Africatown Heritage House Breaks Ground

The groundbreaking for the Africatown Heritage House, a permanent home for the Clotilda slave ship and Africatown artifacts, took place on February 18. Yellowhammer reported that the museum will tell the long-untold story of the ship and Africatown, which was founded by the African survivors who once suffered aboard it. Following a $1.3-million contract to build the approximately 5,000-ft2 museum being approved by the Mobile County Commission in January, Mobile County Commissioner Merceria Ludgood has earmarked money from her district’s capital improvement plan to cover more than half of the projected expenses. Additionally, the City of Mobile is providing $250,000, and a $190,000 contract with SCADPro and Visit Mobile to grow and develop tourism related to Clotilda’s discovery was signed in December 2020 (BBN #20). The Alabama Power Foundation has also presented a grant of unspecified value to the History Museum of Mobile to help develop the exhibit on the sunken schooner within the museum.