navigating the potential of human achievement
The mission of Amistad America is to teach the important lessons of history inherent in the Amistad incident of 1839. Amistad serves as an enduring symbol of unity and the human struggle for freedom. In shedding light on the facts of our collective history and the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade.
The Amistad tours ports throughout the Atlantic basin that have historical significance to the story of the Atlantic slave trade. Amistad has sailed to Africa, England,Canada,
Portugal and the Caribbean.
Amistad America provides a peaceful means by which individuals and communities can learn together and address the issues of racism and intolerance with a positive goal of building bridges of mutual respect and understanding.
Amistad America Inc. is an internationally recognized non-profit educational organization headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut. We own and operate the traditional wooden schooner S/V Amistad, the official flagship and tall ship ambassador of the State of Connecticut.
THE AMISTAD STORY - KNOW YOUR HISTORY!
The incident involved the lives of 53 human beings captured illegally in West Africa as greed propelled the continuation of an outlawed transatlantic slave trade. Their transit across the Atlantic aboard the slave ship, Tecora, illegal sale in Havana, and revolt aboard the coastal schooner, La Amistad, led to a lengthy, controversial and often bitter court battle, one that spurred heated debate in the courts of legal and public opinion, shining a bright light on the at the pivotal issue-- human freedom vs. the brutal institution of slavery itself.
In 1839, 53 Africans were illegally kidnapped from West Africa and sold into the transatlantic slave trade. Shackled aboard the Portuguese slave vessel, Tecora, the 49 men and four children (three girls and a boy) were smuggled into Havana, Cuba, where they were fraudulently classified as Cuban-born slaves. They were illegally purchased by Spaniards Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montez, who planned to transfer the captives to another part of the island where they would work in slavery on the sugar plantations.
Ruiz and Montez, five crew and the 53 captives boarded the coastal cargo schooner, La Amistad but on the morning of July 2nd, 1839 Sengbe Pieh, a 25 year old rice farmer, led a revolt. Using a spike found in the deck, Sengbe escaped his shackles , freed the other captives and took control of the ship. Two crew and two African captives were killed. Two other crew escaped in a small boat .
After the initial revolt, an arduous journey followed as the Africans endeavored to make their way home. Exhausted and without adequate provisions, eight of the Africans fell ill and died. Sengbe ordered the Spaniards to sail the vessel east toward the rising sun and by day, Ruiz and Montez obeyed his directive. By night, however, they sailed west and after 63 days, the zigzag journey ended when La Amistad was spotted by the U.S. Naval ship, Washington, off the coast of Montauk Point, Long Island. On August 26th the vessel was brought into New London Connecticut.
The captives were charged with murder and piracy and jailed in New Haven. In an effort to reduce the tendancy to romanticize the events which followed, it should be noted that the conditions to which the Africans were subjected during the ensuing months defied and degraded their human rights and human dignity .The 36 male captives lived in cramped ,unsanitary conditions in a 20 by 30 foot space, gawked at by curious Connecticut residents who wanted a look at the "savages" at the center of a controversy in their midst. The three little girls were housed with the jailer and his wife. Little is known about their treatment while there.
Nevertheless, during the 19 months of trial , appeal, and waiting, the controversey continued to grow and abolitionist ferver mounted as the case wound its way through the courts, taking on historic proportions when former President John Quincy Adams argued the case, ending in a decision for the African's freedom. It became the first civil rights case argued and won on behalf of Africans in the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1841, the 35 surviving Africans, with the support of funds from abolitionists, boarded the vessel, Gentleman in New York and returned to their homeland and what is now known as Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa.
