Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Just, wow. The editor Deborah G. Plant did an amazing job putting Hurston’s manuscript into, “The Story of the Last Black Cargo.” The early life of Cudjo in West Africa prior to his illegal capture, transport, and enslavement in America was eye opening. There are very few narratives of freedmen, and to learn about his life prior to captivity made this “peculiar institution” an even greater evil. Cudjo’s vernacular, stories and histories revealed the reality of enslaved Africans lives before it all went to hell.
Foolish fallacies passed down as facts are revealed as lies,
“We come in de ‘Merica soil naked and de people say we naked savage. Dey say we doan wear no clothes. Dey doan know de Many-costs snatch our clothes ‘way from us.” -Cudjo
The reality of police brutality from the Emancipation Proclamation until now,
“Somebody call hisself a deputy sheriff kill de baby boy now… he say he de law, but he doan come ‘rest him…Oh, Lor’! He shootee my boy in de throat. He got no right shootee my boy. He make out he skeerd my boy goin’ shoot him and shootee my boy down in de store…Dey doan do nothin’ to de man whut killee my son.” -Cudjo
No reparations for Freedmen and the onset of economic and social freedom in America,
“Cap’n jump on his feet and say, ‘Fool do you think i goin’ give you property on top of property? I tookee good keer of my slaves in slavery and derefo’ I doan owe dem nothin? You doan belong to me now, why must I give you my lan’?” This was Cudjo’s former master’s response to his request for land upon emancipation after laboring five years and six months as a slave without pay.
A response to “Go back to Africa!” upon emancipation,
“We work hard and try to save our money. But it too much money we need. So we think we stay here.” -Cudjo
Honestly, I could go on and on about this book. The most affirming part was the Afterword. Please read this book for yourself, as Plant states, “Barracoon does not articulate an explicit political agenda. And it does not speak with the kind of heroic, self-possessed, and self-realized voice associated with black autobiography.”
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