By Lawrence Specker

Africatown Heritage House – – An Egungun celebration by the African Cultural Alliance of Egbe Oya concludes a dedication of the new Africatown Heritage House and “Clotilda: The Exhibition” on Friday, July 7, 2023, outside the venue in the Africatown community of Mobile, Ala. The dedication occurred one day before the 163rd an- niversary of the slave ship’s arrival to Mobile following a horrific 45-day journey from Africa. The 110 survivors eventually settled in modern-day Africatown, and the Heritage House represents a first-of-its-kind museum that tells their story. (John Sharp).

Mobile’s Africatown Heritage House is one of the 10 best new museums to visit in the United States, according to voters in USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice awards.

The Heritage House opened in July 2023 to great fanfare; pending the construction of a new Africatown Welcome Center, the Heritage House provides a much-needed point of entry for area residents and tourists interested in the story of the slave ship Clotilda and the community founded by survivors of its final voyage. It’s also the first public display of artifacts from the sunken wreck of the Clotilda.

In late November, the Heritage House was included on a ballot of 16 institutions up for Top 10 honors. According to information provided by the History Museum of Mobile, the Heritage House was nominated by travel journalists who’d visited Mobile. Online voting continued through Christmas Day.

In the 10Best list, the Heritage House comes in at No. 9, ahead of the International African American Museum in Charleston, S.C., and behind the Moonshot Museum in Pittsburgh. The list is topped by the Gettysburg Beyond the Battle Museum in Pennsylvania; the full ranking can be found at 10best.usatoday.com.

The blurb for the Heritage House says that “With 2,500 square feet of exhibit space to explore, guests can immerse themselves in the firsthand stories of Africatown residents during a visit,” seeing exhibits that include West African artifacts “in abundance.”

“This museum is reshaping the Africatown community and changing humanity around the world for the better with every new visitor,” said Visit Mobile CEO, David Clark. “The people and heritage of Africatown are one of Mobile’s most poignant stories, and that is saying a great deal for a city more than 300 years old.”

For more on “Clotilda: The Exhibition” at the Africatown Heritage House, visit clotilda.com.

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