POP CULTURE SHORTS

The Mysteries Of A Vanished Slave Ship

The Netflix documentary ‘Descendant’ follows people whose ancestors survived a horrific crime

In 1860, the Clotilda sailed into Mobile Bay, crammed with captured Africans in violation of a U.S. law that had banned the importing of slaves.

The Alabama businessman behind the voyage burned and sank the ship to cover up the crime and removed the captives, some of whom founded the black Africatown section of Mobile, which still exists on land near industrial polluters who lease it from relatives of the original enslaver.

The Clotilda was presumed lost, but parts surfaced recently owing to the efforts of scuba divers, archaeologists, Africatown activists, and an investigative reporter. Filmmaker Margaret Brown interweaves their stories in a new Sundance-award-winning documentary on Netflix.

At its heart lies a complex but unresolved moral, legal, and financial question: What do the descendants of the enslaver owe the descendants of the enslaved? This engrossing film could inspire hours of spirited debate in classrooms and in any family or other group committed to social justice.