Rating: 🔎🔎🔎🔎🔎 – “Elementary, my dear Watson!”

Barracoon is a powerful and deeply moving work, based on Zora Neale Hurston’s interviews with Cudjo Lewis – the last known survivor of the transatlantic slave ship Clotilda. Written in 1931 but not published until 2018, the book preserves Cudjo’s own voice, dialect, and rhythm, allowing his testimony to stand unfiltered and authentic.

Hurston chose to let Cudjo speak for himself, and that decision makes this account both intimate and heartbreaking. His memories of capture, the Middle Passage, and the brutal realities of enslavement are told with raw honesty. What lingers most is not only the horror of his experience, but also his resilience and dignity.

This is not a sensationalized retelling — it is history in its most human form. By listening rather than rewriting, Hurston created a document that is both sobering and essential. Barracoon is not an easy read, but it is a necessary one; it reminds us that behind every statistic lies a life, a family, and a voice that must not be forgotten.

🕵️ Watson’s Note: A haunting yet respectful testimony. Recommended for readers who want the truth in the witness’s own words.