“This reader’s voyage begins on the slave ship Clotilda in 1860, sails through slavery and Jim Crow, and docks in today’s port of environmental racism. A powerful tale of oppression, suffering, resistance, and survival, Africatown is a profoundly American saga.”

“Packed with unforgettable characters, this deeply researched book tells a complicated story with stunning clarity from the Civil War–era South through today. Alternately enraging and inspiring, Africatown connects the history of slavery, industrial pollution, labor exploitation, movements for environmental and political justice, and—always—the power of hope for the future.”

“There’s a lot of talk these days about the need to trace present-day problems of poverty and racial inequality to historical discrimination and disinvestment. In Africatown, Nick Tabor has drawn this connection in the most compelling way possible, showing how a single community created as a direct legacy of the slave trade in the final throes of its rapacity continued to suffer—and strive to overcome—other ordeals throughout the generations, right now to the present-day ills of environmental racism and economic displacement. This is a true American story, deeply reported and lucidly told.”

“The story of the Clotilda and Africatown is a story about people and the worst and best of human behavior. Nick Tabor powerfully shares that story of resilience, perseverance, and persistence as history continues to emerge from family stories, archives, and the muddy waters of the Mobile River.”