Historical Inaccuracies In Le Amistad

Though slavery is taught throughout ones education, the severeness of it isn’t usually explained how the documentary Africans in America: The Terrible Transformation explains it. Throughout school, students typically don’t examine how the racial prejudice that was associated with slavery was horrific in so many different ways. This documentary allows viewers to be

At the beginning of the movie, a slave ship, named La Amistad, transporting illegal slaves from Cuba was conquered by the slaves. Cinque, an illegal slave, demands that the Spanish owners take them back to Africa. At a stop to get water, the ship was discovered by Americans. The slaves were transported to America and thrown in jail. They are trialed for murder.

Not so long ago few Americans spoke of slavery – which was swept under the rug until the civil rights movement in the 1950s. The shame of slavery gradually rose to public consciousness over the last five decades. Now the topic appears everywhere, in movies, television documentaries and academia. Nearly every major museum has mounted an exhibition on slavery. This issue has become an integral part of the foundation for understanding America’s past. With specific attributes, slavery is distinct from all other forms of oppression, giving it a unique place in human history. Many consider Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) as the best among anti-slavery propaganda that appeared with increasing frequency during the years preceding the Civil War. The primary reason of its appeal is the unsurpassed clarity of Douglass’ writing, which displays his superior sensitivity and intellectual capacity as he addresses the woeful irony of the existence of slavery in a Christian, democratic

lived in a territory where slavery was banned, so he and his family should be free. The

For 63 days, the Amistad had been drifting toward the American shoreline. As conditions deteriorated aboard the vessel, it's inhabitants at the time, Africans, sick and dying, were in need of food and water. Desperate,

La Amistad movie is a movie from the year 1997 and it is directed by the famous director, “Steven Spielberg”. This famous director has made a lot famous movies like for example the famous movie of “Jurassic Park” or “E.T”. Amistad is the word for “friendship” in Spanish. In this movie four different languages are spoken. English, Spanish, Portuguese and Mende. Mende is the language that the African slaves speak in. This movie is a little recreation of a true story about slave revolt on a small Spanish schooner in 1839. This revolt caused a series of trials beginning in the lower parts of Connecticut. This case not only marks a milestone for Abolitionists in their fight against slavery but it also questioned the natural laws of our Constitution.

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.

The facts about the Amistad case is that the africans have murder charges, even though they are property. They are not from Cuba but Africa. They have been kidnapped and have came a long way from home. They are the us property and not the Spanish property. They were also consider foreigners in the U.S. and should be brought back home. The Amistad case was about the africans trying to get back home.

In 1839, on board the ship Amistad, 53 illegally kidnapped Africans refused to accept the fate of slaves. Instead they rose up, killed the captain and forced the crew to sail away. However while they believed they were back to Africa, the crew directed the ship north and the ship wound up on Long Island. The African would be slaves were put on trial for the murder of their captors aboard the ship in New Haven, Connecticut. Their case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where former president John Quincy Adams defended the Africans and secured their freedom. The case United States v. Schooner Amistad, also known simply as the Amistad Trial, had a humongous impact on the Abolitionist movement, unifying, publicizing, and legitimizing, the movement's fight against slavery.

The film 12 Years a Slave, an adaptation of the 1853 autobiography by a slave named Solomon Northup, depicts his everyday life after his rights and freedoms are ripped away. Through the unpleasant slave auction scenes to the sickening slave punishments, 12 Years a Slave is a heartbreaking story that unfortunately conveys the harsh truth on the issues surrounding slavery. Consequently, during the film there are many themes and events that trigger different thoughts and reactions varying between viewers, and importantly a better understanding of Solomon Northup’s story and slavery itself.

Amistad Essay Questions 3. There were opposing arguments in the case. Some people felt that the slaves were considered cargo and should be returned back from where they came from. Others felt that since they were people they should have to stay since they are not considered cargo. Van Buren did not care how the slaves were classified as long as he looked good so he could be reelected.

[1] Before I start this essay, I feel the need to remind the reader that I find slavery in all its forms to be an oppressive and terrible institution, and I firmly believe that for centuries (including this one) bigotry is one of the most terrible stains on our civilization. The views I intend to express in the following essay are in no way meant to condone the practices of slavery or racism; they are meant only to evaluate and interpret the construction of slavery in film.

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

This essay is going to be about the movie called Amistad. It is a 10 of December 1997 American film directed by Steven Spielberg which was a very famous Hollywood director, based on a story which happened in 1839 about some Spanish man in a ship called Amistad which had captured many slaves to sell. This history of the movie was made in Connecticut in the coast were a case occurred to save the slaves which had ended up in the united states, it was a hard case, but the case was given to the liberty of the slaves, the case took around four years to be solved.

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