In a way, Clotilda: The Return Home, a new documentary special coming to National Geographic, is quite familiar. Descendants of two survivors of the last American slave ship return to their ancestral home to find answers and closure. The hour-long journey brings to mind the celebrity ancestry shows that were in fashion for a while, such as Who Do You Think You Are? and Finding Your Roots. Yet, Clotilda is so much more.
Oluale Kossola (renamed Cudjo Lewis when brought to America) might be a familiar name to some. The last living survivor of the last slave ship that brought Africans to the United States (illegally, mind you) was interviewed by famed author Zora Neale Hurston. Her book Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”, while written in the early 1930s, wasn’t released until May of 2018. The descendants of Kossola are the stars of this tale, as they try to fulfill their ancestor's dying wish to return to his homeland. Now known as Benin, the family and National Geographic Explorer Tara Roberts head to the place where Kossola took his last steps on African soil against his wishes.
The climax of the story is a ceremony of bringing the soil from Kossola’s memorial site to the village where he grew up, finally completing a quest that has plagued his spirit since his passing. As an end to the documentary, it’s beyond powerful. A reclamation of how America left emancipated slaves in the dust and a completion of a multi-generational dream.
Yet, as the hour-long run-time whizzes by, the biggest take away is the need to stop ignorance. As the special highlights the multitude of memorials and historical monuments in Benin to recognize the slave trade and the Middle Passage, it brought to mind the solemn reminder of the Holocaust that permeates throughout Germany. Nowhere does either location try to hide the truth; both Germany and Benin seek to highlight their nation’s wrongdoings and put a spotlight on their darkest moments as a caution for the future. The family walks into barracks where slaves were shackled and treated as less than animals. The family visits a memorial on the coast of Benin that represents the final door closing on many leaving their African homeland. All of these reminders are, no question, heart-breaking. However, they remain essential.
At one point, the family visits with royal descendants to discuss the nature of Kossola’s humanity being stripped away. Shockingly, the monarchal descendants laugh. They gaslight and say that Benin has never sold someone into slavery. The struggle for the observation of the truth is not just a national issue, but a global one. Slavery happened. Millions died in the travel, millions died at the hands of slave owners, millions died from grief. All of these are facts. Facts should remain as such and continue to be discussed openly and frequently. I learned things about the slave trade during this hour-long episode that I believe should’ve been taught in schools.
As I watched these descendants explore their lineage in such tactile ways, I yearn for millions of other Americans to be able to find the same closure as Kossola’s family. That path to familial enlightenment can’t happen without recognition of a past, no matter how vile it may be. Slavery is part of the fabric of our country. So, when we wave the flag, why ignore part of the fabric that used to make it?
Clotilda: The Return Home premieres June 17th at 9pm ET on National Geographic. It streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.