of Grass ruled by “man-eaters” crocodiles that can reach up to 17 feet. That would be madness. 
More »

Google search and the little blog

Image
Many small websites are going dark like the sands of the desert at nightfall -  License our images here .   Little blogs are dying. They are jailed in a dark and remote dungeon of Google organic search, the non-index dungeon. The mighty gatekeeper, like Saturn , is devouring its children. Betrayed for money, the good old-fashioned blogs are the collateral damage of their "helpful" content update. Long gone is that 2004 when Loren Baker wrote: Google likes Blogs. Blogs do well in Search Results Listings on Google. This is because Blogs contain fresh content and are richly interlinked, despite their relatively small audiences. Some would go so far as to say that Google over-represents Blogs. (Source:  What if Google didn't like blogs? ") That's ancient history. A jump to 2022 shows a different picture. According to Sandy Maguire: The Internet is dominated by a few big websites. Out of social, the amateur opinion is vanished. (Source: " Why Is the Web So Monoto
More »

Ernest Hemingway's "Oklahoma": "All of the Indians are dead (a good Indian is a dead Indian)"

Image
Page of an edition of "Three Stories & Ten Poems" from Ernest Hemingway.  Here we go with Hemingway poetry. Harsh. But we know what to expect from his sharp journalistic prose and  iceberg theory .  "Oklahoma" was published in 1923 in Three Stories & Ten Poems   - affiliate link to Amazon . The name says it all: the "Oklahoma" of the Choctaw language - means "red people" -, and Oklahoma the state seen through its genesis, the Indian Territory .  American Indians or Native American - whatever suits you, but many of them prefer the first name - in their new way of life.   Now to the poem.  All of the Indians are dead (a good Indian is a dead Indian) Or riding in motor cars— (the oil lands, you know, they’re all rich) Smoke smarts my eyes, Cottonwood twigs and buffalo dung Smoke grey in the teepee— (or is it myopic trachoma) The prairies are long, The moon rises, Ponies Drag at their pickets. The grass has gone brown in the summer— (or is it
More »