From the Publisher
It is [an] important historic document that provides an intimate look at slavery in America...Belongs in every library. — Booklist (starred review)
[An] essential text. — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
The visual art as well as the narrative are exceptional... [This] adaptation of Hurston’s beautiful, important work is a true gift. Highly recommended for all libraries. — School Library Journal (starred review)
Kendi allows Hurston’s storytelling mastery to shine through for younger readers... a powerful enslavement narrative from a literary icon, deftly retold for a younger audience. — Kirkus Reviews
Powerful, profound, and necessary. — Horn Book Magazine
The importance of this story can’t be overstated. — Ron Charles, The Washington Post Book Club
School Library Journal
★ 02/01/2024
Gr 3–7—"The most valuable things humans receive from the past generations are not money. They are stories." Collected by Zora Neale Hurston in 1931, the tale of the "Last Black Cargo" wasn't published for 87 years because Hurston refused to alter the dialect of the formerly enslaved Cudjo Lewis. The sole living Black man kidnapped from West Africa in 1859, Cudjo survived transport to the U.S. on the final slave ship, was forced to work, and was suddenly liberated in 1865 with no resources or means to return home. A significant introduction creates the context for Cudjo's story and Hurston's fieldwork as an anthropologist to gather it. Kendi honors the tale by preserving both Cudjo's and Hurston's voices. The visual art as well as the narrative are exceptional; astonishing black-and-white images created by fine artist Lee-Johnson demand attention and create pause. Cudjo's lifelong yearning for his home and the tragic lives of his six children bring readers to his final parting with Hurston. The interviews and artistry here create of this narrative an emotional experience. VERDICT This adaptation of Hurston's beautiful, important work is a true gift. Highly recommended for all libraries.—Janet S. Thompson
Kirkus Reviews
2023-10-21
Scholar Kendi adapts Hurston’s account of one of the last survivors of the transatlantic slave trade.
Among her many accomplishments, Hurston was a trained anthropologist, and one of her works of scholarship—based on interviews conducted in the late 1920s but not published until 2018—was the story of Cudjo Lewis, the last person to endure the Middle Passage. Although the slave trade was outlawed in 1808 in the United States, in 1859, the captain of the Clotilda secretly traveled to West Africa to purchase enslaved people. Lewis recounts his harrowing tale, including being imprisoned in an enclosure called “the barracoon” before he was sold and brought to Alabama. Lewis endured enslavement for five and a half years, until the Civil War ended. Those who came over on the Clotilda formed a community, and once it became clear they could not return to West Africa, they worked together to buy land for a village they named AfricaTown, where they built homes and a church and raised families. Kendi’s adaptation provides context and clarity. The use of dialect is understandable and authentic; Kendi allows Hurston’s storytelling mastery to shine through for younger readers. The relationship between Hurston and Lewis enriches the story, but it’s clear that his firsthand account is the primary focus. Final art not seen.
A powerful enslavement narrative from a literary icon, deftly retold for a younger audience. (Nonfiction. 8-12)
