Click2Flicks - Amistad - Chapter 5 - THE FIRST TRIAL

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>AMISTAD</p> <p><font size=4>CHAPTER 5 - THE FIRST TRIAL</p></b></font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">During early judicial proceedings, <a href="http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/archive/01/0113001r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Sengbe</b></a> and <a href="http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/archive/01/0128001r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Kimbo</b></a>, another captive, told their stories through an interpretor who did not speak the Mendi language. That <a href="http://amistad.mysticseaport.org/library/images/trial&captivity/talladega.trial.jpg" target="_blank"><b>first trial</b></a> held no surprises. The Africans lost.</p> <p> <a href="http://amistad.mysticseaport.org/library/images/people/chs.mvburen.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Martin Van Buren</b></a>, then president of the United States, decided to intervene. Before the <i>Amistad</i> Africans had a chance to appeal their loss, Van Buren authorized a Navy ship to take the Africans back to Cuba! Blatantly violating due process of law, the President set the stage for a battle in the United States Supreme Court.</p> <p>A group of abolitionists heard about the plight of the Africans and hired <a href="http://amistad.mysticseaport.org/library/images/people/mm.baldwin.html" target="_blank"><b>Roger Sherman Baldwin</b></a>, an attorney from Connecticut, to defend them. Baldwin was known as a man who spoke for the downtrodden.</p> <p>Before he could speak <i>for</i> his clients, however, he had to be able to speak <i>with</i> them. No one in Connecticut understood Mendi. Searching the docks in New York, the abolitionists found James Covey who had been born in Mendi country (where his name was Kaw-we-li). Fortunately, Covey spoke Sengbe’s language. (The link takes you to an incredible web site on the <a href="www.education-world.com/a_lesson/TM/WS_amistad_language.shtml" target="_blank"><b>Mendi language</b></a>.) Baldwin and the abolitionists were determined to free the Africans. With President Van Buren and his administration against them, however, the road would not be easy.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="amistad_ch4.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>     <a href="amistad_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>     <a href="amistad_ch6.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> <td align="center" valign="top"> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.awesomestories.com/includes/ad_format.js"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>