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Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo

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Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black CargoIn 1927, Zora Neale Hurston went to Plateau, Alabama to interview eighty six year old Cudjo Lewis. Of the millions of men, women, and children transported from Africa to America as slaves, Cudjo was the only person alive to tell the story of this integral part of the nation's history. Hurston was there to record Cudjo's firsthand account of the raid that led to his capture and bondage fifty years after the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed in the

In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston went to Plateau, Alabama to interview eighty-six-year-old Cudjo Lewis. Of the millions of men, women, and children transported from Africa to America as slaves, Cudjo was the only person alive to tell the story of this integral part of the nation's history. Hurston was there to record Cudjo's firsthand account of the raid that led to his capture and bondage fifty years after the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed in the United States.

In 1931, Hurston returned to Plateau. Spending more than three months there, she talked in depth with Cudjo about the details of his life. During those weeks, the young writer and the elderly formerly enslaved man ate peaches and watermelon that grew in the backyard and talked about Cudjo's past: memories from his childhood in Africa, the horrors of being captured and held in a barracoon for selection by American slavers, the harrowing experience of the Middle Passage packed with more than 100 other souls aboard the Clotilda, and the years he spent in slavery until the end of the Civil War.

Based on interviews featuring Cudjo's unique vernacular and written from Hurston's perspective with the compassion and singular style that have made her one of the preeminent American authors of the twentieth century, Barracoon masterfully illustrates the tragedy of slavery and of one life forever defined by it. Offering insight into the pernicious legacy that continues to haunt us all, black and white, this poignant and powerful work is an invaluable contribution to our shared history and culture.

Edited and with an introduction by Deborah G. Plant, and with a foreward from the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award-winning author Alice Walker, the publication of Zora Neale Hurston's Barracoon is a literary event for students, academics, and every reader.

Freshman Common Read: Howard University



Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Amistad Press
Published: 05/08/2018
ISBN: 9780062748201
Pages: 208
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.80w x 0.80d

Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 12/01/2017
Kirkus Reviews 03/15/2018
Publishers Weekly 03/26/2018
Library Journal 05/01/2018 pg. 78
Booklist 05/15/2018 pg. 4
Shelf Awareness 06/15/2018
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SKU: 55008138080

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Louisville, US
★★★★★ 5
Stevens wrote, "She sang beyond the genius of the sea." He did the same.
Format: Kindle
Thank you to the publisher for an ebook copy of Stevens' work. My ancient paperback copy is now retired. As for the poetry: my respectful suggestion is to read it and not feel obliged to understand it. Reading a poem isn't a contest you have to win. Let the music of the words wash over you. Float. You don't have to bring anything to this party except your willingness to be surprised, the way you're sometimes surprised, on waking, by a dream you had. Happy reading, whatever you choose to read.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2018
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Amazon Customer
Houston, US
★★★★★ 5
Corrected and cleaned up, Stevens shines
Format: Paperback
The corrections to the text of the 1954 Collected Poems are worth paying for, but the attractive, highly readable typeface and layout make this collection pleasantly readable as well as compelling. Stevens is one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century, and in his corporate pin-stripe portliness he is also an inspiration to all of us basically nerdy, tweedy, non-Beat types who hope we possess a tiny spark of poetic genius. Romantic and post-romantic poetry is an argument between imagination and reality, and no one clarifies the terms of that argument better than Stevens.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2015
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Jolene Carpenter
Pawtucket, US
★★★★★ 5
Excellent
Format: Paperback
Great poet
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Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2026
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Alicia Pevensie Lavere
West Palm Beach, US
★★★★★ 5
Linus's blue blanket
Format: Hardcover
Even though I'm reading the hardcover, I wrap the wonderful, wise words of W.S. Merwin around me. His poems infuse my life with an even keener sense of appreciating the "now." His words keep me in constant contact with my sense of responsibility for our planet. He's an inspiration for taking action to preserve, conserve, and plant trees, as well as recognizing the magnitude of the impact that each being carries. The geese, all animals, relationships, taking better care of the earth and each other, as well as experiencing the sorrows and the joys in life. He is dedicated to the craft of poetry and its vital role of importance in our lives. I wish I could thank him in person, but since that's not realistic, I will continue to do my best to honor him in my own way, by taking time to observe, experience, appreciate, write, take action, and reflect upon the beauty in the world and making the most of each moment. Carpe Diem!
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Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2019
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Jon. Yungkans
West Palm Beach, US
★★★★★ 5
What Merwin Thought Represented Him Best
Format: Paperback
If one volume could sum up adequately W.S. Merwin's artistic development and illustrate his place in American literature with some justice, "Migration" does the job. At least as importantly, it gives us the poet's own opinion on the poems for which he might want to be remembered, much as Nathaniel Tarn inspired Pablo Neruda to do in the selection of Neruda's poems that Tarn oversaw. I bought "Migration" at roughly the same time as and and cross-referenced his selection from those titles in "Migration" against the whole. While I still have one or two favorites that did not make the cut, I found the choices he made consistently better-inspired and more timeless than the poems that surrounded them (though overall Merwin has remained a consistent and astonishingly fine craftsman throughout his career). For those who want to go further back than Merwin's more recent books for Copper Canyon Press should not be disappointed.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2016

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