Africatown

Africatown is a protected neighborhood on the northern edge of Mobile in Alabama, founded by formerly enslaved people from West Africa. The district includes residential streets, an old cemetery, and memorial sites recalling the community's beginnings.

Thirty people from West Africa arrived in Alabama in 1860 against every law and founded this settlement on their own land after the Civil War. Their descendants stayed in place and built homes, churches, and schools for several generations.

Residents kept their traditions and languages alive for decades after founding the settlement, so visitors could long observe West African customs in daily life. Families today still honor the legacy of their ancestors and preserve stories about the original community.

Visitors can walk through residential streets and visit Old Plateau Cemetery, which dates from 1876 and offers signs about the founding. The area is easy to explore on foot, as key sites lie close together.

One of the founders lived until 1935 and gave interviews about the crossing and the building of the community that researchers still use today. His testimony remains one of the few direct sources about the last slave transport to North America.