The Civil War and Utah, Slave Narratives and "Barracoon"

The Civil War And The Utah Question Guest: Ken Alford, PhD, Professor of Church History, Brigham Young University Utah’s very existence was a serious part of the political debate in the years leading up to the Civil War. Had you be reading national newspapers as South Carolina was preparing to secede from the union, you’d also see references to “Utah” popping up in those stories. And in turn, Utahns were deeply affected by the conflict and did not sit out the war. Kossula’s Story of Enslavement, Published 87 Years After It Was Written Guest: Deborah G. Plant, PhD, Literary Critic, Editor of “Barracoon: The Story of the Last ‘Black Cargo’” written by Zora Neale Hurston During the mid-1800s in America, memoirs written by formerly enslaved people such as Frederick Douglass and Solomon Northup were best-selling books. A new slave narrative has just been published. “Barracoon: The Story of the Last ‘Black Cargo’” was written by ethnographer and novelist Zora Neale Hurston, based on her interviews with Cudjo Lewis. When they spoke in 1927, Lewis was 86 and one of the last people alive in America to have come across the Atlantic on a slave ship.  Where “Barracoon” Fits in the Long Legacy of Slave Narratives Guests: Matthew Mason, PhD, Professor of History, Brigham Young University; Kristin L. Matthews, PhD, Professor of English, Brigham Young University The new book “Barracoon” tells the story of Cudjo Lewis, who was kidnapped from his village in Africa and sold into slavery in Alabama. It was written by Zora Neale Hurston – the famous ethnographer and Harlem Renaissance novelist – but has only just been published posthumously. How does “Barracoon” fit in with the other slave narratives that shape our understanding of this time period?