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Reviews tagging 'Racism'
Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston
28 reviews
ibadella's review
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
i read a few chapters of Barracoon during my anthropology degree, and have found the revisit incredibly enriching
the combination of Kossola’s brilliant storytelling and Hurston’s compassionate approach to interviewing makes this brief read so very rich. Hurston’s ethnographic approach is thoughtful, innovative, and personal, contrasting to the salvage anthropology practiced by her contemporaries through her consideration for Kossola’s and the residents of Africatown’s wellbeing and privacy. She situates herself within the tale as an active but nonjudgemental participant, transparently admitting her personal interests, questions, and impressions. the whole book is heartily framed by essay additions which contextualize and offer discussion of the layers of understanding presented in this single story
the combination of Kossola’s brilliant storytelling and Hurston’s compassionate approach to interviewing makes this brief read so very rich. Hurston’s ethnographic approach is thoughtful, innovative, and personal, contrasting to the salvage anthropology practiced by her contemporaries through her consideration for Kossola’s and the residents of Africatown’s wellbeing and privacy. She situates herself within the tale as an active but nonjudgemental participant, transparently admitting her personal interests, questions, and impressions. the whole book is heartily framed by essay additions which contextualize and offer discussion of the layers of understanding presented in this single story
Content Warnings
Graphic: Trafficking, Violence, and Racism
Moderate: Slavery
nneka23's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Trafficking, Slavery, and Racism
snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, War, Slavery, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Police brutality, and Blood
capp518's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
3.75
Couldn’t give it 4 stars because only half of the book is Kossula’s story. It reads more like a piece of scholarly work than a novel, which may be my own fault for not researching the book better before reading. Overall though, this is a necessary read to get a first-had account of what enslaved people experienced because there are so few records from their perspectives out there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Murder, Slavery, Violence, and Child death
Minor: Racism and Colonisation
sparklycowboy's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
I really enjoyed listening to this book. The narrator and author really bring Kossula to life with the language and storytelling. I’m grateful this book was published in 2018 after many decades of sitting unpublished. I was confused about the ~40 min intro about the author, but it made more sense after finishing the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Violence, War, and Murder
labricoleuse's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
This is a fascinating piece of ethnographic history. I’m glad I listened to the audiobook because I get why it is important to write an oral history in the dialect as spoken but I think it would have been difficult to understand. Hearing it was clearer I think.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Confinement, Death of parent, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Child death, and Racism
zoenelson's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
Zora Neale Hurston provides us with an account of one of the last slaves brought to the United States through a participant-observer methodology. She provides Cujo's story through his own narrative.
As readers, we confront uncomfortable truths about U.S. history and are forced to dismantle the falsehoods we've been deceived into believing. In my mind, Cudjo's story puts words and history to the collective trauma of millions of Africans forced into slavery in the U.S.
Besides Cudjo's words, I loved the editor's notes. She provided important context and a wealth of original thought to this story.
As readers, we confront uncomfortable truths about U.S. history and are forced to dismantle the falsehoods we've been deceived into believing. In my mind, Cudjo's story puts words and history to the collective trauma of millions of Africans forced into slavery in the U.S.
Besides Cudjo's words, I loved the editor's notes. She provided important context and a wealth of original thought to this story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Trafficking and Slavery
Moderate: Child death, Death, Grief, Violence, and Racism
hillysreads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Child death, and Death
velvetcelestial's review against another edition
challenging
sad
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, and Racism
relf's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
The story of one of the last enslaved people to arrive in the U.S. from Africa, on the Clotilda, in 1859, told mostly in his own words as transcribed by Zora Neale Hurston. Kossulo (American name Cudjo Lewis) was born about 1841 in what is now Benin, captured by the king of Dahomey, sold to a (by then illegal) slave trader, and smuggled to Mobile, Alabama. He was enslaved for 5+ years, until the end of the Civil War, and became a founder of Mobile's Africaville. His story is horrifying and moving, and shocked me with its immediacy--I have a great-grandfather who was born about the same time as Kossulo. And his life after slavery indicates how little has changed: his life as a "free" man included, among other tragedies, the shooting of one of his sons by a sheriff and a white lawyer who defrauded him. This was one of Zora Hurston's first works, but, because she would not permit publishers to change Kossulo's dialect (as she had heard and transcribed it) into standard English, it was not published until 2018. It's a short book, and I recommend the audiobook, beautifully and movingly narrated by Robin Miles.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Racism, and Slavery