This book is based on Hurston's interviews of Cudjo Lewis, a man who was brought to the US on the infamous Clotilda. He tells of his experiences being captured, his time as an enslaved person, and his hopes that he might be able to return home to Africa in the decades after emancipation. He talks about his many losses, including a son who was lynched. He suffered so much and struggled in recounting and retelling his life story to Hurston. This is a heartbreaking and important first hand account.