The Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation (AHPF) preserves and documents the stories of Africatown, a resilient, history-rich community established and governed entirely by survivors of the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to arrive in the U.S. The nonprofit was founded in 2020 to not only keep alive Africatown’s narratives but help create cultural and economic transformation. Surrounded on three sides by water, Africatown’s residents, 98% of whom are Black, face the worst air quality in Alabama, toxic exposure from four rail lines transporting dangerous chemicals, encroaching port expansion, and pollution from over 30 chemical manufacturers in the Mobile area’s “chemical corridor.” Collaborating with groups such as the Mobile Environmental Justice Coalition and the Clotilda Descendants Association, AHPF is raising awareness about environmental hazards, advocating for policy changes, educating youth on history and culture, and encouraging economic development – all in service of preserving Africatown’s history, as well as its future.
The all-volunteer organization is led and shaped by residents across Africatown’s neighborhoods of Plateau, Magazine Point, Happy Hill, Hog Bayou, and New Quarters. On behalf of residents, young and old, AHPF works to honor the area’s pioneers and strengthen generations to come through its many community-based initiatives. Their Africatown Swim Program provides children with free swim lessons at the area’s only swimming pool, helping build confidence while addressing the disproportionate rate of drowning deaths among Black Americans and working to transform generational attitudes about water safety within the community. At the Africatown/Plateau Cemetery, volunteers are documenting and digitizing information about those buried there, many of whom founded the community. Led by AHPF and Univ. of Southern Alabama’s Archeology Museum, the project involves mapping the cemetery, photographing graves, and creating a searchable online database accessible via QR codes, essentially building digital archives that honor the past while revitalizing the community’s future.
Africatown Summer Swim program, sponsored by AHPF and Mobile Baykeeper, provides free swim lessons three times a week throughout the summer at Kidd Park. Beyond working to ensure local youth can enjoy the local waters safely, swimmers learn about the environmental benefits of seagrass beds while playing the “Seagrass Send Me Over” game and about ocean gyres and marine debris with an “Ocean Commotion” relay race. Photo: Mobile Baykeeper