Slavery: The Amistad

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Recommended: Slavery in the early 19th century

Glenford Wade II
Deborah Botker
U.S History Before 1865
04/02/2014
No Friendship
The Amistad, which means friendship in Spanish, was a ship that sailed in the 1800’s. An act that was not so friendly, inhuman, and illegal took place involving that ship in the year 1839. The act consisted of the kidnapping and revolt of 53 African slaves. The slaves were kidnapped by Portuguese slave hunters from their home of Sierra Leone and were being transported to Havana, Cuba for slave labor. While being transported an African by the name of Cinque of the Mende tribe led a revolt with the other 52 kidnapped slaves and they freed themselves killing all the crew members except two, so that they may help navigate the ship back to Africa. Instead the two crew members navigated the ship towards the United States, and when reaching the U.S along the coast of Long Island it was boarded by soldiers of the U.S.S Washington. At that time the African slaves were placed under arrest for mutiny and the murder of the Amistad crew. The ship, 2 crew members, and African slaves were then transported to New London, Connecticut to await trial for the revolt that occurred on the Amistad. The Amistad trial was a major turning point in the U.S as well as the world on slavery. The trial was the first time in U.S history that the inhumanity of the slave trade was publicized, created more bitterness between a nation, the cruelty of slavery was challenged, African’s were given a voice, and the U.S a biased nation at the time, practiced equality in the form of a fair trial for slaves.
The trial for the Amistad proved slavery is inhuman by showing the harm people are willing to perform to enslave the innocent. Slavery is horrible, but we must understand that The Atlantic...

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...ips transported millions of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. Not just in America but slave labor was a large commodity worldwide, an unjust act, and some would say a crime against humanity. Africans as you can see suffered through many hardships and losses over time. What the world needed to realize is that all humans should be treated the same no matter what their race or color is. The trial of Amistad broke the door down on slavery and further brought about future endeavors to end slavery all together like the Emancipation proclamation and the Civil War. The trial was the first time in U.S history that the cruelty of slave trade was publicized, created more bitterness between a nation, slavery was challenged, African’s were given a voice, and the U.S a biased nation at the time, practiced equality in the form of a fair trial for slaves.

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