[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 149 (Tuesday, September 17, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S5542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 315--MEMORIALIZING THE DISCOVERY OF THE CLOTILDA

  Mr. JONES submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources:

                              S. Res. 315

       Whereas, from 1525 to 1866, the transatlantic slave trade 
     resulted in more than 12,000,000 individuals being taken from 
     their homes in Africa and made to endure the horrors of the 
     Middle Passage to the Americas, where those individuals were 
     forced into enslavement;
       Whereas, on March 2, 1807, Congress enacted legislation 
     banning the importation of enslaved people, which went into 
     effect on January 1, 1808;
       Whereas, in contravention of that ban, the last enslaved 
     Africans forced to endure the voyage to the United States 
     came aboard the Clotilda, which--
       (1) left from Whydah, modern-day Benin, in May of 1860;
       (2) arrived in Port of Pines in Grand Bay, Mississippi, on 
     July 9, 1860; and
       (3) was ultimately brought to Mobile Bay, Alabama, on July 
     14, 1860, carrying 110 individuals, including men, women, and 
     children;
       Whereas, shortly after arrival in Mobile Bay, Alabama, the 
     Captain of the Clotilda scuttled and burned the ship to the 
     waterline in order to conceal the evidence of his crime;
       Whereas, following the end of the Civil War and the 
     emancipation of enslaved Africans, some of the captives 
     brought to the United States aboard the Clotilda settled in 
     the area now known as Africatown, Alabama;
       Whereas, on May 22, 2019, the Alabama Historical Commission 
     and a team of scientists confirmed that a wreckage found in 
     the Twelve Mile Island section of the Mobile River was the 
     Clotilda;
       Whereas, in the 160 years since the Clotilda was brought to 
     Mobile Bay, the residents of Africatown, Alabama, have played 
     a critical role in preserving the unique and important 
     heritage and traditions of their community;
       Whereas the Africatown Historic District was listed on the 
     National Register of Historic Places on December 4, 2012, and 
     is home to a number of important historic sites, including--
       (1) the Mobile County Training School;
       (2) the Old Landmark Baptist Church, now known as the Union 
     Baptist Church; and
       (3) the Africatown Cemetery, where many of the individuals 
     who survived the forced migration to the United States in 
     1860 are buried: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the recent confirmation of the wreckage of the 
     Clotilda, the last slave ship to arrive in the United States, 
     constitutes a monumental discovery of local, national, and 
     international importance and educational value;
       (2) discovery of the Clotilda may serve as an inflection 
     point for meaningful conversation about both past and present 
     injustices;
       (3) the residents of Africatown, Alabama, embody a spirit 
     of resilience and a determination to build a better community 
     for their descendants; and
       (4) all efforts should be made--
       (A) to preserve and protect the Clotilda and associated 
     historic sites in Africatown, Alabama; and
       (B) to use the discovery of the Clotilda to provide 
     education to local, national, and international audiences 
     about--
       (i) the violent history of the transatlantic slave trade;
       (ii) the stories of the last enslaved Africans to arrive in 
     the United States; and
       (iii) the rich and unique history of the community built by 
     the descendants of those individuals.

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