Mutiny on the Amistad

Mutiny on the Amistad
Author: Howard Jones
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 409
Release: 1997-11-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 0190281324

This volume presents the first full-scale treatment of the only instance in history where African blacks, seized by slave dealers, won their freedom and returned home. Jones describes how, in 1839, Joseph Cinqué led a revolt on the Spanish slave ship, the Amistad, in the Caribbean. The seizure of the ship by an American naval vessel near Montauk, Long Island, the arrest of the Africans in Connecticut, and the Spanish protest against the violation of their property rights created an international controversy. The Amistad affair united Lewis Tappan and other abolitionists who put the "law of nature" on trial in the United States by their refusal to accept a legal system that claimed to dispense justice while permitting artificial distinctions based on race or color. The mutiny resulted in a trial before the U.S. Supreme Court that pitted former President John Quincy Adams against the federal government. Jones vividly recaptures this compelling drama--the most famous slavery case before Dred Scott--that climaxed in the court's ruling to free the captives and allow them to return to Africa.

Black Odyssey

Black Odyssey
Author: Mary Cable
Publisher: Penguin Group
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1977
Genre: Antislavery movements
ISBN: 9780140046946

In 1839, thirty black slaves being transported from Havana to Puerto Príncipe aboard the Amistad took control of the ship and attempted to return to Africa. Instead, the whites sailed north, until the ship was spotted and taken to Connecticut. When President Van Buren attempted to return the slaves to Cuba, the abolitionists, led by John Quincy Adams, took the slaves' case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Amistad Rebellion

The Amistad Rebellion
Author: Marcus Rediker
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2013-11-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 014312398X

"Vividly drawn . . . this stunning book honors the achievement of the captive Africans who fought for—and won—their freedom.”—The Philadelphia Tribune A unique account of the most successful slave rebellion in American history, now updated with a new epilogue—from the award-winning author of The Slave Ship In this powerful and highly original account, Marcus Rediker reclaims the Amistad rebellion for its true proponents: the enslaved Africans who risked death to stake a claim for freedom. Using newly discovered evidence and featuring vividly drawn portraits of the rebels, their captors, and their abolitionist allies, Rediker reframes the story to show how a small group of courageous men fought and won an epic battle against Spanish and American slaveholders and their governments. The successful Amistad rebellion changed the very nature of the struggle against slavery. As a handful of self-emancipated Africans steered their own course for freedom, they opened a way for millions to follow. This edition includes a new epilogue about the author's trip to Sierra Leona to search for Lomboko, the slave-trading factory where the Amistad Africans were incarcerated, and other relics and connections to the Amistad rebellion, especially living local memory of the uprising and the people who made it.

The Case of the Slave Ship Amistad

The Case of the Slave Ship Amistad
Author: Mary Cable
Publisher: New Word City
Total Pages: 133
Release: 2017-09-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 1640190910

In August 1839, what appeared to be a listless pirate ship, unidentified by any flag, was spotted off the North Atlantic coast of the United States. On board were thirty barely clad black men, armed with cutlasses, and two white men - Spanish slave owners with an incredible story to tell. A month earlier, the Amistad had set sail from Havana with a valuable cargo of slaves and $40,000 worth of gold doubloons. She was headed for the Cuban coastal town of Puerto Principe - but in a matter of days, the captain and the cook were dead, and the ship was in the control of the slaves. Thus began "the Amistad affair," which, writes Mary Cable, "was to bedevil the diplomatic relations of the United States, Spain, and England for a generation; intensify bitterness over the question of slavery; and lead an ex-president (John Quincy Adams) to go before the Supreme Court and castigate the administration in an eloquent plea for the slaves' freedom. In her fascinating and carefully researched account, Cable takes us right to the heart of these complex matters, dramatically replaying an incredible series of events that converged to form a uniquely exciting and challenging chapter in American history.

United States V. Amistad

United States V. Amistad
Author: Suzanne Freedman
Publisher: Enslow Publishing
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2000
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780766013377

-- A library of the most important United States Supreme Court cases.-- Examines the issues leading up to the case, the people involved in the case, and the present-day effects of the Court's decision.

Amistad: The Story of a Slave Ship

Amistad: The Story of a Slave Ship
Author: Patricia C. McKissack
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Total Pages: 49
Release: 2021-09-14
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0593432762

An amazing chapter in American history is now available in Step into Reading, the premier leveled reader line. In 1838, a slave ship named the Amistad took hundreds of kidnapped Africans on a long journey across the Atlantic. But the brave captives would not give up their freedom, taking over the ship so they could sail back to their homeland. This History Reader is not to be missed. Step 4 Readers use challenging vocabulary and short paragraphs to tell exciting stories. For newly independent readers who read simple sentences with confidence.

The Amistad Revolt

The Amistad Revolt
Author: Iyunolu Folayan Osagie
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2000
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0820324655

From journalism and lectures to drama, visual art, and the Spielberg film, this study ranges across the varied cultural reactions--in America and Sierra Leone--engendered by the 1839 Amistad slave ship revolt. Iyunolu Folayan Osagie is a native of Sierra Leone, from where the Amistad's cargo of slaves originated. She digs deeply into the Amistad story to show the historical and contemporary relevance of the incident and its subsequent trials. At the same time, she shows how the incident has contributed to the construction of national and cultural identity both in Africa and the African diasporo in America--though in intriguingly different ways. This pioneering work of comparative African and American cultural criticism shows how creative arts have both confirmed and fostered the significance of the Amistad revolt in contemporary racial discourse and in the collective memories of both countries.

Behind the Amistad

Behind the Amistad
Author: Michael Zeuske
Publisher: Markus Wiener Publishers
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2014-03-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781558765931

Originally published as: Geschichte der Amistad. Stuttgart: Reclam, 2012.

Black Mutiny

Black Mutiny
Author: William A. Owens
Publisher: Black Classic Press
Total Pages: 372
Release: 1997
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781574780048

"Black Mutiny" is the historical retelling of one of our nation's most dramatic national crises. It is one among many historical sources used in the development of the new motion picture "Amistad." Written as a novel in 1953 by William A. Owens, this is one historian's view of the Amistad mutiny. Based on U.S. government documents, court records, official and personal correspondence, diaries, and newspaper accounts, it tells the true story of 53 illegally enslaved Africans who revolted against their captors. After the Amistad was intercepted and seized by the United States Navy, the imprisoned Africans were forced to stand trial for mutiny and murder in a case that reached the Supreme Court. With its impassioned plea for freedom for all people, "Black Mutiny" brilliantly recreates a critical moment in America's racial history more than twenty years before the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. It is a rousing and unforgettable story of oppression, justice, and the precious cost of human dignity.