Photo Credit: public domain, Wikimedia Commons
More than 165 years after the last known slave ship arrived in the U.S., the great-great-granddaughter of Clotilda survivor Cudjo Lewis has become the first descendant of the ship’s captives to receive citizenship from Benin
More than 165 years after the last known slave ship arrived in the United States, one descendant of its survivors has fulfilled a dream her ancestors never had the chance to realize.
“This citizenship means a lot to me,” she said. “I knew about Cudjo from birth, but I never knew about Africa. I could [remember] seeing my daddy looking at books on Africans. Now I get to go there and learn about Africa, trace my roots back, and learn about it.”
“Johnny was with him there during the first 15 years of his life, and he was able to tell his children,” Lewis said. “He did exactly what Cudjo said.”
“The Minister of Foreign Affairs shook my hand and said, ‘glad you made it,’” she recalled. “He said that he wondered if it was me that was with my grandaddy. They were so happy that I was there.”
“The people there are trying to make things right,” she said. “These people have opened their doors and made it possible for me to come and learn about their people. They are very beautiful and welcoming in everything.”
Lewis plans to share her experience during Africatown’s annual Landing Event & Ancestors Festival, where her family’s story continues to serve as a powerful reminder that, generations after the Clotilda’s arrival, descendants are still reclaiming the history, identity and homeland that slavery sought to erase.
RELATED CONTENT: Citizenship Denied: DOJ Releases Memo Prioritizing Denaturalization
Source: Black Enterprise
