Amistad Rebellion

Cinque also learned only a few words, as opposed to the whole american language, which Olaudah did. “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” focuses more on the harsh conditions on the slave ships while the “Amistad” story spends more time on the trial that set the slave free. Olaudah Equiano fought against slavery in England while Cinque and the Africans of the Amistad became a symbol of freedom for the abolitionist movement in Pre-Civil War America.

Once placed on the ship he was placed in horrible conditions and became fearful for his life. When unable to eat due to sickness from foul living conditions below deck, he was held by one man and flogged horribly by another, until he ate. Upon arrival at Barbados, the slaves were examined and then placed back in the hold to await morning. When taken to shore, they were placed like cattle in pens to be sold. Families were separated, and no regard was given for fear or emotions of the people they sold into slavery.

Slave trade had been outlawed in the United States colonies for almost 30 years and in Spain for 19. Feeling something was wrong with the stories surrounding this vessel, Mr. Hollabird ordered a judicial hearing. The call for the hearing was not out of concern for the Africans, but, Mr. Hollabird, as a representative of the law, had to follow legal procedures of an investigation. The matter of murder, piracy, salvage rights and more sent this case to trial, and the Africans were placed in detainment under the custody of the US Marshall. The case appeared before Judge Andrew Judson.

This paper will focus on how slave revolts in the Caribbean and America have affected these countries and the aftermath they caused to their mother countries which greatly impacted the outcome for people of African American descent. Since the very beginning of time mankind has been enslaving one another for centuries. In American around the time the Civil War the south justified slavery by saying that slaves were needed for industrial help such as the industry of cotton picking, they also

In the 19th century there a two floored schooner named La Amistad, which is Spanish for “Friendship”. This schooner was built in the United States of American and was used by Cuba. In July 1839 there was a slave revolt led by captives from Sierra Leone. La Amistad was transporting these people to use as slave labor in Cuba. A man by the name of Cinque creatively used a nail to unlock his chains, and then his fellow captives. They were able to take control of the ship after having to kill the captain and other crew members that wouldn’t submit to their rule. They forcibly ordered the remaining crew to sail them back to Africa. The captives were outsmarted by the captives whom had control over the schooner’s directions. The remaining Spanish crew stir the ship to the coast of Long Island. The Mende people were arrested and imprisoned in Connecticut, were they waited during the court proceedings. Now is when the controversy began. The Spanish and there government ordered the U.S to return the slaves and there schooner as property. At the time in the U.S. slave trade was illegal so the U.S. governemnt refused to send back the Africans because technically there were free and not property. The court case United States v. Amistad in 1941 gained much popularity due to the subject matter of ownership and jurisdiction.

Only a few times have a large group of rebel slaves gained freedom. One of the most famous cases took place aboard a slave ship called the Amistad, located off the Cuban coast in 1839.

The sailor that was read about, Joseph Banfield, has a rather interesting and terrifying experience. At first, however, everything is going fine. Then, he was left behind at one of the trading spots by the larger vessel that he traveled on with the rest of his crew. Once he was reaquainted with his boat and crew, the journey could be continued, and it was. Bad weather soon caused turmoil during his next journey to Africa, and it disturbed the routine of the boat, for they could not get to the enslaved men in the lower decks to feed them. So, several slaves died, whereas the rest of the slaves were sold for a low price. The weather caused them to lose sight of their paths, but they soon saw land ahead and disembarked there. Once there, they were approached by natives of the land and were thought to be a threat. Once it was communicated that they were no harm to the indigenous people, they were welcomed into the civilization that was established there. They were offered food and clothing, both of which they were lacking for the past several days due to the horrible weather. News had gotten around that this sailor, Joseph Banfield, was stuck here. Then, a fellow slave trader, and the wife of the Governor of Fort James, came here to free him and put a slave in his place. The man who was taking care of Banfield refused a slave in his place, but his refusal was quickly taken back when the trader threatened to destroy his town if a slave was not

Joseph J. Ellis’ American Creation thoroughly explained the attitude that many of the Founding Fathers had towards slavery. Although they knew slavery was immoral and went against what they believed it, they were unsure how to solve the problem. The Founders came up with three main solutions; shipping the slaves back to Africa or the West Indies, gradually liberating the slaves, or postponing a solution and allowing the next generation to deal with finding one. With the first two possible solutions, the Founders came up with economic, political, and social consequences, which led them to choose the third.

Ringold, Robert Smith, John Henry, and three other mixed race people had a slightly more difficult journey due to the size of their party. Their former slave owner sent out a notice immediately to retrieve his slaves. $1300 was offered for their capture. Their group still managed to reach the anti-slavery office even with the large reward for their capture.

In sharp contrast to what most people think, “only about 6 percent of the slaves imported in Africa ended up in what is now the United States.” Most of those taken from Africa ended up, if they survived the long sea voyage, in the West

African-Americans have been oppressed since their arrival in America in 1619. Due to their differences in physical characteristics, Whites considered them an inferior race and therefore treated them as property, disregarding their human rights. After many years of exploitation and abuse, in 1791, slaves on the small island of Hispaniola revolted against French rule and successfully gained their freedom in 1804. It gave hope to African American slaves who, in turn, decided to stand against their masters and gain their freedom. Every one of those rebellions was extremely violent. They were so passionate about the cause and have been oppressed for so long that they targeted

The dramatic story of the Amistad, which was featured in a major motion picture that opened in December, is found among the court records at the National Archives - Northeast Region at Waltham, MA, and in the Supreme Court records at the National Archives in Washington, DC. In 1839, 53 African natives were kidnapped .from an area now known as Sierra Leone and illegally sold into the Spanish slave trade. They were transported to Havana, Cuba and sold at auction as native Cuban slaves to two "Spanish gentlemen." The Spaniards were transporting the Africans and other cargo to another part of Cuba on board the Spanish schooner Amistad when the Africans staged a revolt, seizing control of the schooner, killing the captain and the cook, and driving off the rest of the crew. The two "Spanish gentlemen" were ordered to sail back to Africa. By day, the Spaniards sailed eastward and by night they surreptitiously sailed westward, hoping to land back in Cuba or the southern United States. The ship was seized and towed to New London, Connecticut, where the imprisoned Africans began a lengthy legal battle to win back their

Long time ago a ship called Amistad, brought slaves all the way from Cuba to the United States of America on the date of 1839. The ship called Amistad transported African slaves who had been sold as slaves in Cuba. In Cuba there was like a huge concentration camp which had many slaves which were carried on

Prior to the Amistad being detained there was an uprising. A couple Africans killed “the captain and the cook.” However, they let the planters live and “ordered them to sail to Africa.” Once the boat was seized by an American military vessel, the planters were freed and the blacks were put in prison. They were charged with murder, however, that charge was dropped. The case, which became known as the Amistad Case, became more of a property rights case. Did Cuba, Spain, and whoever else claimed that these blacks belonged to them, have the right to own them and enslave them? In the movie, the young lawyer, named Baldwin struggled to win the case the first time around, because he did not have enough evidence to prove that the blacks were in fact from Africa

The United States, Africa, the Middle East and mostly all of the countries around the world have been known to in some shape or form to inhabit slaves and to engage in the business of slave trading. According to the text, in 1619 there were a small group of people, 32 to be exact that reached the shores of America in the Chesapeake (D. Hine, W. Hine and Harrold, 55). It has been long believed that this was the first group of African Americans in British North America; apart of a group who was taken from their home in Angola. Unfortunately during this time, it became apparent that the slaves and those of African descent would be apart of “chattel slavery,” a term coined by the British in the Chesapeake in reference to the enslaved being treated equally to that of the livestock and thus legally treated as property (57). Though the Emancipation Proclamation wouldn’t be a key event until 1863 that would ultimately “free the slaves,” there was a revolt thousands of years earlier by slaves that would lay the ground work for those like them in the future.