The sun sets over Mobile Bay in this undated photo. The Clotilda, the last ship known to have carried enslaved men and women into the United States, left Mobile in early 1860 and arrived later that year with 110 men and women in chains. (Mindy Flanigen/Getty Images)
The Clotilda isn’t the most important part of the Clotilda story.
That’s not to say Alabama shouldn’t do everything in its power to preserve the rotting remains of that ship, the last known to have brought enslaved people to the United States.
Since the Alabama Historical Commission announced the discovery of the Clotilda in 2019, there has been talk about raising the ship off the banks of the Mobile River and putting it on display as a memorial to the 110 men and women kidnapped from Africa in 1860, forced onto the ship and sent into slavery in Alabama.
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But an assessment of the Clotilda published in May found erosion and sea life had damaged the remains.
“Stabilization of the wreck, physical protection through reburial, and security are immediate needs,” the May report said.