Parts of the spirits of our ancestors festival. We spoke with organizer Joycelynn Davis. The spirit of our ancestors festival is a day to set aside to commemorate the descendents of the clotilda. Various festivals that started back in the 1980s from the original founders of the descendents association, and i guess it stopped for a while, so i decided to start it up again. And i was reading the book, the flagship clotilda and the makers of africatown. That is how i came up with the title. I was looking for a title, but you know, a lot of things were not ringing a bell. When i was reading her book, i was like, spirit of our ancestors just jumped at me. You greeted everyone and there was a point where you had descendents speak. How did you come up with your program . Well, growing up here in africatown and attending the missionary baptist church, there was a bust of cudjoe lewis in front of our church all of my life, and back in 2002, that bust was destroyed by some kids acting up, and they decided to vandalize, and later, they put up a Historical Marker, and this Historical Marker had the founders of Union Baptist church, and there were several names on there, and growing up, i always heard about cudjoe lewis, but not the others. I was like that is pretty interesting that there were these other founders, so i asked around the church. I knew that there were other descendents. I asked around and i wanted to hear more stories about their ancestors. So when i decided to form this program, i wanted them to share their stories. Hello, everyone. My name is claudia. I am so blessed. Thank you so much for asking me to speak here. Thank you for giving me a call. My ancestor was one of the founders of africatown. He was one of many Young Africans who were snatched from their homeland and forcibly brought over on the side. He was very knowledgeable in roots so when anyone got, you know they called on him because he knew exactly what root for what ailment. I could go on and on, but what i want to touch faces on, speak to bases on and beak to the speak to the young people, is that we are the voice of keeby. I use talk to joycelynn about his voice getting lost but his voice is not lost. I am his voice. Every keeby sitting here is his voice. We are the seeds of arthur. We have greatness in us. Can you imagine what it was like for him to be brought from his homeland and taken to a strange land and having to start all over and start from nothing . It took courage. It took championship, and that is the heritage that we have in our bloodline. It is a blessing to have that blood flowing through your veins. There is nothing that you cannot achieve. There is nothing that you cannot do. Anything that you want to be, you can be that because he did that, and it is your heritage to move forward. Before i leave the stage, i want to read a poem i wrote some years back entitled who do you say i am . I feel that it is so fitting. Little slave girl, property of man, who was bought and took from the motherland. Told i was nothing, could be no more, sold on the auction block. My words no more than a few shiny coins. Shackles not only around my neck, hands, and feet, also branded on my mind, the word defeat. Could not run, could not hide, or the whip to my backside. Given a name not my own displaced, misplaced far from , home. Who do i say i am . A descendent from kings and queens. I am royalty, property of no man. I am an inventor, a lecturer, a builder, a warrior. I inspire. I am striving in reaching all i and reaching to be all i can be. My worth is beyond the most valuable jewel. It cannot be priced. No longer bound by perimeters set for me to hinder me, the price has been paid. I have been, am, and remained set free. That is what asa did. He remained set free. Thank you. [applause] do we have anyone from the leor marshall family that would like to speak . Anyone from the lee or marshall family that would like to speak . Good morning, yall. How you doing . I would like to introduce myself as the great, great, great, great, great grandchild of Charlie Lewis and also the great, great times four nice of cudjoe lewis. Me and my family, we are in here twice. My grandmother is the daughter of Eugenia Barnes Lewis and not oli and gary. Finding out that i was a direct descendent of Charlie Lewis, i was shocked. What millennial can actually sit and specifically tell you who their ancestors were and also where they directly came from . Nobody ever told me. For this to happen, i take it as a major blessing. The discovery of the clotilda is a real mark of world history. My uncle cudjoe was blessed with the opportunity to tell his story thanks to zora neal hurston. The world cannot get a more indepth look into these horrible things that our people went through. Kids and young adults should be more enlightened. We have proof of the details of many things so no one can doubt anything. I believe this discovery and story should be put in all history books from kindergarten to high school, taught on college campuses, strictly enforced, and not just hbcus. To think about how my ancestors probably felt when they were brought to this country, having to drink water and vinegar to prevent scurvy, while inside a boat for so many days, hearing how they tried to go home but they did not let them. That would have crushed my spirit. It still crushes my spirit. Our ancestors put all that aside and made a replica of home, africatown, my home. Seeing how my people endured through whatever the devil put upon them only pushed me and motivated me to go harder. Without them, none of this would have come about and i thank you both out this story for our ancestors in mobile and for the world. Youll have built the strengths of this family back to where it is supposed to be. I know the ancestors are proud because they are finally being recognized. Also seeing us is just being beings in the world, doing the things we do, accomplishing the things we accomplished. I know that makes them all proud. Growing up, i know i looked 12, i was ranked the number one free throw in high school in georgia, number four for the nation. I just graduated from college at the Alabama State university. [applause] i just got me a Job Interview in my field wednesday morning, and i am currently attending grad school. Let me tell you all something. I am my ancestors wildest dream. [applause] i am of course, patricia frazier. This is bobby denison. Bobby will read a passage about denison. It also applies to lottie. I want to make it clear that lottie was the shipmate. James was not. James had been born in charleston, south carolina, but he was owned by the mayor. When the shipmates arrived in mobile, lottie was purchased by the mayor. He saw to it that the two of them were married and we do believe it was because he wanted to increase the slave holdings. He was not very successful in that. Because only one of james and lotties children survived. I think she was such a special person. Often times, in africa, women did side work but their husbands were the breadwinners and took care of the majority of the familys expenses, but in this case, lottie was an equal partner with her husband. They were very entrepreneurial. They owned a farm within the city, and unlike most people, probably because james wanted to maintain his independence, they moved down the bay. They never lived in africatown, and for that reason, sometimes, people seem to forget that we are descendents, but we are here today to say we are, and we are pleased to be, and unfortunately, we had to talk today because we do not have younger offspring. Bobby has children. I never had any. That could be here to make the presentation. Greetings from the dennison family. I want to read you a small package from the book, dreams of africa and alabama, by james dennison. He led a truly unique life. He had been among the minority of skilled people, a gifted boat pilot, a would be runaway, a soldier in the union army, and finally, the owner of a dairy farm at a time when there were only a handful of blackowned businesses of this type in the country. Just as important, he had been part of africanAmerican History. He had put his money in the freedmans bank, a member of the important black association, Mutual Aid Association of birmingham. He had fought along with thousands of other black veterans. He had been a participant in the first reparations movement. James had also been involved in the african story from the very beginning and had chosen to tie his life to theirs while still maintaining his independence. Even though he never lived in africatown, he was buried in the africans graveyard. Thank you. [applause] i am my ancestors wildest dream. First, i would like to thank the most high for this infrequent opportunity to stand before royalty and greatness, in which whom we are the descendents. Pardon me, let me rephrase that. The royal descendents of which we know today as africatown. God is god, and god be the glory. Second, i would like to thank miss Joycelynn Davis for inviting me to speak, and to this marvelous committee and organizers of this historical and international occasion. As we pay homage to our ancestors, to our guests, and all of the Freedom Fighters that came before us, i am my ancestors wildest dream. As i fell through the deep seas of my mind, only to find that i am a hyperion, the worlds tallest tree. For my carpentry, i am a visionary entrepreneur connoisseur. I am a doctor, and love is my cure. From manure to the depths of greatness and everything in between, i am my ancestors wildest dream. A chain is only strong as its weakest link. Me, my team, policed on the boat with no hope to be sold for gold, but that aint the story to be told. So bold as the silhouette shines from the shadow of the sun, zion, zion, zion, as my people cry for the land to open its hands. Even a dying man has a plan to live. Some call it a street. Some call it an avenue. But little did i know, 110 blowing in the wind was i a part of this crew. Questions, mysteries, will never change our history, as it seems. That is why i am my ancestors wildest dream. As i detour kids across the bridge of judgment, neglect, and the river of hate, and to a training school, just to name a few, my mother, annie perle, my my father, clarence howard, cleone jones, billy williams, kevin lee, and the whole m. V. P. With it, family. Including me, big, bold coleman, fred marshall, my grand marshal. Since a kid playing at a park. You see what they did. They taught us to put our feet in the mud, hand in the sand. No man can stand without a plan. As i yield, so as i sow in my fields to reap what is real, take us all just to heal. The lord be my shield, and watch what it brings. I am my ancestors wildest dream. Thank you. [applause] what a wonderful sharing with us the depths of their thoughts about being their ancestors wildest dreams. Lets give all of the descendents who shared with us another round of applause. Thank you so much. There is a point in the program where you allowed senator doug jones to speak, but you said briefly [laughter] can you tell us how that happened . Putting a program together, because i had it together, and then i got an email from his office saying he wanted to speak. So i had to try to fit him in. So they told me he wanted to speak, so i said he will speak briefly because i was on a time schedule. I did not want to lose my audience. I wanted him to speak briefly so it could flow. We are allowing senator doug jones to speak briefly. Thank you. [applause] well, i got that message. Briefly. [laughter] i get that. No problem. I will be brief. [laughter] i want to thank you all for coming here today and letting me just come up for a moment. I am so honored to be here. It was very important for me to come here today to honor and have this opportunity really to recognize the legacy of the clotilda and the descendents from the clotilda. It was so exciting in our office and around the state and around the country last year to learn of the clotildas find, that researchers confirmed that wreckage. I will give a quick shout out to my friend ben raines who was bringing this to everyones attention early on to promote the search. We are here today because of 150 years ago or more, in 1860, 110 men, women, and children were enslaved and brought illegally from modernday benin to the United States. That ship was burned in order to hide the evidence of the horrible crimes that took place. Many here today are the proud descendents of those 110 men and women and children, and i cannot tell you how proud i am to be here. I cannot tell you how important this is. For those descendents, but also for africatown as a whole. To be here with the clotilda descendents association and a number of other Community Organizers who have worked so hard to bring this interest to the community and its historical significance. You know, these organizations today embody the strength and resilience, the spirit of those who have taken this country by force on the clotilda and so many other ships, who stayed and fought to build a Strong Community that we see here in africatown. You know, trying to do what i can on a more National Level to bring attention to this because it is such an important message. It is such an important symbol of the tragedies of america but also the triumphs of america, so we are working to ensure that the historical significance is recognized, and that resources are dedicated to preserving and protecting the clotilda and all of the historical sites in africatown. Nicholas last year, we were able to get a half 1 million to the Smithsonian Institution to support excavation, education. Thank you. [applause] we have expanded the eligibility for civil rights grants under the Historic Preservation fund to make sure that on an ongoing basis, that we have enough money. That includes recently discovered sides of the transatlantic slave trade. This opens the door for millions of dollars in potential funding for clotilda related projects. I introduced a resolution on the floor of the United States senate. I hope you will go to our website and take a look at it, to memorialize the clotildas discovery and spoke about it on the senate floor. That resolution said something i want to emphasize again here today. The discovery of the ship should be seen as an Inflection Point for meaningful conversation, not just about past injustices, but the injustices that continue today. We all know that they are there. [applause] like all of you, like all of you, i am inspired by the strength and resilience of this community. I am honored to help bring the message of the clotilda and africatown to the national stage. If there is one thing i want to make sure that we do, i want to make sure that all of the money, all of the shrines, all that we do with regards to the clotilda stay right here in africatown. [applause] thank you all again for letting me come down for a few moments. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. I will be here. [applause] tell us about the keynote speaker that day back in february. Dr. Deborah plant. She was the editor. That was amazing. Because the first year we had dr. Nelly roberts. The second year, we had dr. Deborah plant. The authors have written books on the survivors of africatown, the survivors of the clotilda. That book came out in 2017, i believe, and great book. After 80 years, it was being published. They did not want to publish it because of the dialect. She edited it. I think alice walker forwarded the book. So we were excited to have dr. Deborah plant. When they put them in the barracoons and took them across the middle passage, he lost his motherland. And after 67 years in alabama, he lost his mother tongue. And so, what i like to remind people when they are reading barracoon, they say it is in his dialect and that is one of the reasons the book was not published initially in 1931. The publisher said, you know, we want your story, but we want you to write it in a language rather than dialect. That means a lot of things and we do not have that kind of time. But suffice it to say, first of all, when they say we want it in the language, they are talking about what they call standard english. But that is really the language of the establishment. And they dont want to hear it in his language. But it is his story. Why should it be in another language . And the thing about it, in my opinion, is that this language that he wrote in, she transcribed it, you know, in the way he spoke. And she was supposed to do that. She was an ethnographer, and ethnographers know that language is an identifying feature of any person, any group, any people. You do not change that. When you change the language, you change everything. The thing about it is that when he was taken, he was 19 years old. He spoke some form of yoruba. The question becomes, how did this young man at 19 years old, speaking some variation of yoruba, winds up in alabama speaking a black vernacular with an alabama accent . They did not speak that in west africa. The question is what happens to him that this is now a language that he speaks . Everything that happened to him is encoded in that language. This is why these publishers did not want to publish that or to read it or to be forced to read something that was not what they are used to hearing. They want to change it so they can access it rather than changing themselves so they can access what he was talking about. Are you descended from cudjoe lewis . No, i am a descendent of Charlie Lewis. Who was Charlie Lewis . Joycelynn Charlie Lewis was one of the older survivors of the clotilda. They range from the age of two to maybe 24, so he was one of the older ones. He was chief of a tribe. Charlie lewis was enslaved by colonel Thomas Beaufort, and Charlie Lewis bought land from colonel Thomas Beaufort in 1870 and we have family members who still live there today in an area we call lewiss quarter. There were displays and tables at the festival. What was that . How did you come up with that idea . Joycelynn i wanted people to, when they walk around, i wanted them to get information from all of the descendents, so i wanted to make it informational