Zora Neale Hurston did a lot of interviews with him in the '30s to write "Barracoon" an ethnographic account of his life in Africa and in America. The account was controversial due to accusations of plagiarism and embellishment, but remains an interesting read today.
In April or May 1860, his village was attacked and Lewis was taken prisoner by female warriors led by King Glele of Dahomey, during an annual dry-season raid for slaves.[10][11] Along with other captives, he was taken to the slaving port of Ouidah and sold to Captain William Foster of the Clotilda, an American ship recently built in Mobile, Alabama, and owned by businessman Timothy Meaher. The importation of slaves into the United States had been illegal since 1808, but slaves were still routinely smuggled in from Spanish Cuba.[12]
After the abolition of slavery and the end of the Civil War, the Clotilda captives tried to raise money to return to their homeland. The men worked in lumber mills and the women raised and sold produce, but they could not acquire sufficient funds.[20] After realizing that they would not be able to return to Africa, the group deputized Lewis to ask Timothy Meaher for a grant of land. When he refused, the members of the community continued to raise money and began to purchase land around Magazine Point.[21] On September 30, 1872, Lewis bought about 2 acres (0.8 hectares) of land in the Plateau area for $100.00 (~$2,543 in 2023).[22]
They developed Africatown as a self-contained, independent black community. The group appointed leaders to enforce communal norms derived from their shared African background. They also developed institutions including a church, a school, and a cemetery. Diouf explains that Africatown was unique because it was both a "black town," inhabited exclusively by people of African ancestry, and an enclave of people born in another country. She writes, "Black towns were safe havens from racism, but African Town was a refuge from Americans."[23]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cudjoe_Lewis
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