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The Alabama Public Radio news team was recently invited to take part in a public discussion on slavery in the state. The event took place at the GulfQuest Maritime Museum in Mobile, which is hosting an exhibition on slave ships. I was joined on stage by William Green. He’s a member of the Clotilda Descendants Association. Green’s ancestor was one of the Africans kidnapped and transported to the Mobile area before the Civil War aboard the slave ship Clotilda
Alabama voters head to the polls for the midterm elections next week. One ballot item would abolish slavery in the state. The vote takes place one hundred and fifty seven years after the thirteenth amendment ended the practice nationally. Historians say many of the estimated four hundred thousand enslaved people, who were freed, chose to live out their lives in Alabama. APR spoke to some of their descendants who say they’re still dealing with the impact of the slave trade. The Alabama Public Radio newsroom spent nine months investigating one aspect of that. Namely, the effort to preserve slave cemeteries in the state.
Alabama voters head to the polls for the November midterm election next month. One issue on the ballot would do away with slavery. It’s still allowed in the state constitution. Alabama Public Radio news spent nine months looking into one lingering aspect of the slave trade. APR’s focus is on finding and preserving slave cemeteries in the state. By the time of the Civil War, an estimated four hundred thousand people were held as slaves in Alabama. Some accounts put the number throughout the South at closer to four million. That would appear to make the issue of slave cemetery preservation a southern issue. But, that doesn't appear to be the case.
The thirteenth amendment did away with slavery in the United States one hundred and fifty seven years ago. Alabama voters may take similar action next month. The state’s Constitution still allows involuntary servitude. An estimated four hundred thousand slaves were held in Alabama before they were finally freed in 1865. APR spoke with the descendants of some of these people. They talked about trying to find the burial sites of their ancestors, and facing roadblocks not shared by their white neighbors.