DEATH OF CUDJO LEWIS
The last survivors of the Atlantic slave trade lived well into the 20th century
In July 1935 – 75 years after he was captured, transported and sold into slavery – Cudjo Lewis passed away in Mobile, Alabama. Until April 2019, he was thought to have been the last person alive who had been transported across the Atlantic from Africa. His story served to illustrate throughout the 20th century that the horrors of slavery in the US were not a historic shame, but a stillpresent, gaping wound.