A Gem of Zora Neale Hurston - Rare Film Footage of Cudjoe Lewis

The beginning of this film, Cudjoe Lewis the elderly man appears. He is the last known survivor of the slave ship Clotilde, and this is the only moving image of a former survivor of the middle passage, to have been captured on film.

Thanks to Zora Neale Hurston, we can see the images of Cudjoe Lewis.

Now Zora Neale Hurston is one of my favorite writers. But writing was only a fraction of what this amazing woman produced. She saw the value of talking to people, and so she set out throughout the south talking to black people in small country towns and settlements. She filmed their faces, she taped their voices and what remains is a treasure trove of glimpses into the folkways of people of the south, long forgotten by most, but saved for all to remember. She was a sociologist, anthropologist,  storyteller and more. And she traveled to meet the people of the south and to hear their stories.

One such person was Cudjoe Lewis was one of the last known formerly enslaved people known to have been born on the African continent and brought to America. Mr. Lewis was a survivor of the slave ship, Clotilde, and thanks to the brilliance an insight of the great Zora Neale Hurston, he was actually captured on film before he died in the 1930s. The Clotilde captured people from Dahomey (now known as the Benin Republic) and brought them into Mobile Bay. 

Zora Neale like many others knew of Lewis and she knew the value of allowing this man's story to be shared with the world. She captured him on fillm and the footage above represents the only moving image of an African who survived the middle passage from Africa to America. Cudjoe Lewis died in 1935 in Mobile Alabama in the community known as Africa Town. Though Lewis and other survivors longed to return to their native Dahomey, they were never afforded the chance to see African soil again. But his life and  legacy continue due to the wisdom of Ms. Hurston.

So special thanks to Zora Neale Hurston, we know so much more about our people, their customs, and their lives. It is fitting therefore of this birthday of Zora Neale Hurston, to share a tiny portion of what she shared with the world.

Happy Birthday Zora!!