Mobile in Mobile County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)
The UNESCO Slave Route: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage
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Honoring the Memory of the Ancestors
Photographed by Mark Hilton, December 5, 2020
1. The UNESCO Slave Route: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage Marker
The promotion of the memorial heritage related to the slave trade and slavery plays a decisive role not only in educating the general public, and young people in particular, but also in facilitating national reconciliation and social cohesion processes in societies.
It is in this perspective that ‘The Slave
this page online
This site fulfills the quality criteria set by the UNESCO Slave Route Project in conjunction with the International Network of Managers of Sites and Itineraries of Memory.
Mobile, AL is a documented Middle Passage arrival site where a national history can be traced regarding the social, economic and cultural connections African captive people and their descendants have made to the architecture, arts, industry, language, legal system and economy in U.S. society.
Ship • Year • Embarkation Location/# of Captives • Middle Passage Deaths • # Disembarked
Africane • 1721 • Guinea/240 • 120 • 120
Marie • 1721 • Africa/338
Neride • 1721 • Angola/350 • 112 • 238
Expedition • 1723 • Goree/100 • • 91
Clotilda • 1860 • Kingdom of Dahomey/110
Photographed by John Bloomfield, December 22, 2019
2. Honoring The Memory Of The Ancestors Marker
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Sacramental Records document the June 11, 1707 baptism of Jean Baptiste, a 5-year-old person of African descent owned by Mobile’s city founder, Jean Baptist Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville. He was also recorded as the child’s Godfather.
Ft Conde. The brick reconstructed wooden fort was started in 1723 and completed in 1730 by enslaved Africans and Native Americans. Five brick masons were among the first free Persons of Color. O arch 1724, Bienville issued Black Codes modeled from St. Dominique.
John Ragland’s Slave Market. Enslaved captives were brought into Mobile via the Mobile River, unloaded and held in a three-story building until auctioned.
Africatown. Near this site in Mobile, AL, the last documented cargo of Africans landed in 1860 via the schooner Clotilda and marked the final recorded attempt to import Africans to the U.S. for the purpose of slavery. After the Civil War, when the Clotilda’s African survivors were freed, they established a separate community: Africatown. In 2019, the Clotilda was found
Photographed by John Bloomfield
3. MPCPMP Table for Mobile, Alabama
Sources - Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, Emory University, Archives of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Mobile, AL; The Dora Franklin Finley African-American Heritage Trail of Mobile (DFFAAHT) www.dffaaht. org
The Union Baptist Church. Organized in 1869 and founded by the African survivors of the Clotilda.
Africatown/Plateau Cemetery. When many of the African survivors of the Clotilda died, they were buried in this final resting place.
Wallace Turnage. In August 1864, during the Battle of Mobile Bay, this 17-year-old self-emancipated slave paddled a rowboat into the Bay where Union Navy gunboat sailors saved him and took him to Ft. Gaines where he was freed.
Erected 2019 by Dora Franklin Finley African-American Heritage Trail of Mobile.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Indigenous Peoples and Communities • Industry & Commerce. In addition, it is included in the Dora Franklin Finley African-American Heritage Trail of Mobile series list. A significant historical date for this entry is June 11, 1707.
Location. 30° 41.442′ N, 88° 2.247′ W. Marker is in Mobile, Alabama, in Mobile County. It can be reached from Water Street south of Government Street (Alabama Route 16), on the right when traveling
Photographed by Mark Hilton, December 5, 2020
4. View from marker down the Mobile River towards Mobile Bay.
Replica Columbus ship, the Pinta can be seen moored in far background.
Regionally, this marker is in Alabama’s Gulf Coast and in Mobile Bay. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, and on the Gulf Coast. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain, the Viceroyalty of New France, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Alexis de Tocqueville (here, next to this marker); U.S. Coast Guard Monument (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); 10" Rifled Sea Coast Columbiad (about 700 feet away); City Hall (approx. 0.2 miles away); Mobile's First Mardi Gras Parade (approx. 0.2 miles away); "Damn The Torpedoes!" The Campaigns for Mobile, 1864 - 1865 (approx. 0.2 miles away); The Pelican Girls
Photographed by Mark Hilton, December 5, 2020
5. Honoring The Memory Of The Ancestors Marker view towards downtown Mobile.
Another marker is no longer nearby. Admiral Raphael Semmes, CSA (was approx. 0.2 miles away but has been permanently removed).
Regarding The UNESCO Slave Route: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage / Honoring the Memory of the Ancestors. Mobile was founded in 1702 by Pierre Le Moyne Sieurd’Iberville and his brother Jean Baptist Le Moyne Sieurd’Iberville. The early French settlers lived on 27 Mile Bluff then moved south to a flat piece of land known as Fort Conde. Shortly after French arrival, a ship bringing enslaved Africans landed. A brick fort built by African and Native enslaved workers started in 1723 and ended in 1730. Five brick masons were among the first Free Persons of Color in the settlement. In March 1724, Bienville issued Black Codes modeled after St. Dominique (Haiti) that regulated behavior and laws governing enslaved Africans and their descendants. .Many of the French and African descendants still live on the land deeded to their ancestors at Mon Louis Island. Others live at Mobile’s first settlements, Chastang and Mount Vernon.
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the oldest church in Mobile, contains documents of the births, deaths, and marriages of the French, Spanish, and African residents. Prior to the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), data of enslaved Africans and those of African descent were in diocese records. This notation is the earliest written record of a person of African descent:“ . . . . on 11 June, 1707, I baptized Jean Baptiste, a Negro belonging to Mr. Bienville of about five years of age. Godparents were Jean Baptist Le Sieur and Marie Le Sieur.” It was signed by H. Roulleaux de la Vente, Pastor, Archdiocese of Mobile. Trading in enslaved Africans became a principal business of Mobile. Arriving in Mobile Bay captive people were unloaded and auctioned at John Ragland’s Slave Market.
Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker.
Additional keywords. Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project; human trafficking; Trans-Atlantic Trade; UNESCO Routes of Enslaved Peoples (Slave Route Project); UNESCO Site of Memory; International Coalition Site of Conscience
Credits. This page was last revised on April 27, 2026. It was originally submitted on April 5, 2020, by John Bloomfield of Palm Coast, Florida. This page has been viewed 1,182 times since then and 143 times this year. Last updated on April 27, 2026, by Kaycee Hailey of Charlotte, North Carolina. Photos: 1. submitted on December 5, 2020, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. 2, 3. submitted on April 5, 2020, by John Bloomfield of Palm Coast, Florida. 4, 5. submitted on December 5, 2020, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.
