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Author Latham, Irene, author.

Title African Town : inspired by the true story of the last American slave ship / Irene Latham & Charles Waters ; introduction by Joycelyn M. Davis.

Publication Info. New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2022.
©2022

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Location Call No. Status
 Avon Free Public Library - Teen  TEEN LATHAM, I.    Check Shelf
 Avon Free Public Library - Teen  MIDDLE-SCH NUTMEG 2025 LATHAM    In Processing
 Avon Free Public Library - Teen  MIDDLE-SCH NUTMEG 2025 LATHAM    In Processing
 Avon Free Public Library - Teen  MIDDLE-SCH NUTMEG 2025 LATHAM    In Processing
 Berlin-Peck Memorial Library - Teen  YA HISTORY LATHAM    Check Shelf
 Bloomfield at the Atrium  TEEN LATHAM, I.    Check Shelf
 Bristol, Main Library - ON-ORDER (not available yet)    On Order
 Bristol, Manross Branch - Young Adult  YA LATHAM    Check Shelf
 Canton Public Library - ON-ORDER    On Order
 Canton Public Library - Teen  TEEN FICTION LATHAM    DUE 04-16-24

Description 438 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm.
Preteens lcdgt
Teenagers lcdgt
Audience Ages 14-18. G.P. Putnam's Sons.
Grades 9-12. G.P. Putnam's Sons.
Summary Chronicles the story of the last Africans brought illegally to the United States on the Clotilda in 1860.
1859. The transatlantic slave trade has been banned for more than fifty years, and the South is facing the threat of a civil war. Timothy Maeher resents the government interference in his right to make a living. Making a bet that he can smuggle enslaved Africans into the United States without being caught, he commissions the Clotilda, and brings back 110 African captives. Among them are Abilè, Gumpa, Kêhounco, Kossola, and Kupolee, who survive the voyage and arrive in Alabama still clinging to the hope of one day returning home. -- adapted from jacket
In 1860, long after the United States outlawed the importation of enslaved laborers, 110 men, women and children from Benin and Nigeria were captured and brought to Mobile, Alabama aboard a ship called Clotilda. Their journey includes the savage Middle Passage and being hidden in the swamplands along the Alabama River before being secretly parceled out to various plantations, where they made desperate attempts to maintain both their culture and also fit into the place of captivity to which they'd been delivered. At the end of the Civil War, the survivors created a community for themselves they called African Town, which still exists to this day. Told in 14 distinct voices, including that of the ship that brought them to the American shores and the founder of African Town, this powerfully affecting historical novel-in-verse recreates a pivotal moment in US and world history, the impacts of which we still feel today.
Contents Introduction / by Joycelyn M. Davis -- Home is where the story is -- Dreams and schemes -- Life interrupted -- Ouidah -- Voyage to America -- Mobile swamplands -- Enslaved -- When war comes to town -- The truth about freedom -- African Town -- Life is but a dream -- Author's note -- Voices -- More about the characters -- Africatown today -- Selected time line -- Glossary -- Poetry forms/styles -- Learn more about the shipmates, the Clotilda, and African Town.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 433-435).
Awards Winner of the 2023 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.
Subject Black people -- Africa -- Fiction.
Clotilda (Ship) -- Fiction.
Novels in verse.
Novels in verse (OCoLC)fst01039786
Genre/Form Fiction (OCoLC)fst01423787
Novels in verse.
Subject YOUNG ADULT FICTION -- Historical -- United States -- Civil War Period (1850-1877)
Genre/Form Novels in verse (OCoLC)fst01921724
Subject Africatown (Ala.) -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction.
Clotilda (Ship) (OCoLC)fst01663160
Black people (OCoLC)fst00833880
Slave trade (OCoLC)fst01120405
Africa -- Fiction.
Genre/Form Historical fiction (OCoLC)fst01726640
Young adult works (OCoLC)fst01726790
Subject Slave trade -- Fiction.
Novels in verse.
Genre/Form Historical fiction.
Young adult fiction.
Subject YOUNG ADULT FICTION -- People & Places -- United States -- African American & Black.
Clotilda (Ship) -- Fiction.
Africa -- Fiction.
Genre/Form History (OCoLC)fst01411628
Subject Africa (OCoLC)fst01239509
Chronological Term 1800-1899
Subject Black people -- Africa -- Fiction.
Local Subject Trafficking in enslaved persons -- Fiction.
Subject YOUNG ADULT FICTION -- Novels in Verse.
Genre/Form Historical fiction.
Added Author Waters, Charles, 1973- author.
Davis, Joycelyn M., writer of introduction.
Other Form: Online version: Latham, Irene. African Town. New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, [2022] 9780593322895 (DLC) 2021041738
ISBN 9780593322888 (hardcover)
0593322886 (hardcover)
9780593322901 (paperback)
0593322908 (paperback)
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