Karlos Finley, Executive Director of the Africatown Redevelopment Corporation (ARC), was Hope Community’s featured speaker at the September 24th public meeting.
Karlos Finley, Executive Director of the Africatown Redevelopment Corporation (ARC), was Hope Community’s featured speaker at the September 24th public meeting. Mr. Finley shared about the ARC and its mission to “revitalize housing, preserve history, and attract/develop commerce in the area known as the Africatown Historic District in Mobile, Alabama.”
Mr. Finley’s gave a riveting and inspiring presentation, and the large audience had a myriad of questions following his speaking. He shared a brief video showing the history of Africatown and how enslaved Africans were brought to Mobile, AL on the last known slave ship, the Clotida. In 1860, Captain William Foster smuggled 110 enslaved Africans from Dahomey into Mobile Bay on the Clotilda. The ship was burned to hide evidence of the crime and allow the wealthy perpetrators to escape prosecution. When the enslaved Africans were freed after the Civil War, they founded Africatown, then called Plateau. In May, 2019, the remains of the Clotilda were discovered in the Tensaw-Mobile River Delta. The discovery of the slave ship has encouraged cultural heritage tourism and is helping to revitalize Africatown. Mr. Finley pointed out that Cultural heritage tourism is a popular and fast-growing segment of the tourism industry, accounting for around 40% of all tourism worldwide.
There are two documentaries about Africatown and the Clotilda (National Geographic and Netflix), and CBS’s 60-Minutes featured a special on it with Anderson Cooper in 2022. The Clotilda’s discovery and media attention has given Africatown and ARC an opportunity to create a vibrant cultural heritage tourism attraction, including the Africatown Heritage House.
Mr. Finley’s family connection to Africatown reflects a long line of service and vibrant contributions to the Mobile and Africatown communities. He participated in the active practice of law for over 20 years prior to accepting the position with the Africatown Redevelopment Corporation. His family’s roots in the city of Mobile date back to the 1860’s. His grandfather, Dr. James A. Franklin, Sr. (Franklin Primary Health Center, Inc.) and grandmother Dora Franklin moved to Mobile in 1919. Dr. Franklin served the medical needs of the residents living in the Africatown Community. His parents were both educators. His mother, a student at Mobile County Training School would become a history teacher in Mobile and the first teacher to teach Black History in the Mobile County Public School System. His father started his collegiate career at The Mobile Branch of Alabama State Teachers’ College (Now Bishop State Community College) and continued his education at Xavier University of New Orleans and became a pharmacist. He returned to Mobile and opened the first chain of African American drug stores (Finley’s Drug Stores) in the State of Alabama. The fourth store opened was in the Africatown Community of Happy Hill in 1965.
To view dates and details for upcoming public meetings, visit our events calendar.