In April of 1839, a group of militant Portuguese abducted a group of 53 Africans, and shipped them to Havana, Cuba. In June of 1839, the Africans were purchased as slaves by four Spaniards and put on the schooner La Amistad (Spanish for “the friendship';) for a voyage to Principe, an island republic, off the west coast of Africa, in the Gulf of Guinea. During this voyage, in the summer of 1839, the Africans performed mutiny on the ship, led by Cinque (Djimon Hounsou), they kill two of the crew, and take control of the ship. They have one goal: return to Africa. With little or no navigational skills, the Africans had to rely on the remaining two Spaniards to get them to the coast of Africa. They ordered the crew to sail to Africa, but they were tricked. After two months on a sketchy course up the Eastern Seaboard, La Amistad is captured off the coast of Long Island (in the film, the Africans are captured off the coast of Connecticut, but in actuality, they were imprisoned in New Haven and and Hartford, Connecticut). The Africans are charged for murder and piracy. In the beginning, they are embraced by abolitionists Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) and Lewis Tappan (Stellan Skarsgard), as well as a young, idealistic real estate/property attorney named Roger Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey). During the proceedings this case divides a nation. Two great American figures butt heads in debate as to what the outcome should be. Pro-Slavery Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne), seeking re-election in 1840, is willing to convict the Africans to gain favor with voters in the South, as well as with Queen Isabella of Spain (Anna Paquin). His actions are challenged by former President John Quincy Adams (Sir Anthony Hopkins), who comes out of political retirement to fight the African’s side in the United States Supreme Court. The Spanish men have claimed the Africans as their property and others claimed that they had saved La Amistad in the cargo contained therein, and the Africans were American property, determining a salvage amount given to them (under maritime law of salvage, those who saved a sea vessel were entitled to a portion of the value they saved). The case went to trial in September of 1839, where the Federal District Court ruled that the Africans were illegally held, and therefore were not liable for their acts, and they were not property.
One of the major questions asked about the slave trade is ‘how could so Europeans enslave so many millions of Africans?” Many documents exist and show historians what the slave trade was like. We use these stories to piece together what it must have been to be a slave or a slaver. John Barbot told the story of the slave trade from the perspective of a slaver in his “A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea.” Barbot describes the life of African slaves before they entered the slave trade.
Both, “The Interesting Narrative Life of Olaudah Equiano” and “Amistad” are important stories about slavery in pre-civil war america because they both address the issues of slavery. These gentlemen in the story made a difference in the slave trade. In “The life of Olaudah Equiano”, Olaudah was sold on a slave ship that came to the Barbados. Olaudah worked for his freedom, and in the end became efficient in American language. He worked his way to the free life and in the end it worked out for him, although it leaves scars on his soul. In “Amistad”, Cinque is a slave that leads a revolt on a slave ship after escaping. When they get to america, Baldwin, a lawyer that is representing the slave and the former president Adams helps free the slaves.
The origin tale of the African American population in the American soil reveals a narrative of a diasporic faction that endeavored brutal sufferings to attain fundamental human rights. Captured and forcefully transported in unbearable conditions over the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, a staggering number of Africans were destined to barbaric slavery as a result of the increasing demand of labor in Brazil and the Caribbean. African slaves endured abominable conditions, merged various cultures to construct a blended society that pillared them through the physical and psychological hardships, and hungered for their freedom and recognition.
EXPLORING AMISTAD: Race and the Boundaries of Freedom in Antebellum Maritime America (Mystic Seaport) http://www.mysticseaport.org/nf-home.htm
important event and part of slavery that should have been shown in the movie. Even though I
Slave rebellions are the common topic of the two stories. Melville plays with the anxiety whites had of such and Douglass of its possibility to elevate slaves out of their misery. If paraphrased, the end of chapter X in Douglass’s Narrative serves as a perfect illustration of this: Douglass describes his Master Hugh seizing the money Douglass had earned; “not because he [Hugh] earned it, - not because he had any hand in earning it … but solely because he had the power to compel me to give it up.” Exchange ‘money’ with ‘liberty’ and Babo’s right to revolution as that “of the grim-visaged pirate upon the high seas”, becomes as right as the white man’s enslavement of blacks. In understanding this, Babo turns into a true hero – albeit a literate one – on a level with Nat Turner, Madison Washington and others. His quest for freedom and his struggle to achieve it deserves to be remembered, just as Douglass is remembered today.
This story was set in the deep south were ownership of African Americans was no different than owning a mule. Demonstrates of how the Thirteenth Amendment was intended to free slaves and describes the abolitionist’s efforts. The freedom of African Americans was less a humanitarian act than an economic one. There was a battle between the North and South freed slaves from bondage but at a certain cost. While a few good men prophesied the African Americans were created equal by God’s hands, the movement to free African Americans gained momentum spirited by economic and technological innovations such as the export, import, railroad, finance, and the North’s desire for more caucasian immigrants to join America’s workforce to improve our evolving nation. The inspiration for world power that freed slaves and gave them initial victory of a vote with passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. A huge part of this story follows the evolution of the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment more acts for civil rights.
The reason I found this particular artifact so interesting is the word choice, which was used to describe the “cargo” of these African American people aboard the ship. They were described as “choice cargo”, which is a strange way of describing human beings and is more of a way of describing livestock or furniture. Even though it is a known fact that African American slaves were dehumanized at the time period, it is still astonishing to me to
Throughout this essay I explained the movie Amistad and how race relations were seen throughout the movie. This movie really helps people see how horrible it was for African Americans back in 1839-1842. The movie showed the bias that this country had against people from Africa and how horrible our country treated slaves. Through John Quince Adams speech it stated how the problem was going to be fixed, and that was through a civil war.
The African slave lost their humanity from the very moment they boarded the European slave
The novel The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano exists as an extremely important work in the abolitionist movement in England. As an 18th century narrative written by a former black slave, the novel provides a glimpse into the lives of the African slaves involved in the slave trade as well as the slave traders themselves. Even with the controversy over the authenticity of Equiano’s claims on his origin in Africa and his subsequent voyage through the Middle Passage, this novel serves as a powerfully instructive piece of literature. Throughout the novel, Equiano strives to impress upon the reader a certain set of moral standards or ideals that he desires to instruct the reader about. One such moral ideal that is prevalent throughout the entirety of the novel is Equiano’s construction of the idea of the value and worth of the African slaves, as opposed to the view of the African slaves as simply commodities or objects to be purchased and traded.
“As I stare through the floor of an unknown vessel into an everlasting sea of clouds I ponder on what I had did to be in this situation or would I ever reunite with my family or will the gentleman beside me make it through the night.” The realization that slavery caused many families, lives, and individuals to be destroyed is gruesome. Through the memoir of Olaudah Equiano, the first-person accounts of the treatment of enslaved and free Africans is revealed, which helps him in the battle against African enslavement.
In his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, he begins with a detailed description of life in his homeland. He describes a culture that had a hierarchal, patriarchal system, not unlike that of Pocahontas’ tribe. There is an established government, with chiefs and judges, one of which, is his father. It is important to note that while Equiano states that he was slated to claim the status of “grandeur”, he never reached that point in his narrative before he was kidnapped and sold as but another slave in the Middle Passage. Thus, early life for Equiano, while perhaps better than some of his counterparts, was still of the same class, dictated by the governance of these socially superior figures. Similar to Pocahontas too, Equiano eventually regained a “free” status. But unlike Pocahontas who is still bound by the voyeuristic gaze of the men surrounding her, Equiano’s unfreedom stems from the social stigma and struggle of being non-white European. As he recounted during his time in the Barbados, “as I knew there was little or no law for a free negro here […].” The social intolerance of African people, while different in the Caribbean from in England or America, was still clear.
Few movies have been panned by critics but widely accepted by viewers across the nation. National Treasure is one of them. Even after receiving sub par reviews including only two stars from Roger Ebert, National Treasure won over the public, earning almost $350 million worldwide. Even though the movie is under the Walt Disney Company and has a PG rating, this movie is not just for children. Superb acting and action from beginning to end will keep people of all ages glued to their seat as they follow one man’s quest for a hidden treasure.
The film Amistad is based on a true event that occurred in 1839. It is about a mutiny by recently captured slaves, who take over a ship known as La Amistad, and the legal battle that followed regarding their freedom. The movie begins by showing many Africans chained together on the lower deck of La Amistad. They manage to break free and go to the upper deck and attack the sailors, leading a mutiny and taking over the ship. They leave two men alive to guide them back to Africa, but they point them towards the US. When they arrive in the states, the Africans are thought to be runaway slaves, and are imprisoned. The case of their freedom is taken to court, to decide whether the Africans were originally slaves or free men. One lawyer decides to fight for them, and pleads his case that the Africans were never slaves and were indeed free men. The case eventually makes it to the Supreme Court and a translator is eventually found to communicate with the leader of the Africans, and he tells his story. He was one of many illegally captured in Africa, and sold into slavery. When the time comes for the trial, John Quincy Adams pleas for their freedom. After a grueling trial, the slaves are said to be free men, and are to be sent back to their homeland, Africa.