The last slave ship : the true story of how Clotilda was found, her descendants, and an extraordinary reckoning / Ben Raines.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-272) and index.

The bet -- The voyage of the Clotilda -- The King of the Amazons -- Captured -- Barracoon -- Into the canebreak -- Five years a slave -- An African town -- Africatown--the fall -- Finding Clotilda -- Finding a future in the past -- Reconciliation -- Coda.

"The incredible true story of the last ship to carry enslaved people to America, the remarkable town its survivors founded after emancipation, and the complicated legacy their descendants carry with them to this day-by the journalist who discovered the ship's remains"--

Fifty years after the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed, the Clotilda became the last ship in history to bring enslaved Africans to the United States. The ship was scuttled and burned on arrival to hide evidence of the crime, allowing the wealthy perpetrators to escape prosecution. Despite numerous efforts to find the sunken wreck over the next 160 years, it wasn't found until 2019. Raines, who uncovered one of our nation's most important historical artifacts, recounts the ship's perilous journey, the story of its rediscovery, and its complex legacy. Against all odds, Africatown, the Alabama community founded by the captives of the Clotilda, prospered in the Jim Crow South. Raines tells the epic tale of one community's triumphs over great adversity and a celebration of the power of human curiosity to uncover the truth about our past and heal its wounds. -- adapted from jacket.