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Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

Zora Neale Hurston

Start date: September 1, 2019

Finish date: September 25, 2019

Discussion: Country and Territories

Why we're reading this: Countries/Territories: Benin

Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston …more
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Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston

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Oct 02, 2019 Raymond rated it really liked it · review of another edition

"The present was too urgent to let the past intrude." -Zora Neale Hurston

Hurston's posthumous book is very good. Cudjo Lewis tells his story to Hurston about his life in Africa, being sold into slavery, the Middle Passage, life as a slave, and his life after obtaining his freedom. I found Lewis' story captivating, I enjoyed reading it in his own words and dialect. His constant "you unnerstand me" made his storytelling more genuine. At times I felt like I was there as he was telling Hurston about "The present was too urgent to let the past intrude." -Zora Neale Hurston

Hurston's posthumous book is very good. Cudjo Lewis tells his story to Hurston about his life in Africa, being sold into slavery, the Middle Passage, life as a slave, and his life after obtaining his freedom. I found Lewis' story captivating, I enjoyed reading it in his own words and dialect. His constant "you unnerstand me" made his storytelling more genuine. At times I felt like I was there as he was telling Hurston about his journey.

There were three episodes that spoke the most to me:

1. After he gained his freedom, Cudjo and his friends asked their former master for land: "Cap'n Tim, you bought us from our country where we had lan'. You made us slave. Now dey make us free but we ain' got no country and we ain' got no lan'! Why doan you give us piece dis land so we kin buildee ourself a home?" This quote made me think about the debate over reparations then and now.

2. In this episode Cudjo references the challenges his children faced: "All de time de chillun growin' de American folks dey picks at dem and tell de Afficky people dey kill folks and eatee de meat. Dey callee my chillun ig'nant savage and make out dey kin to monkey." This quote reminded me of the negative stereotypes Americans still have of immigrants especially from Africa.

3. In this episode Cudjo references one of his son's interaction with a police officer: "He shootee my boy in de throat. He got no right shootee my boy. He make out he skeered my boy goin' shoot him and shootee my boy down in de store. Oh, Lor'!" This quote, not surprisingly, reminded me of the current issues between young Black Americans and the police.

I read that this book was never published initially because publishers did not like Cudjo's dialect and they wanted Hurston to write it in more refined English. It probably was for the best that she did not change the dialect because the essence of Cudjo's story would have been removed. Sometimes the best books are those that are newly discovered years after it was written so that we in the current time and get an unaltered view of the past. ...more

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Jun 11, 2018 Maya B rated it liked it

Interesting read. I will say I did struggle with the dialect that was used in this short story. I liked the background information about Hurston that was given in the beginning and end of the book.

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