The City of Mobile is working to bring history to life. The History Museum of Mobile has collaborated with the County Commission to build an exhibit about the Clotilda. The Clotilda is the last known slave ship to bring Africans to the United States. The ship was rediscovered in 2018 near the Mobile Bay. The name of the exhibit will be called Africatown Heritage House. Dr. Meg Fowler is the director of the History Museum of Mobile. She says that it is vital for descendants of the Africans to reconnect with their ancestors.
“We feel a real urgency in telling these stories, and experience in a museum experience with the past, can close the gaps of space and time,” said Fowler. “It can bring us face to face with history and make the experiences of those 110 African men, women and children, not something distant or remote, but something real and present, which they are. This exhibit reminds us that the past is very much with us.”
Africatown is a community formed by the descendants of the Africans aboard the Clotilda. The exhibit Heritage House will be a museum where people can learn about the history and stories of those enslaved people. Jessica Fairley is the Manager of the Africatown Heritage House. She says that she wants people to reconnect with that history just as she did…
“Just learning so much about the descendants of the Clotilda and the story behind the Clotilda,” said Fairley. “And, you know, seeing how all of this is coming forward. 100 plus years later, it's making me want to be deep dive into my history.”
The exhibit is set to open this weekend.
