Zora Neale Hurston sat on Cudjo Lewis's porch in Mobile, Alabama. She brought peaches, watermelon, ham.

He told her his story. "I want tellee somebody who I is."

He was 86. 

His English was West African. The rhythm of Dahomey. Yoruba cadence.

She transcribed it. Every word. Every pause.

When she tried to publish it, Viking Press said yes. With one condition. Change his voice to standard English. 

Hurston refused.

The manuscript sat for 87 years.

2018. Barracoon was published.

Cudjo Lewis's voice. Intact.

Image Credit: Lois Hurston Gaston, Barbara Hurston Lewis, and Faye Hurston