In 2019, the remains of the last known slave ship, The Clotilda, were discovered. TIME spoke to filmmaker Margaret Brown on her new documentary, 'Descendant' which features descendants of the ship
There’s an argument that it wasn’t just discovered in 2019. It was sort of an open secret. Obviously the Meaher family knew exactly where it was. And I think the community [ofdescendants] kind of knew where it was. There’s a scene where [the descendants] are having a celebration under the bridge next to all the chemical plants Emmett points [to] where it is. So there’s this general idea of whereThe documentary delves into the environmental issues Africatown faces.
There’s industrial zoning around populated residential areas of Africatown, and when you go there, it’s really loud. It’s really smelly. You get a headache when you’re in the graveyard because it’s next to an asphalt plant. There’s this legacy of the Meaher family leasing land to heavy industry that surrounds this group of people they brought to this country illegally. I think there’s Africatowns all over the country with stories like that.I thought it was really interesting that you took time in the documentary to focus on scuba diving lessons that the children ofThe way Kamau [Sadiki, marine archaeologist] explains it, it’s like sort of reclaiming the water.
, and scuba diving actually opens up all of these career paths. It gives you confidence in the water, it teaches you how to swim. These [children] could be the future people who dive toAre there any myths you are trying to debunk or misconceptions you want to set the record straight on with this documentary?
When they did find the ship, suddenly there was this artifact that was very powerful…When we started filming, there would be white people that would say off-camera, ”well, those people [Black descendants ofcaptives] are just like making that up for attention.” They wouldn’t say it on camera, but they would say it off camera. We’d be like, “Would you like to speak on that?” [And the white people would say,] “No.