Well, as you all know by now, the recent search for the sunken slave ship, the Clotilda, proved to be negative. However, what was uncovered may turn out to be an even bigger find than the missing last slave ship itself.
Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Mobile County Training School Alumni Association President Anderson Flen and the hard work of alumni George Jackson, Isaac Jones, Cleophas Armstead, Curtis Malone and Alphonso Fairly, the historic tradition of Africatown's freedom bell will live on as a new bell was dedicated on the campus of historic Mobile County Training School on August 23, 2017.
Community Blight can normally be cleared up in two ways: by restoring the structure considered as blight or by tearing it down. Typically, it is easier and cheaper to tear something down than to repair it.
The Africatown Community is different than most African - American Communities because about 50 percent of the community has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places and should be protected and restored at all costs.
The story of Africatown's Bell is a community folklore that has been passed along for years but is based on facts because most Mobile County Training School graduates over the age of 40 have either seen, touched or rang the bell.
(Photo: Oberlin College students at Baheth R & D Laboratories Ltd)
On October 18, 2015, two vans carrying students, teachers and their supplies arrived in Mobile from Oberlin College in Cleveland, Ohio, to learn more about Africatown and assist ongoing efforts to help revive the community.
This was their second trip to Africatown in the past year, which indicate how serious the students, teachers and their school are about how they feel about Africatown and how much they want to see something positive happen for its residents.
When the last shipment of slaves landed in America in 1860, they originally stayed in a camp along the Mobile River inhabited by a group of slaves known as the Moors. That co-habitation did not go well and they eventually moved inland and formed the township of Plateau. They begin buying up land, building schools and churches and expanding the community to about 2,000 acres or about five square miles. Eventually, other former slaves heard about this sanctuary and began moving to Africatown.
One of my favorite television shows today are reruns of the hit series from the 60's called "The Untouchables". The word "Untouchable" referred to the good guys or FBI. Federal Agent Elliot Ness and his crew were given the task of bringing down the Mob led by Al Capone and Frank Nittie. Whenever the Mob wanted to move their operation to another city the first thing they would do is call in their tough guys and give them cases of money to buy out the locals and change any law that could hinder their operation. That way they would be operating within the confines of the "new law".
Some people might stand in the shadow of Mobile, Alabama's Cochran-Africatown Bridge and see nothing but the sprawling tank farms, barges and coal terminals that clutter the Mobile River's banks, stretching northward from south of downtown to historic Africatown and beyond.
It’s a pungent, nauseating smell, so strong you can literally taste it. For nearly two years, it has blanketed the Eight Mile neighborhood of Prichard, Alabama, a predominantly African-American community just outside of Mobile.
Some people might stand in the shadow of Mobile, Alabama's Cochran-Africatown Bridge and see nothing but the sprawling tank farms, barges and coal terminals that clutter the Mobile River's banks, stretching northward from south of downtown to historic Africatown and beyond. 
It’s a pungent, nauseating smell, so strong you can literally taste it. For nearly two years, it has blanketed the Eight Mile neighborhood of Prichard, Alabama, a predominantly African-American community just outside of Mobile.
