SPEAKIN’ OUT NEWS
After decades of hope, planning, and perseverance, Africatown is finally set to welcome visitors with a permanent, state-of-the-art Welcome Center. The $5.1 million facility, funded entirely by BP oil spill recovery dollars through the federal RESTORE Act, broke ground on Monday, May 19, in Mobile, Alabama.
“This is a triumph born from tragedy,” said Mobile County Commissioner Merceria Ludgood, referring to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster that led to the funding. “Even when it got hard, we didn’t give up.”
The Welcome Center will be built across from the historic Old Plateau Cemetery at the foot of the Africatown USA Bridge. Once complete, it will serve as a first stop for heritage tourists, offering history and context about the last known slave ship—the Clotilda—and the community formed by its survivors.
Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson emphasized the importance of telling Africatown’s story. “We have an obligation to share this history,” he said.
The Clotilda arrived in Mobile Bay in 1860, decades after the transatlantic slave trade was outlawed. Its owner, Timothy Meaher, burned the ship to hide evidence of the illegal voyage. Parts of its hull remain in the Mobile River but are too fragile to recover. The ship’s survivors established Africatown, six miles north of downtown Mobile, preserving African traditions and culture that live on today.
The community, however, has endured years of neglect and economic challenges. Recent revitalization efforts—led by groups like the Africatown Community Development Corporation—have brought new life, including the opening of Africatown Hall in 2024 and now the Welcome Center.
Cleon Jones, a former Major League Baseball player and longtime Africatown advocate, said the project marks a turning point. “Each morning, I worry about this community being forgotten. We can’t allow that.”
Jones, a member of the 1969 World Series-winning New York Mets, now works tirelessly to support his hometown. “We are working together to move this community forward,” he said.