‘Rooted in Resilience’: Africatown mural honors Clotilda survivors, inspires students

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A mural honoring Africatown's history and Mobile County Training School was unveiled during a ceremony on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at the school in Mobile, Ala. The mural carries the message,

Cleon Jones, chairman of the Africatown Community Development Corp. and a member of the New York Mets Hall of Fame, stands next to his wife, Angela, during a mural dedication ceremony honoring Africatown's history and the Mobile County Training School on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at the school in Mobile, Ala. A graduate of Mobile County Training School, Jones played baseball and football there before launching a Major League Baseball career that culminated with the 1969

A mural honoring Africatown's history and Mobile County Training School was unveiled during a ceremony on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at the school in Mobile, Ala. The mural carries the message,

Cleon Jones, chairman of the Africatown Community Development Corp. and a member of the New York Mets Hall of Fame, speaks during a mural dedication ceremony honoring Africatown's history and the Mobile County Training School on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at the school in Mobile, Ala. A graduate of Mobile County Training School, Jones played baseball and football there before launching a Major League Baseball career that culminated with the 1969

Cleon Jones, Angela Jones and School Board membe Reginal Crenshaw. The mural serves as a homage to Africatown's historic roots which includes the historic school founded in 1880 by descendants of the Clotilda survivors that is widely recognized as Alabama's oldest county training school for Black students and the first public high school for Black students in Mobile.

Enirque Lopez, a 2015 graduate of Mary G. Montgomery High School, speaks during an unveiling and dedication ceremony of a mural he painted inside the library at the Mobile County Training School in Mobile, Ala. The ceremony occurred on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, and spotlighted a mural that tells the rich history of Africatown and the historic school that was first discovered in the 1880s.

A mural honoring Africatown's history and Mobile County Training School was unveiled during a ceremony on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at the school in Mobile, Ala. The mural carries the message,

Cleon Jones, chairman of the Africatown Community Development Corp. and a member of the New York Mets Hall of Fame, along with wife, Angela, speak during a mural dedication ceremony honoring Africatown's history and the Mobile County Training School on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at the school in Mobile, Ala. A graduate of Mobile County Training School, Jones played baseball and football there before launching a Major League Baseball career that culminated with the 1969

A mural honoring Africatown's history and Mobile County Training School was unveiled during a ceremony on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at the school in Mobile, Ala. The mural carries the message,

A mural honoring Africatown's history and Mobile County Training School was unveiled during a ceremony on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at the school in Mobile, Ala. The mural carries the message,

Mobile County School Board member Reginal Crenshaw speaks during a mural unveiling and dedication ceremony on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at the school in Mobile, Ala. The mural is dedicated to the Mobile County Training School and the historic roots of the community that was founded by the survivors of the slave ship Clotilday, which arrived in Mobile in 1860.

A mural dedicated to Africatown's roots and the historic Mobile County Training School was unveiled during a ceremony on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at the middle school located in the heart of the Africatown community in Mobile, Ala. A major part of the mural is a painting of Cudjo Lewis, who was one of the last known survivors of the Clotilda, the final slave ship to bring captive Africans to the United States in 1860. After emancipation, he helped found Africatown near Mobile and became a key storyteller who shared is experiences with writers.

James Patterson, principal of the Mobile County Training School, speaks during a mural unveiling and dedication ceremony on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at the middle school located in the heart of the Africatown community in Mobile, Ala. The mural serves as a homage to Africatown's historic roots which includes the historic school founded in 1880 by descendants of the Clotilda survivors that is widely recognized as Alabama's oldest county training school for Black students and the first public high school for Black students in Mobile.

Cleon Jones, principal James Patterson, Angel Jones, artist Enrique Lopez, and Mobile County School board member Reginald Crenshaw.

The unveiling of a powerful mural inside the library of Mobile County Training School offered a vivid reminder of both where Africatown came from and where it hopes to go.

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