Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

The Appendix in Barracoon has two parts. The first, “Takkoi or Attako—Children’s Game,” is Hurston’s description of some games played in Africa, likely based on Kossola’s description of them. The second, “Stories Kossula Told Me,” consists of seven stories, some titled and some not, that are tales Kossola told Hurston. These tales are written in the same style as the rest of Barracoon—transcribed consistent with Kossola’s manner of speech. Hurston begins that section of the Appendix with her same narrative framing, describing how she was sitting with Kossola in his home when he began telling her stories about Africa. From then on, the stories begin right away, without any framing.

This section of the appendix describes a two-player memory game. A kernel of corn is placed within each of three circles drawn on the ground separated by lines. One player turns their back and both players go through, saying the name of each circle and establishing that there is corn in each of them. As they repeat this recitation, the second player removes one piece of corn at a time from a random circle and tells the first player. The first player’s job is to remember—without seeing—which circles have corn and which don’t.