Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation
The Africatown Community, located in Mobile, Alabama, is best known for its connection to the U.S. slave ship Clotilda. This community was established by the very same Africans that were enslaved and brought to the U.S. illegally aboard the Clotilda in 1860. Since the establishment of the community...
Documenting Plateau's Cemetery
December 2, 2023
Join us for the Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation mapping of the Plateau Cemetery. We will meet at First Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church 664 Shelby St, Mobile, AL 36610 from 10am - 3pm.
Digital map to outline descendants of historic Plateau cemetery is underway
Nearly 100 volunteers showed up to help THE AFRICATOWN HERITAGE & PERSERVATION FOUNDATION in the mapping of Africatown's Historic Plateau Cemetery. Please click on link below to view local tv 5 report of their exercise this past Saturday.
Archaeologists and researchers are working on a map where people can look up their loved ones who are buried at the Old Plateau Cemetery in Africatown. Volunteers along with researchers worked Saturday morning to map out the Old Plateau Cemetery in Africatown to help develop the digital map. Most people who are buried at the cemetery are the last known descendants of the Clotilda, and archeologists are working with the Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation to create a way for people to be able to research and learn more about their history. -WKRG 5
Visit the Africatown hertiage house
Africatown Heritage House is a community building in Mobile, Alabama that houses "Clotilda: The Exhibition" about the survivors and descendants of slaves transported on the Clotilda, the United States' last known slave ship, many of whom established Africatown.
Watch the Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation free virtual training entitled "Building Our Africatown". Click below to watch these informational sessions.
Descendants Post Screening Interviews
National Museum of African American History and Culture’s series, Through the African American Lens, sponsored a showing and panel discussion of the Descendants documentary, on January 7th at the Oprah Winfrey Theater. Panelists from the movie were interviewed in a post screening.
descendants on netflix
Descendant tells the story of the Clotilda - the last known ship to smuggle stolen Africans to America - the unthinkable cover-up, and the impact of that crime on generations of descendants living in Africatown. Once the past is revealed, can the future be reclaimed? Descendants of the enslaved Africans on an illegal ship that arrived in Alabama in 1860 seek justice and healing when the craft's remains are discovered.
Current and Upcoming Initiatives
The AHPF has partnered with Mobile County, Vulcan Materials, and SBP to replace roofs for needed homes in Africatown. Four more houses were completed. We couldn't have done it without your kind support. THANK YOU!
Africatown Connections Blueway
AHPF will lead the implementation and coordination of the Africatown Connections Blueway project started in 2016 by the Mobile County Training School Alumni Association with support by the National Park Service (NPS) – Rivers, Trails & Conservation Assistance Program (RTCA) and many other organizations.
National Trust Awards $1.6 Million in Grants to 27 Sites to Help Preserve African American History
2020 African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund Grant Recipients
On July 16, 2020, the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced more than $1.6 million in grants to 27 sites and organizations through its African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.
Initiatives
Although the AHPF has many initiatives that it is currently working on as the Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation is built, one of its core pillars will be to foster healing for the community of Africatown, the larger Mobile Metro area, the state of Alabama and the world.
- The Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation speaks of healing on many levels: environmental, physical, emotional, etc.
- An initial step towards healing took place on August 25, 2019, when the Community of Africatown marked a national day of healing by ringing bells at 3:00pmEST in unison with bells at Fort Monroe National Monument, Old Point Comfort, to represent each century of African presence in the U.S. since 1619.
- Bells have great symbolic meaning to many societies. The national bell ringing celebrates the value, persistence, strength, and courage of our ancestors and enables all Americans to participate in a historic moment in the spirit of peace, freedom, and unity wherever they are and to share stories about the role Africans and their descendants in the history of the nation.
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