Bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi talks adaptation of 'Barracoon' in return to Gainesville

New York Times bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi spoke to over 100 people during his stop in Gainesville on Friday to discuss his adaptation for young readers of Zora Neale Hurston’s acclaimed non-fiction work, "Barracoon."

Gainesville is one of 11 cities on Kendi’s book tour and the discussion was held at Lincoln Middle School at 1001 SE 12 St.

The discussion was moderated by Deborah G. Plant, the book’s editor.

"Barracoon: The Story of the 'Last Black Cargo'" was first published in 2018 — 87 years after Hurston completed the book — and tells the true-life story of Cudjoe Lewis, one of the last survivors of the Atlantic slave trade.

Plant asked Kendi why he selected "Barracoon" as one of the books to adapt to youth.

“I don’t feel like Zora Neale Hurston received her due in anti-racist work,” Kendi said. “As an American legend, it is important to read her work early on. We have all these books based from Langston Hughes, why not have books based from Zora Neale Hurston's work.”

Plant also asked Kendi about the state of Black history and why it is important now more than ever to teach it.

Black Studies: Annual national Black Studies conference to be hosted by UF from Wednesday through Saturday

“We’re living in a time where books about slavery are being banned and the teachings of it are being altered by political propagandists and there’s not that much material for youth about slavery to begin with,” Kendi said.

“Adults and kids learn best through personal and life stories. The message in this story is powerful for children to learn.”

It is important for children to see the life of an enslaved man and how he triumphed over challenges throughout history, Kendi said.

“African American history does not begin in slavery, it began in Africa,” Kendi said. “Slavery did not end during Emancipation, it transformed through the Jim Crow era.”

Husrton’s skill in being a folklorist helped in the preservation of African American history, Kendi said.

“The preservation of Cudjoe’s voice was absolutely critical,” Kendi said. “There were not many historical figures whose life stories were told from Africa to Africatown (in Alabama).”

“One of her (Hurston’s) jobs was not only to study culture but to preserve culture through Cudjoe’s story,” Kendi said. “You can’t preserve their story without preserving their language. She had no problem showing the full range of Black people.”

Latashia Grimm attended the event with her 9-year-old daughter.

“There needs to be more events like this,” Brimm said. “His discussion validated how we felt and it showed her how she can get a better understanding of herself as a Black girl growing up in Gainesville. I love how the book is adapted to children in her age group to know what happened in the past.”

The late Lewis was 86 when he shared with Hurston his memories as a child in Africa, the raid of his village, being captured, and his time in a barracoon before being sold into slavery and transported across the Atlantic to the United States.

Barracoons were the jails where traders kept enslaved people.

The book by Hurston, who died in January 1960, was named Time Magazine's Best Nonfiction Book of 2018.

In Kendi's adaptation, he said he uses “age-appropriate historical context" to bring Lewis' story to young readers for the first time. The book is illustrated by Jazzmen Lee-Johnson.

Kendi won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2016 while at the University of Florida for his work "Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America." The book was adapted into a graphic novel this year with the help of comic artist Joel Christian Gill.

Other works by Kendi include "How to Be an Antiracist" (2019), "Antiracist Baby" (2020), "Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, (2021)" and "Goodnight Racism" (2022.)

The discussion was followed by a Q&A session with pre-selected questions from the audience.

Matheson History Museum President Robert Mounts welcomed the audience to the discussion.

“Our mission is to preserve and interpret Gainesville and Alachua County history,” Mounts said. “I’m so glad we’re hosting events like this to preserve history.”

Kendi is a former assistant professor of African American History at UF and founder and director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Ibram X. Kendi discusses adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s "Barracoon."