Oluale Kossola (abt. 1835 - 1935)

Born about Jan 1835 in Banté region, Benin

Husband of Abile (Unknown) Lewis — married 15 Mar 1880 in Mobile County, Alabama

Descendants

Died 17 Jul 1935 at about age 100 in Africatown, Mobile, Alabama, United States

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Biography

Oluale Kossola is Notable.

Oluale Kossola has Yoruba ancestry.

This profile is part of the Africatown, Alabama One Place Study.

Kossola's father was named Oluwale (or Oluale) and his mother Fondlolu.

"[He] belonged to the Yoruba ethnic group (although the term would not have been used at that time), and lived in the Banté region of what is now Benin."

He was captured by a neighboring ethnic group and sold into slavery in the spring of 1860 arriving in Alabama on this ship Clotilda. ^[1] He remained enslaved by the ship owner Timothy Meaher until the end of the Civil War. During this time he became known as Cudjo Lewis, and historians believe "Lewis" was a corruption of his father's name.

After the war, he may have been among other Clotilda enslaved passengers who attempted unsuccessfully to raise money to return to their homeland. He was among those who settled Africatown -- a self contained community with norms based on their African heritage.

Kossola converted to Christianity through a baptist church in 1869.

In the mid 1860s, Kossola joined a common-law marriage with fellow Clotilda passenger Abile aka Celia, formally marrying 15 March 1880. She died in 1905.

Kossola became a naturalized American citizen on October 24, 1868.

In the early 20th century, Kossola served as an informant for scholars and authors, including Emma Langdon Roche, Arthur Huff Fauset, Zora Neale Hurston.

Kossola is buried at the Plateau Cemetery in Africatown.

Children

1. Aleck aka Elick Iyadjemi Lewis (1866–1908)
2. James Ahnonotoe Lewis (1868 – unknown)
3. Pollee Dahoo Lewis (1870 – unknown)
4. David Adeniah Lewis (1870 – unknown)
5. Cudjoe Feïchtan Lewis (1872–1902) shot by a sheriff's deputy
6. Celia Ebeossi Lewis (1876–1891)

Slave Owner

Unknown

Sources

1. ↑ Hurston, Zola Neal. Barracoon:The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4V3-K4X : 24 December 2015), Alabama > Mobile > Whistler > ED 116 > image 49 of 50; citing NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9DF-7Q3 : accessed 17 December 2021), Kudjoe Louis, Precinct 9 Whistler (part), Mobile, Alabama, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 87, sheet 8A, family 161, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,031.
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MK7K-PVK : accessed 17 December 2021), Cudjoe Lewis, Precinct 9, Mobile, Alabama, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 69, sheet 13A, family 278, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 26; FHL microfilm 1,374,039.
• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXDS-F3D : 31 January 2021), Cugo Lewis, 1920.
• "Alabama Deaths, 1908-1974", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JD5K-QF8 : 11 January 2021), Cudjo Lewis, 1935.
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/ : accessed 17 December 2021), memorial page for Cudjoe Kazoola Lewis Sr. (Jul 1839–26 Jul 1935), Find A Grave: Memorial #27752396, citing Plateau Cemetery, Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama, USA ; Maintained by MEHistory (contributor 15743834) .
• Wikipedia contributors. Cudjoe Lewis. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:04, May 9, 2018, from Wikidata: Item Q3699185, en:Wikipedia
• Lewis, Kossola Cudjo (c. 1841–1935) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed (http://www.blackpast.org/aah/lewis-kossola-cudjo-c-1841-1935)
• Cudjo Lewis (http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1403)
• https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/23/us/clotilda-last-slave-ship-trnd/index.html