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THE AMISTAD INCIDENT
"I will call into the past -
Far back to the beginning of time -
And beg them
To come and help meI will reach back
And draw them into me
And they
MUST comeFor at this moment
I am
The whole reason
They have existed at all"
So says Sengbe Pieh ("Joseph Cinque" as he was known in America), a 26-year-old illegally-captured Mendi from the country of Sierra Leone, to John Quincy Adams , his attorney, in Steven Spielberg's movie version of the Amistad Incident. The actual case, argued by Adams in the Supreme Court, helped to push the United States closer to the brink of Civil War. At issue was whether Sengbe and his fellow captives had the right to be free men (and return to their own country) or whether they could be sold (as property) to plantation owners or slave traders. Sengbe and his fellow captives had been wrenched from their homes (these were the types of devices slavers used to control their captives) by Portuguese slave hunters in February of 1839. The capture itself was illegal and violated all treaties that were in existence at the time. Despite laws that prohibited continued slave trading, the terrible practice continued due to demand for cheap labor in the "New World."During the difficult journey from Africa to Cuba, many of the captured people died. Fifty-three Africans (of Mandingo, Gbandi, Vai, Lorma, Kissi and Mendi heritage) were transferred to La Amistad, a ship chartered by two Spaniards who had "purchased" the captives at auction in Havana. Four children were among the Amistad Africans.  |
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