Lives Less Ordinary - The secrets of a slave ship in an Alabama swamp

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Journalist Ben Raines went in search of a sunken ship with a dark history.

A phone call out of the blue had set him on his hunt for the Clotilda, an American vessel that had illegally transported enslaved West African people to the US. On arrival it had been burnt, and hidden deep in the Alabama swamp. The story of the ship and its passengers had been kept alive by generations of people descended from those who had been enslaved. But these inherited histories were shrouded in secrecy, fear, and silence - seldom spoken of outside that community. So, when Ben dived into the swamp to find the Clotilda, it was more than a shipwreck that bubbled to the surface. Emily Webb speaks to Ben Raines and descendant Garry Lumbers about their intertwining stories.

Presenter: Emily Webb
Producer: Emily Webb and Olivia Lynch-Kelly
Editor: Munazza Khan

Published on Monday, 26th December 2022.

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