Explore Black History

June 11, 2020

Willie Cole created ALL SAILS FINAL at the University of Alabama to honor and memorialize the final voyage in the Atlantic Slave Trade. The crew of the schooner Clotilda illegally transported 110 people from West Africa and transported them to enslavement near Mobile, Alabama. After disembarking, the captain ordered the ship to be burned and sunk, and its ruins were only rediscovered in 2019 along the Mobile River just north of the Mobile Bay Delta. The design of the print echoes the Alabama coat of arms, with the same Latin text that translates to “We dare defend our rights.” Here, however, the Confederate flag is more prominent. A ship appears atop the image and notably, the two eagles are replaced with African men in bondage.

A lithographic print titled, ALL SAILS FINAL, by artist Willie Cole to memorialize the discovery of the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to arrive in the United States, off the coast of Alabama. Printed on thick, deckle-edge white paper against a background of the Confederate flag, the print is a reinterpretation of the coat of arms of Alabama.
In the center, where the flag's two blue bars with white stars intersect, is a shield emblem divided into yellow, red, and green fields with a small blue and red-and-white striped shield from the Great Seal of the United States at the very center. The larger shield is framed with mirror images of illustrated, nude male figures, bound to each other by large iron shackled collar around their necks. The collar has two, long spokes at the back that terminate in hook-shaped barbs that extend into the white border of the lithograph. Centered above the shield is a solid black three-masted barque, or sailing ship, outlined in yellow, and with the text [CLOTILDA] across the side. Below the boat is a patch of blue, representing water. Beneath the shield is a yellow scroll with the Alabama with the state motto, [AUDEMUS JURA NOSTRA DEFENDERE] in black.
Along the bottom margin of the print is a handwritten graphite inscription with [6/11] on the far left, the title [ALL SAILS FINAL] at the center, and the artist’s signature and date on the far right, [Will C 2020]. There are no marks or inscriptions on the verso.

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Visual Arts

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of James D. Sokol and Lydia C. Cheney

National Museum of African American History and Culture

2023.108

lithographs

© Willie Cole
Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

ink on paper

H x W: 22 3/8 × 28 7/8 in. (56.8 × 73.3 cm)

Title • ALL SAILS FINAL

nmaahc_2023.108

NMAAHC

ALL SAILS FINAL

National Museum of African American History and Culture

CC0

2020s

Tuscaloosa County • United States • Tuscaloosa • North and Central America • Alabama

Slavery • Art • American South • Colonies • Trans-Atlantic slave trade • Violence • Illegal slave trade

City • Tuscaloosa • County • Tuscaloosa County • State • Alabama • Country • United States • Continent • North and Central America

Images

Limited Use