Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

by Zora Neale Hurston

“And could you tell me something else? You see, I never met my aunt. When she died I was still a junior in high school. But could you tell me what she died of, and what kind of funeral she had?” “I don’t know exactly what she died of,” Mrs. Patterson says, “I know she didn’t have any money. Folks took up a collection to bury her. . . . I believe she died of malnutrition.” “Malnutrition?” Outside, in the blistering sun, I lean my head against Charlotte’s even more blistering cartop. The sting of the hot metal only intensifies my anger. “Malnutrition?” I manage to mutter. “Hell, our condition hasn’t changed any since Phillis Wheatley’s time. She died of malnutrition!” “Really?” says Charlotte, “I didn’t know that.”