Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

The following day, Hurston picks Kossola up in her car. As they ride, Kossola tells her about an African woman named Abila, who went by the name Seely in the US. Returning to his telling his life story, he explains that this was a woman he wanted to marry. When he asked her if she’d marry him, she agreed, and they were married one month later. Afterward, they converted to Christianity. The church told them that they needed a marriage license, so they got one. Kossola explains that back home in Africa there was no need for a marriage license. Kossola and his wife had five sons and one daughter, all of whom grew up, leaving him lonely. Each of his children received an African name and an alternative American name. He gave each of them his last name, a practice that he says they didn’t have where he was from in Africa. His children faced bullying as they grew up because they were African. This led his sons to get into fights. The people in town complained to Kossola about the boys’ fighting, but he told them that his sons fought only because people were provoking them. The people in Africa Town built a schoolhouse and got a teacher from the county.