We return to the Mobile CountyTraining School to record parts of the spirit of our ancestors festival. We spoke with organizer joscelyn davis. The spread of our ancestor festival is a day set aside to commemorate the descendants of the clotilda. There are festivals that started back in the eighties from the original founders of the descendants association, and i guess it stopped for a while, so i decided to start it up again. I was reading doctor natalie robertsons book, the slave ship clotilda, and the makings of africatown, thats how i came up with the title. I was looking for a title but a lot of things werent ringing a bell, but when i read her book i said, all, while spirit of our ancestors just jumped at me. You greeted everyone, and then there is a point when you had descendants speak. How did you come up with your program . Well, growing up here in africatown and attending Union Missionary baptist church, there was a bus of cudjo lewis in front of our church all my life. Back in 2002, that bust was destroyed by some kids acting up and decided to vandalized. Later, they put up a Historical Marker, and this Historical Marker had the founders of Union Baptist church, and there were several names on their, and growing up, i always heard about cudjo lewis but not the others. So i said, thats very interesting that there were these other families. So i asked around the church, and there were other dissent, until i asked around and i wanted to hear more stories about the ancestors, so when i decided to form this program, i wanted them to share their story. Hello everyone, my name is claudia dale keeby, yes, im a keeby and so blessed to be a keeby. Thank you for asking me to speak here. Keeby was one of the founders of africatown, one of the many Young African from their homeland and forcibly brought over on this side. He was very knowledgeable in routes, someone anyone got ill, they called on him because he knew exactly what root for what ailment. I could go on and on about asa but what i want to touch base on and speak to the young people is that we are the voice of asa keeby. I used to eight jostling about his voice getting lost, but its voice is not lost. Im his voice. Every keeby sitting here is asas voice, we are the asa, we have greatness in us. Can you imagine what it was like for him to be brought from his homeland, and taken to a strange land and having to start all over, and start from nothing. It took courage, it took championship, and that is the heritage that we have in our blood line. It is a blessing to have that blood flowing through your veins. Theres nothing that you cannot achieve, theres nothing that you cant do. Anything you want to be, you can be that, because he did that. And it is your heritage to move forward. Before i leave the stage, i want to read a poem i wrote some years back entitled, who do you say i am . Who do i say i am . And i feel it is so fitting. Little pick in, a little slave girl, property of man who was brought and took from the motherland. Told up was nothing, could be no more, sold on the auction block. My worth, no more than a few shiny coins. Shackles, not only rounds manic, hands and feet. Also branded on my mind, the word, defeat. Could not run, could not hide, are the wig, i would meet to my backside. Given a name, not my own, displaced, misplaced, far from home. Who do i say i am . A descendant from kings and queens, i am royalty, property of no man. I am and inventor, a lecturer, a builder, a warrior, i am inspired. I am striving and reaching to all that i can be. My work this beyond the most valuable tool, it cannot be priced. No longer bound by parameters set for me to hinder me, the price has been paid. I have been, and, and remain set free. And that is what asa did. He remained set free. Thank you. Do we have any plan from the marshall family that would like to speak . Anyone from that lee or marshall family that would like to speak . Good morning, how are you . My name is a days jackson, for i want to and it is myself as the great great great great grandchild of Charlie Lewis, and the great great great great grand niece of cudjo lewis. My grandmother is liana waters, and she is the daughter of napoleon gary. Landing i was at a wreck descendant of child lewis, i was shocked. What millennia can actually specifically tell you who their ancestors were, and also where the directly came from . Nobody ever told me about them, so i take it as a major blessing. The discovery of the clotilda as a mark for world history, and cudjo lewis was able to tell a story thanks or no arson, the world can get a more indepth look to what our people went through. We have proof of many things nobody can doubt anything. I believe the should be put and all high school textbooks, strictly enforced, and not to hbcus. To think about how my ancestors probably felt when they were brought over here to this country, he having to drink water and vinegar to prevent scurvy well in the ball for that amount of days, had a chat go home but they were not let them. That wouldve crossed my spirit, and its to crosses my spirit. Our ancestors put everything inside and made a home, africatown. The devil put upon them, and motivated them to go harder and everything i do. Without joscelyn and lore, not none of them wouldve come about, so thank you so much for putting everything out there for ancestors in mobile and the world. You have built the strength and bond is that this family. I know all this has our access is so proud, because theyre being recognized. Also seeing us as being beings in the world and doing the things we do, accomplishing the things that we accomplish, i know that makes us all proud, but growing up, i know i look 12, but i was ranked number one three point shooter in high school in georgia, number 12 in the nation, i graduated from college at the Alabama State university, i just got a Job Interview in my field on wednesday morning, and im fit currently attending grad school. I am an ancestor smile districts. I am patricia fraser. Our ancestors are james and lighting denison. We will read a passage from sylvias book about james denison. I want to make it clear that glad he was the shipmate, james was not. James had been born in charleston south carolina, but he was owned by burns mayor. When the shipmates arrived in mobile, he was purchased by burns mayor. Burns sought to it that the two of them were married. We do believe it was because he wanted to increase his slaves. He was not very successful in that. Only one of james and larrys children survived. She was such a special person. Oftentimes in african women, they were the bread winners and took care of the majority of the family expenses. In this case, laddie was an equal partner with her husband. They were very very entrepreneurial. They owned a farm within the city. Unlike most people, probably because james wanted to maintain his independence, they moved down the bay. They never lived in africa town. For that reason, sometimes people seem to forget that we are descendants but we are here today, we are. We are pleased to be. Unfortunately, we had to talk today because we dont have younger offsprings. Bobby has children. I never had any that could be here to make the presentation. Greetings from the denison family. We will read you a small passage from this book. Dreams of africa and alabama. James led a truly unique life. He had been among the minority of skilled people. I would be runaway, a soldier in the union army, so and finally the owner of a dairy farm at a time where there was only a handful of black businesses of this type in the country. Just as important, he had been quoted an African American history. He put his money in the bank. He had been a member of the imported black Southern Mutual aid association. He fought along with thousands of other black veterans as a soldier. He was a participant in the first preparations movement. James has also been involved in the african story from the very beginning and had chosen to tie his life to theirs, while still maintaining his independence. Even though he never lived in africa town, he was buried in the africans graveyard. Thank you. applause i am my ancestors. Wildest dream. First i would like to thank the most high for this infrequent opportunity to stand before royalty and greatness, in which when we are. The descendants, pardon me, let me rephrase that. The royal descendants of, in which we know today as african town. God is god and to god be the glory. Second, i would like to thank for inviting me to speak. And to this marvelous committee and organize this historical an international occasion. As we pay homage to our ancestors, to our guests, and all of the Freedom Fighters that came before us, i am my ancestors wildest dream. As a sail through the deep seat of my mind only to find that i am the worlds tallest tree. I am paul lee. A visionary entrepreneur i am a doctor and love is my cure. From the north to the depths of greatness and everything in between, i am my ancestorswildest dreams. A chain is only strong as its weakest link. We, my team pollee, on a boat with no hope to be sold for gold, but a story to be told. So bold as a silhouette shines from the shadow of the sun. Zion, zion, zion as my people cry for the land to open his hands. Even a dying man has a plan to live. I grew up some call it a street. Some call it an avenue. Little did i know, was i a part of this crew. Questions, mysteries would never change our history as it seems. That is why i am my ancestors wildest dream. Pollee. As a across the bridge of majestic neglect and the river of hate into a train of school, to mid stars just to name a few. My brother andy, my father clarence, billy wills, kevin lee and the whole lcd with it family. Including me. Free martial, says a kid playing out of a park lane caused you see what they did . Tuck us to put our feet in the mud and head and the sand. No man could stand without a plan. So billed as i yield. To reap what is real. Take us all just to heal. As the lord be my shield, and watch what it brings. I am my ancestorswildest dream. Pollee. Thank you. Its so wonderful. Just sharing with us the depths of their thoughts. Lets give all of the descendants who share with us another round of applause. Thank you so much. There is a point in the program where you allowed senator doug jones to speak but you said briefly you tell us how that happen . Putting a program together, because i had together. Then i got an email from his office saying that he wanted to speak. I had to try to fit him in. They told me he wanted to speak. I said, well he is gonna speak im on a time scale. I did not want to lose my audience. I wanted him to speak briefly so he could just go with the flow. Senator judge senator doug jones will speak briefly. Thank you. I got that message, briefly. I get that. No problem. I will be brief. I want to thank you all for coming here today and let me just come up for a moment. I am so honored to be here. It was very important for me to come here today to honor and have this opportunity to recognize the legacy of the law clotilda slave ship descendantsreunion and the descendants of clip told. Data the researchers confirmed that wreckage. I give a quick shout out to my friend who is bringing this to everyones attention. Early on, it helped really i think, promote the search that went through here. We are here today because of 150 years ago in 1860, 110 men women and children weres enslaved and but illegally to the United States. That ship was burned in order to hide the evidence of the horrible crimes that took place. Many here today are proud descendants of those 110 women and children. I cannot tell you how proud i am to be here. I cannot tell you how important this is for those descendants, but also for african town as a whole. To be here with the clotilda association and the number of Community Organizers who worked so hard to bring this community and its historical significance. These organizations, they embody the strength and resilience. The spirit of those who has taken this country by force of the clotilda and so many other ships. They fought to build a Strong Community that we see here and african town. They are trying to do what i cannot. On a more national level. To bring attention to this. It is such an important message. It is such an important symbol of the tragedies america, but also the triumphs of america. We are working to ensure that the historical significance is recognized and that resources are dedicated to preserving and protecting the clip hilda and all that historical sites an african town. We were able to get half 1 Million Dollars to the Smithsonian Institution to support excavation and education. Thank you. We have expanded the eligibility for civil rights grants under the Historic Preservation fund. To make sure that on an ongoing basis, that we have enough money and that includes, recently discovered sites in the transatlantic slave trade. This opens the door to millions of dollars and potentially funded clotilda related projects. I introduced a resolution on the fourth United States senate. I hope you will go to the website and look at it. To memorialize the clotilda discovery and spoke about it on the senate floor. That resolution set something that i want to emphasize again here today. The discovery of the ship should be seen as an Inflection Point for meaningful conversation. Not just about past injustices, but the injustices that continue today. We all know they are there. Like all of you, like all of you, i am inspired by the strength and resilience of this community. I am honored to help bring the message of the clotilda and of africa town to the national state. If there is one thing i want to make sure that we do, i want to make sure that all of the monies, all of the shrines and all that we do with regard to clotilda stay right here in africatown. They thank you all for letting me come down for a few moments. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Tell us about the keynote speaker that they back in february. Doctor debra plant. She was the editor that was amazing. At first we had doctor natalie roberts. The second year we had doctor debra plant. She wrote books on the survivors of africatown and the survivors of clotilda. That book came out in 2017 i believe. Great book. After 80 years it was published, because they did not want to publish it because of prejudicial dialectic. Gone we were excited to have doctor debra plant. When they put him in the barracoon and when they took them across, he lost his land. After 67 years in alabama, he lost his mother tongue. Saw so what i would like to remind people when they are reading barracoon and they say oh well its in this dialect, well that was the reason the book was not published initially in 1931. The publisher said we want your story, but we want you to write it in language that is a different dialect. That means a lot of things. We dont have a lot of time. Suffice it to say, first of all, john when they say we want it and language, saw they are talking about standard english. But that is really the language of the establishment. Iowa and they dont want to hear it in his language, but its his story. Why should it be in another language . And the thing about it id like to remind people, this language that he wrote it in cohen hot she transcribed it in the way he spoke. She was supposed to do that. She was a dog she knew language was an identifying feature in a person, a group, a people. You do not change that. When you change language, you change everything. But the thing about it, is that when he was taken, he was 19 years old. He spoke some form of so the question becomes, how does this young man at 18 years old, the variation of uruguay winds up in alabama, speaking with an alabama accent. They did not speak this in west africa. The question is what happened to him, that this is not the language he speaks . And everything that happened to him is according to that language. This is why these publishers did not want wanted to be published or to read it that was not what they were used to hearing. They want to change it so they could access it, rather than changing themselves so that they could access what he was talking about. Are you descended from him. I am a descendant of Charlie Lewis. Who was Charlie Lewis . Charlie lewis was one of the older survivors of the clotilda ranging from the age of two to 24. He was one of the older ones. He was chief of the top a tribe. Charlie lewis was enslaved by colonel thomas pew furred. Chary lewis bought land from view furred in 1870, and we have family members still living there today. We call it lewis is quarters. So there were displays and tables at the festival. What was that . How did you come up with that idea . That is another thing. I wanted people when they walk around, i wanted them to get information from all of the descendants. I want it to make the information to make it known from each descendant. Can sandra lewis. Tell me about your display. We can start from the beginning and bring it all the way down. From cudjoe. What we did was we started with cudjo. Weve got different books about him. When we got to hear, we want to bring his siblings with him up to his history. We started with his generation. Which is cudjo, into his older son. We took it on down to the third generation, emmett. Then we take you to johnny lewis, which is my dad. Hes the fourth generation. We got his oldest son Different Things about them. Could you back up one minute and tell us who was cudjo ana . He was the last known survivor slave caused on the clotilda ship. He survived all the other slaves, and he settled in Magazine Point. When the slave ship came in, they had the slaves at the bottom of the ship and they told him to be quiet. He said i dont know why, but they had to be quiet. They were searching for slaves and it was illegal to bring them in. When they got to the top of the ship and they were searching, they did not see anybody, so what they would do is let them go. They smuggled the slaves up into Magazine Point. That is where he first stepped on soil, in Magazine Point. When they got them off the ship, they burned the ship. That is how he ended up there. So as the story goes on, he goes to my dad, johnny, right here. He would tell a story about cudjo because he was raised by cudjo and his wife. He had a chance to know a lot about him. He would sit us down and make sure we repeated everything he would say. What is the name of the ship . Clotilda what is the name of your great great granddaddy . Johnny lewis. He taught says the same way cudjoe taught him. When we read the book, it is everything that he says. When we read the book, we had the words the way my daddy was telling us. It all clicked together. The accent that cudjoe had was the same accent that my dad had. Oh my daddy got it from cudjoe. Do you think he had a little bit of his accent . My daddy taught us he would say look, its a birdie. Comey downie. I told you not to eat the peachy off the tree. When cudjoe died, johnny went on. He went into the navy. He was a good shoot on top of a ship. He was in world war ii. On coming missiles hit the ship. All and johnny, they found him on the bottom of the ship hurt. When they brought him back and nursed him, that is how he got a discharge from the navy. He came back to Magazine Point and that is where he married and started his fifth generation of johnny lewis. This is my oldest sister. This is me. What happened is, she was shot with him when he was in high school. It was a high school. She ended up being the fifth generation, she was the head cheerleader. We took it all the way down to the missing bus. There were two of them that were missing. When they replaced it with this one. Somebody stole this one. They replaced it with this one. We are trying to bring out a new generation in. When we bring them in, we want to teach them our generation. Weve got this coming from west africa. We can see the pictures. What they did was, we designed it the way we wanted. They put the slashes on the side and the weapons. That he left behind. When i cudjoe came along he had no siblings. We put that on the side. The spear represents the train that he had when he was 14 years old. After that, the mask represents the tribe that he was in. All of this is our family crypt. Everything is dealing with cudjoe. This never changes. Only the color changes, but we always keep these. They can learn by his religion, his mobile Magazine Point, his tribe, his history. His slave name, and his african name. Saw what are some of the other stories they told you about cudjoe when they were growing up. He used to stand up and he would say he would see a car going by and say johnny, look at the carry i never thought i would never siya waggy without a dog horsey. He would be on the porch and saw he would just already he would jump and holler so loud. He told them, the older people told him that he was thinking about the. What is it meant for the descendants of the clotilda that the ship has been located . Everyone has their own personal opinion of how they feel. I just remember when we first thought we found the ship and it was not. And i saw that everyone was, oh, well its not the ship. Let us carry on. I was thinking, it was not so much about the ship. It was about the people who were on the ship. That was my main focus. I am glad that they found the ship. But my focus was more on the people that were on the ship. What does it mean for you to be a descendant of the clotilda . I am very proud. Im very proud. Again, talking about the books that the doctors wrote and barracoon. Arent historic sketches of the south, that was the first book in 1914 that was written. Reading those books and learning more and more about my ancestors is making me very proud. To me there is a resilience of the survivors coming into a place unknown, building a church, a school, forming a community. The great strength that they had. I try not to look at it it is a sad story, but i want to highlight the things that they did as far as charlie, buying land from his enslaver. If you read some of the books, that he bought land. He laughed at him. Why would i give you land upon my land . But charlie was able to buy land from his enslaver and our family still lives there today. Also you have a gumpa. He was royalty. So those are some things that i want people to know about. For those we want to make it global, because this story is amazing. I would like to recognize saw acdc, not to be confused with the rock group. Miss jones, would you please stand . Wanted i would like to say, the legendary jones the says acdc is under the leadership of jones. This organization keeps the community clean. They have a Beautiful Community garden. On any given saturday, you will see him patrolling the area and keeping the yards clean. My claim to fame is saw my dog mets. You can play 15 years in the big league and you are only known for one thing. Catching the last out in the world series. That is my claim to fame. But my heart lives in this community, and that is why we were each and every day to try to make sure that we work for this community. My family was not off the clotilda, but we have been in this area since the 18 fifties. I take great pride and ownership of this place that we call africatown today. I am proud to be here today to celebrate that legacy. A lot of good things are happening in the community now. It has been quite a few communities across this country. Similar in nature to africatown. But they no longer exist. What we are trying to do is keep hope alive, and make sure that we put the history out there, and that we let everybody know on says with this town is about and what it has been to the country. Being in the community of over 12,000 people when i came up in this area, now we are down to 2000. So theyre counting on people like me and others to try to make sure we save our churches, our schools, and our community at large. If we do not spur growth, whether it be the housing market, job market, and make sure that we give people a chance to come back home. Come back and have this community. So we can live the legacy that this community can offer. About how many descendants are there and about how many of those came to your festival . We had a sign in list. Im just gonna give or take 100. Do you know how many descendants there are to spread around the world . That is something we are working on. That is something we are working on. Also, doctor henry lewis has had a show called finding your roots. He sat down with the drummer for the jimmy chrysalis traced his route back from africatown and we come from the same lineage. That is a descendant i would like to connect with as well. If people want to know more about the descendants, is there a website or a place they should go . There is. Www. Theclotildastory. Com. Previously unamerican artifacts, tour guide