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THE

AMISTADREVOLT:

AnHistorical Legacy

ofSierra Leone

and

TheUnited States

By

Arthur Abraham

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INTRODUCTION

In 1839, slaves aboard a ship called theAmistad revolted to secure their freedom while

being transported from one Cuban port to another. Their leader was Sengbe Pieh, a young

Mende man, but popularly known in United Stateshistory as Joseph Cinque. The slaves had beenkidnapped mostly from the neighborhood of the

Colony of Sierra Leone and sold to Spanishslavers. They eventually received their freedom

in 1841, after two years’ internment in the UnitedStates awaiting the verdict of the courts regarding

their “revolt.” This was the celebrated AmistadCase, an episode far better known in the United

States than on the other side of the Atlantic. Butthe incident had a far-reaching impact on both

sides, influencing the course of American historyand especially the development of Afro-American

culture, while, in Sierra Leone, leading to theinauguration of American missionary activity that

trained many of the elite group that led thenationalist movement to achieve independence

from colonial rule.

CAPTURE ANDENSLAVEMENT

Sengbe Pieh, the hero in thisepisode, was born about 1813 inthe town of Mani in Upper Mendecountry, a distance of ten days’

march from the Vai or Gallinas coast.Said to have been the son of a localchief, he was married with a son andtwo daughters. Sengbe, a farmer, wasgoing to his field one day in lateJanuary 1839 when he was captured ina surprise attack by four men, his righthand tied to his neck. He was taken toa nearby village where he passed threedays with a man called Mayagilalo,apparently the boss of his captors.Indebted to the son of the Vai KingManna Siaka, Mayagilalo gave overSengbe to him in settlement. Afterstaying in Siaka’s town for a month,Sengbe was marched to Lomboko, anotorious slave-trading island nearSulima on the Gallinas coast, and soldto the richest slaver there, the SpaniardPedro Blanco, whose activities hadhelped to make King Siaka wealthy aswell.

At Lomboko, Sengbe was imprisonedwith other slaves, while fresh onesjoined them for the two months theywere there, waiting to be transportedacross the Atlantic. Most of the cap-tives came from Mende country, butothers were Kono, Sherbro, Temne,Kissi, Gbandi (in present-day Liberia),and Loma (in present-day Liberia andin Guinea, where they are known asGuerze). Some, who did not speakMende, learned the language duringtheir forced journey through Mendecountry to the coast. Most were farm-ers, but it is said that others werehunters and blacksmiths. This is sur-prising, because all over West Africa

blacksmiths held a sacred placein society and could neither be enslavednor killed even in war.

All these people were shipped fromLomboko in March aboard the schoonerTecora, which arrived at Havana in theSpanish colony of Cuba in June. At aslave auction following advertisement,Jose Ruiz, a Spanish plantation owner,bought Sengbe and forty-eight othersfor $450 each to work on his sugarplantation at Puerto Principe, anotherCuban port three hundred miles fromHavana. Pedro Montez, anotherSpaniard bound for the same port,bought four children, three girls and aboy. On June 26, the fifty-threeAfricans were herded on board anAmerican-built schooner, originallycalled Friendship, but changed to theSpanish La Amistad when the vesselchanged ownership and registration to aSpanish subject. Although Spain hadprohibited the importation of new slavesinto her territories since 1820, the twoSpanish planters were able to obtainofficial permits to transport their slaves.They chartered the Amistad fromRamon Ferrer, who was both owner andcaptain. Apart from the fifty-threeAfricans and their Spanish owners, theschooner carried a crew comprising themaster, Ferrer; his two black slaves,Antonio (the cabin boy) and Celestino(the cook); and two white seamen. Theship also carried a cargo of dishes,cloth, jewelry, and various luxury itemsand staples. The cargo was insured for$40,000. Ruiz insured his forty-nineslaves for $20,000, while Montezinsured the four children for $1,300.

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THE REVOLThe trip to Puerto Principe usuallytook three days, but the winds

were adverse. Three days out atsea, on June 30, Sengbe used a

loose spike he had removed from thedeck to unshackle himself and his fel-low slaves. They had been whippedand maltreated and, at one point, madeto believe that they would be killed forsupper on arrival. Sengbe armed him-self and the others with cane knivesfound in the cargo hold. He then ledthem on deck, where they killedCaptain Ferrer and the cook Celestinoand wounded the Spaniard Montez. ButSengbe spared Montez’ life togetherwith those of Ruiz and Antonio, thecabin boy. The mutineers lost two oftheir own party, killed by Captain Ferrer. The two white seamen man-aged to escape from the Amistad in asmall boat.

Sengbe then ordered the Spaniards tosail in the direction of the rising of thesun, or eastward towards Africa. Atnight, however, Montez, who had someexperience as a sailor, navigated by thestars and sailed westward, hoping toremain in Cuban waters. But a galedrove the ship northeast along theUnited States coastline. The schoonerfollowed a zigzag course for twomonths, during which eight more slavesdied of thirst and exposure. Sengbeheld command the whole time, forcingthe others to conserve food and water,and allotting a full ration only to thefour children. He took the smallest por-tion for himself.

RECAPTUREhe Amistad drifted off LongIsland, New York, in late August

1839. Sengbe and others wentashore to trade for food and sup-

plies and to negotiate with local seamento take them back to Africa. Newssoon got around about a mysteriousship in the neighborhood with her “sailsnearly all blown to pieces.” It was the“long, low, black schooner,” the story ofwhich had been appearing in newspa-pers in previous weeks as the shipcruised northeast along the U.S. coast-line. Reports said that Cuban slaveshad revolted and killed the crew of aSpanish ship and were roaming theAtlantic as buccaneers.

On August 26, the United States sur-vey brig Washington, under commandof Lt. Commander Thomas R. Gedney,sighted the battered schooner nearCulloden Point on the eastern tip ofLong Island. The United States Navyand the Customs Service had previous-ly issued orders for the capture of theship; and Commander Gedney seizedthe Amistad and took her in tow to NewLondon, Connecticut, arriving there thefollowing day. Gedney sent a messageat once to the United States Marshall atNew Haven who, in turn, notified UnitedStates District Judge Andrew Judson.The latter was certainly no friend of theblack man, for in 1833 he had prose-cuted a Miss Prudence Crandall foradmitting Negroes into her school inCanterbury, Connecticut.

Judge Judson held court on boardthe Washington on August 29, in NewLondon harbor, examining the ship’sdocuments and hearing the testimonyof Ruiz and Montez, as well as theirurgent request that the ship and all itscargo, including the Africans, be sur-

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rendered to the Spanish Consul inBoston. Judson immediately releasedRuiz and Montez and ordered thatSengbe and the others be tried for mur-der and piracy at the next session of the

Circuit Court, due to open onSeptember 17 at Hartford, Connecticut.The Africans were consigned to thecounty jail in New Haven.

Meanwhile, Ruiz had renamed SengbePieh “Jose Cinque” in order to showthat Sengbe was not a recent importeeand that he, Ruiz, was therefore notguilty of violating the prohibition law of1820. Cinque, being a Spanish approx-imation of Sengbe, soon found furtherdistortion in the press as “Cinquez,”“Sinko,” “Jinqua,” etc. When theAmistad was captured off Long Island,a reporter from the New York Sun wit-nessed Sengbe’s defiance of his captorsand repeated attempts to escape.Sengbe jumped overboard and had to

be dragged back onto the ship:he urged his fellow slaves to fightagainst hopeless odds, and was takenaway to the American vessel and sepa-rated from his men; he made such vio-

lent protest that the naval officersallowed him to remain on theWashington’s deck, where he stood andstared fixedly at the Amistad through-out the night. The New York Sunreported:

He evinces no emotion...andhad he lived in the days of Greeceor Rome, his name would havebeen handed down to posterity asone who had practiced those mostsublime of all virtues — disinterest-ed patriotism and unshrinkingcourage.

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Senge Pieh and the “Amistads” at the time of their capture in 1839. The Africans had beenkidnapped mostly from the area of the Colony of Sierra Leone and sold to Spanish slavers.

THE ABOLITIONISTS STEP IN

t this time, the U.S. anti-slaverymovement was in disarray, withdivergent views on several issues— political action, women’s

rights, American churches and slavery,and the basic nature of American gov-ernment. The Amistad Case provided afocal point for rallying the dispersedranks of the abolitionists, as they allcame out in defense of the captives,fully convinced of their innocence. Thiswas put forth in the Herald of Freedom:

Cinques is no pirate, no murderer, no felon. His homicide isjustifiable. Had a white man doneit, it would have been glorious. It would have immortalized him.Joseph Cinques ought not to betried. Everybody knows he is innocent. He could not be guilty.The paper added that Lt. Commander

Gedney had no authority to capture theAmistad, she being “the lawful prize ofCommandant Joseph Cinques....That she was ‘suspicious’ looking, is nowarrant.”

This strong conviction was, however,not enough. The abolitionists had toget the Africans’ version of events andto obtain counsel to prove their inno-cence before the Circuit Court. Theyheld no illusions about the difficulties.The day following Judge Judson’sorders, the abolitionists of New Havenmet and wrote to fellow abolitionists inNew York to check on the validity of theship’s documents, find an African whocould speak the language of the cap-tives and record their own version, and,finally, obtain qualified counsel. A committee formed to defend the

hapless Africans formallybecame the “Amistad Committee” onSeptember 4, comprised, inter alia, ofJoshua Leavitt, editor of theEmancipator, the official organ of theAmerican Anti-Slavery Society; Rev.Simeon S. Jocelyn, a white pastor of ablack church in New York; and LewisTappan, a wealthy New York merchantand prominent abolitionist. Tappanlaunched the campaign for the defenseof the Amistad Africans and issued an“Appeal to the Friends of Liberty”:

Thirty-eight fellow men fromAfrica, having been piratically kid-napped from their native land,transported across the seas, andsubjected to atrocious cruelties,have been thrown upon our shores,and are now incarcerated in jail toawait their trial for crimes alleged tohave been committed by them.They are ignorant of our language,of the usages of civilized society,and the obligations of Christianity.Under these circumstances, severalfriends of human rights have met toconsult upon the case of theseunfortunate men, and have appoint-ed the undersigned a Committee toemploy interpreters and able coun-sel and take all the necessarymeans to secure the rights of theaccused. It is intended to employthree legal gentlemen of distin-guished abilities, and to incur otherneedful expenses. The poor prison-ers being destitute of clothing, andseveral having scarcely a rag tocover them, immediate steps will betaken to provide what may be nec-essary. The undersigned thereforemake this appeal to the friends of

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humanity to contribute for theabove objects. Donations may besent to either of the Committee, whowill acknowledge the same and make a public report of all their

disbursement.SIMEON S. JOCELYN, 34, WALL STREET. JOSHUA LEAVITT, 143, NASSAU STREET. LEWIS TAPPAN, 122, PEARL STREET.

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Senge Pieh, or “Joseph Cinque” as he is known in the United States. This painting, by Nathaniel Jocelyn, was made while Senge was awaiting trial in New Haven, Connecticut.

Defense counsel comprised theformidable team of Roger Baldwin, SethStaple, and Theodore Sedgwick, amongthe best legal minds of the day. But thelawyers recognized a serious limitationto any case they might present if aninterpreter were not found to tell thestory of the captives. A desperatesearch began that was only partiallysuccessful before the trial. LewisTappan brought from New York threeAfricans, one of whom was a Kissi (aneighboring ethnic group of the Mende)who could converse very limitedly withsome of the captives. But the inter-preter was able to corroborate the opin-ion of the abolitionists that the Amistadcaptives had been kidnapped in Africaand sold illegally into slavery.

The issue before the AmistadCommittee was a delicate and sensitiveone. The abolitionist movement hadbeen deeply divided before the Amistadincident, and this incident restored unityto the movement. But there were somepeople who sympathized with the cap-tives, but were in no sense abolitionists.To have pegged the Amistad Case to ageneral campaign for the abolition ofslavery would have alienated their sym-pathy, thus weakening the financial andmoral base of the Committee. Onerespondent to the “Appeal,” forinstance, stated clearly that he was “a friend of human rights, but not anabolitionist.”

FIRST TRIALn September 14, all the prisoners,except one who was too ill totravel, were removed from NewHaven to Hartford, the capital of

Connecticut, where the trial opened onSeptember 17, with Judge SmithThompson presiding. After three daysof legal battling, the judge rendered hisopinion: the Circuit Court had no juris-diction over the charges of murder andpiracy, since the alleged crimes werecommitted on a Spanish ship and inSpanish waters; the various propertyclaims, including Ruiz’ and Montez’claims to the African “slaves,” shouldbe decided in a District Court; and thewrit of habeas corpus for the release ofthe small girls was rejected.

As soon as the Circuit Courtadjourned, Judge Judson convened aDistrict Court in the same room. Hedecreed that the property claims need-ed more investigation, but that the cap-tives could be released on bail, basedon their appraised value as slaves onthe Cuban market. The defenselawyers rejected this bail formula, whichimplied that the Amistad Africans wereslaves, and the captives were returnedto prison.

The interpreter had not been effectiveduring the trial, and the AmistadCommittee intensified the search foranother who could speak Mende fluent-ly. J.W. Gibbs, Professor of Theologyand Sacred Literature at Yale DivinitySchool, took a great interest in theAmistad captives. He learned to countfrom one to ten in Mende and, armedwith this new knowledge, proceeded tothe New York docks, counting to everyAfrican sailor he met. His efforts paiddividends when, in early October, hefound James Covey, a seaman on the

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British warship Buzzard, whocould understand him. Covey, aMende, had been captured and sold asa child, but was recaptured by Britishsquadrons and brought to Freetownwhere he was released. He learned tospeak English fluently and joined theBritish Navy. Professor Gibbs tookCovey to see the Amistad captives inthe New Haven jail, and the Africansshouted for joy when they heard Coveyspeak in Mende. They could now relatetheir version of the events.

Meanwhile, the Amistad Committeewas not happy with treatment of thecaptives, and began efforts to providefor their physical well-being and theirintellectual and religious instruction.Rev. George Day, a former professor atthe New York Institution for the Deafand Dumb, was employed to supervisethe instruction of the Mende captives byYale Divinity School students. Theteachers began their instruction withsimple pictures and sign language. Bythis time, several captives had alreadydied in custody from the lingeringeffects of exposure, hunger, and dehy-dration suffered aboard the Amistad.

DEMANDS OF THESPANISH GOVERNMENThe Spanish government had putforward certain demands to the

United States even before theHartford trial. The Spanish

Minister, de la Barca, wrote to theSecretary of State, John Forsyth, a for-mer Minister to Spain and a knowndefender of Negro slavery, that whenthe Amistad was “ rescued,” she shouldhave been set free to return to Cuba sothat the Africans on board could havebeen “tried by the proper tribunal, andby the violated laws of the country ofwhich they are subjects.” This had notbeen done, and so he put forward a fur-ther set of demands. He claimed thevessel and cargo, including theAfricans, in the name of the SpanishMonarch, demanding that they be sentback to Havana for adjudication, since“no tribunal in the United States has theright to institute proceedings against, orto impose penalties upon, the subjectsof Spain, for crimes committed onboard a Spanish vessel, and in watersof the Spanish territory.” He cited arti-cles of existing treaties between theUnited States and Spain to buttress hiscase.

The U.S. President, Martin Van Buren,had no strong views on the slaveryquestion, but he depended on the sup-port of the Southern pro-slaveryDemocrats, whose goodwill he wishedto maintain for the upcoming presiden-tial election in 1840. He, therefore, toldForsyth on September 11 to instructDistrict Attorney William S. Holabird to“take care that no proceedings of yourCircuit Court, or any other judicial tri-bunal, place the vessel, cargo, or slavesbeyond the control of the FederalExecutive.” The President hoped thatthe courts would order the Amistad

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captives returned to Cuba, thusrelieving him of political pressure fromboth the Southern Democrats and theSpanish government; but he was pre-pared to return the captives on his ownauthority, if necessary. To bolster sup-port for such a potential move and toplacate the Spanish, he requested anopinion from U.S. Attorney GeneralFelix Grundy, who declared that theAfricans were to be considered theproperty of those for whom the SpanishMinister was claiming them, and thatthe ship should be returned with all itscontents to Cuba. The Cabinetendorsed this view.

DEFENSE STRATEGY OFTHE ABOLITIONISTS

he Amistad Committee waspainfully aware that the

President’s policy aimed at condemning the African captives

to permanent slavery, or possibly death,and the abolitionists worked out adefense strategy to ensure that the ver-dict did not go against them. They builtup a case around the argument that theAfricans were not legally slaves, as theyhad been brought to Havana and soldthere contrary to the Anglo-SpanishTreaty of 1820, which prohibited thetransatlantic slave trade. This treatyhad been re-affirmed in 1835 and fol-lowed by a Royal Order from the Queenof Spain in 1838 directing the Captain-General of Cuba to enforce the law with“the strongest zeal.”

This line of defense was strengthenedby a deposition made by Dr. R.R.Madden, a native of Ireland, who hadserved the British government in theGold Coast (Ghana) and in Havana,Cuba, as a Commissioner on the Courtof Mixed Commission for suppressingthe slave trade. Dr. Madden revealedthat flagrant violations of treaty stipula-tions regarding the slave trade wereopenly sanctioned by the SpanishCaptain-General and other governmentofficials in Cuba, and that the AmericanConsul there, Nicholas Trist, was a col-laborator who reaped huge financialbenefits from the slave trade. Dr.Madden came to New York inNovember and met with Lewis Tappan.He went to see the captives at NewHaven and proceeded to Hartford togive evidence at the trial. Since thetrial had been deferred, he had to givetestimony to Judge Judson in chambers.

Dr. Madden argued that the Amistadcaptives were recent importees. On the

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licenses for transporting themfrom Havana to Puerto Principe, theyhad been entered as Ladinos, i.e.,slaves brought to Cuba before 1820.But Madden pointed out that this typeof forgery was common practice inCuba and that Ruiz’ and Montez’ papersof ownership were not legally valid.

About this time, Ruiz and Montezwere arrested in New York on chargesof assault, kidnapping, and false impris-onment, brought against them on behalfof two of the Africans. Lewis Tappan,the real leader of the AmistadCommittee, was blamed for this action,which horrified political conservatives.Bail was fixed at $1,000 each. Montezpaid immediately and departed forCuba. Ruiz chose to enlist sympathyby staying in jail. The Spanish Ministerimmediately protested to the StateDepartment that for alleged offensescommitted in Cuba, the U.S. Courts hadno jurisdiction. The Secretary of State,Forsyth, instructed the District Attorneyto render every possible assistance tothe Spaniards. The abolitionists wereaccused of “making sport of the law....”It was a tactical error on the part of theabolitionists, and it cost them somesupport from moderates. But Ruizfinally got tired of confinement, paid thebail, and returned to Cuba. Ruiz andMontez were both absent at the finalhearing.

SECOND TRIALhe U.S. District Court opened atHartford, Connecticut, on

November 19, 1839, to hear thecase, but it adjourned to January

because of the absence of certain cardi-nal witnesses. In the interim, theSpanish Minister pressed his claimsonce again, and Forsyth promised thathe would get a ship ready to transportthe captives to Cuba, should the verdictgo against them, so that the abolition-ists would have no time to appeal.When the Court resumed hearings onJanuary 8, the U.S. Navy schoonerGrampus was in the New Haven harboron instructions of the President, who,many felt, “went to disgracefulextremes in his persistent attempts tothwart justice as promulgated by thecourts.” The three defense counselsurged the President not to have thecase decided outside the courts “in therecesses of Cabinet, where theseunfriended men can have no counseland can produce no proof....” The abo-litionists stood watch in shifts over theNew Haven jail. They were afraid thatthe President might send men to seizethe Amistad Africans even before thetrial had concluded, and they were pre-pared to hide the captives, if necessary.

On January 13, 1840, Judge Judsonfinally rendered his verdict: the Amistadcaptives had been kidnapped and soldinto slavery in violation of Spanish law;they were legally free and should, there-fore, be transported back to Africa,whence they had been taken againsttheir will. During the trial, Sengbe hadmade a favorable impression by givingdetailed testimony through the inter-preter, showing how he and his fellowAfricans were kidnapped, bound, andmistreated. Emotion overcame him at

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one point, and Sengbe rose andshouted in English: “Give us free! Giveus free!” But many people were againstthis freedom verdict, among themPresident Van Buren. He orderedDistrict Attorney Holabird to appealimmediately against the decision.

Meanwhile, the Amistad captiveswere continuing with their classes inreading and writing and in the doctrinesof Christianity. Despite their bitter dis-appointment at remaining in custodyeven after a favorable court decision,they still approached their studies withenthusiasm. The days began withJames Covey translating Christianprayers into Mende, followed by a shortsermon, and then instruction in theEnglish language. The best pupil waseleven-year-old Kali, one of the fourAmistad children, who learned to readand write with surprising speed. But allof the Amistad captives were keen tolearn, and at times they grasped theirYale Divinity School teachers at the endof the day, pleading with them to stayjust a bit longer. During this period littleKali wrote:

We talk American language a lit-tle, not very good. We write every-day; we write plenty letters; weread most all time; we read allMatthew and Mark and Luke andJohn, and plenty of little books. Welove books very much.

EX-PRESIDENT ADAMS AND THE THIRD TRIAL

he Amistad Committee recog-nized the need for a public figure

of the highest standing to plead thecause of the African captives

before the United States SupremeCourt. The abolitionists persuaded

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John Quincy Adams, at age 73 and then a former President of the United States, came outof retirement to speak on behalf of the“Amistads” before the U.S. Supreme Court.

former President John Quincy Adamsto lead the defense. At seventy-three,and thirty years out of legal practice,the ex-President was reluctant to acceptthe case, lest he should jeopardize thelives of the Africans by failing to win.He wrote in his diary:

The world, the flesh, and all thedevils in hell are arrayed againstany man who now in this NorthAmerican Union shall dare to jointhe standard of Almighty God toput down the African slave trade;and what can I, upon the verge ofmy 74th birthday, with a shakenhand, a darkening eye, a drowsybrain, and with my faculties drop-ping from me one by one as theteeth are dropping from my head —what can I do for the cause of Godand man, for the progress of humanemancipation, for the suppression ofthe African slave-trade? Yet myconscience presses me on; let mebut die upon the breach.Thus, Adams accepted the sensa-

tional case that came to be called “thetrial of one President by another.”Attorney Baldwin prepared an elaboratedefense and opened the case, but onFebruary 24, “Old Man Eloquent,” asAdams came to be called thereafter,addressed the Court for a total of fourand a half hours. On March 9, 1841,the United States Supreme Court issuedits final verdict in the Amistad Case —the captives were free! Adams sentword at once to Lewis Tappan, the principal leader of the AmistadCommittee: “Thanks — Thanks in thename of humanity and of justice, to YOU.”

THE RETURN HOMEhe Africans were released fromcustody and taken to

Farmington, an early abolitionisttown in Connecticut, where they

received more formal education for therest of 1841. As President Van Burenrefused to provide a ship to repatriatethem, the Amistad Committee assumedcomplete responsibility for the Africans.To raise funds to charter a ship, theabolitionists organized a speaking tourin the Northern states, and the“Amistads” went from town to town,appearing before sympathetic audi-ences, telling the story of their ordeal,and displaying their knowledge of writ-ten and spoken English. By this timeSengbe Pieh, or Joseph Cinque, hadbecome a public figure in the UnitedStates, and many were anxious to seethe man whom Northern newspaperscompared to the heroes of ancientGreece and Rome.

Towards the end of the year enoughfunds had been raised, and the barqueGentleman was chartered for $1,840.The thirty-five surviving Africans wouldtravel to the Colony of Sierra Leone,accompanied by five American mis-sionaries. Among the five were twoblack Americans, Mr. and Mrs. HenryWilson, who had taught at Farmington,and three whites, Rev. and Mrs. WilliamRaymond and Rev. James Steele. TheAmistad Committee instructed theAmericans to start a “Mendi Mission” inSierra Leone. Before the ship left,Lewis Tappan addressed the passen-gers, and Sengbe replied on behalf ofhis fellow Africans. The newspapersreported a deeply moving scene inwhich many of those present openlywept.

As the Gentleman left, the plan of

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the passengers was “for all tokeep together and somewhere in thevicinity of Cinque’s town to settle downand commence a new town and thenpersuade their friends to come and jointhem, and then to adopt the Americandress and manners.” The ship arrivedin Freetown in mid-January 1842 amidgreat excitement. Many of the newarrivals were able to find friends and, in

some cases, family members. Sengbesoon learned from Mende Recaptivesthat his own home had been ravaged bywar and most of his family wiped out.Thus, the hope to locate the MendiMission near Sengbe’s town nevermaterialized. Having unrestricted asso-ciation with many of their countrymenin the Colony, some of the AmistadAfricans lost the desire to remain withtheir American patrons. Anxious to get

to their homes and their families,they drifted away, leaving only tenadults and the four children. Sengbe,himself, procured an investment ofgoods with which he proceeded toSherbro country to purchase producefor the Freetown market.

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The “Amistads” return to Sierra Leone in1842. In this painting,by Hale Woodruff,Sengbe Pieh appears in the foreground withthree American missionaries. The barqueGentleman is in the background.

THE MENDI MISSION

It was not easy to find a location forestablishing a mission station, asthe original hope of building onenear Sengbe’s town was not feasi-

ble. After several attempts, Rev.Raymond finally secured a place atKomende in the Sherbro region in1844. Raymond attributed his successpartly to Sengbe’s influence; and heinterpreted the dispersal of the formercaptives as an advantage, because theywould spread news of the Mission farand wide. The establishment of theMendi Mission was, in fact, due in nosmall measure to the efforts of Rev.Raymond, to whom every credit shouldbe given. In the course of time, theMission opened stations in severalplaces, one of which was named “MoTappan” in gratitude for the selflessassistance of Lewis Tappan. In 1846,the Amistad Committee evolved intothe American Missionary Association,and in that year the Association tookover full financial responsibility for theMendi Mission.

IMPACT IN SIERRALEONE

he Amistad Case gave rise toAmerican missionary activity in

Sierra Leone, with all its positiveconsequences. The American

Missionary Association ultimatelyturned over its mission stations in SierraLeone to the United Brethren in Christ(UBC). Apart from evangelizationwork, the UBC was responsible forestablishing an expansive system ofmission schools in the southern part ofthe country, especially among theMende and Sherbro peoples. Manyschools were established and many newtechnological skills introduced as partof vocational training. The most cele-brated of these schools are the HarfordSchool for Girls at Moyamba and AlbertAcademy in Freetown. It should beremembered that Albert Academy,founded in 1904, was the first sec-ondary school for upcountry boys (pre-dating the government Bo School inthat capacity by many years), and thatmany of the early students werepromising boys on scholarship. Thelong-term impact of these develop-ments was to help create an elite groupthat excelled not only in Sierra Leone,but in the United States as well.

Some of the students who had theirearly education in American missionschools in Sierra Leone proceeded tothe United States for further studies,and left a mark in America. Twoimportant examples are Barnabas Rootand Thomas Tucker. Root and Tuckerattended the original Mendi Missionschool and, after completing furtherstudies in the United States, wereemployed by the American MissionaryAssociation — Tucker in 1862 as a

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teacher in a school for freedmen inVirginia, and Root in 1873 as pastor fora Congregational Mission Church forfreedmen in Alabama. While Root laterreturned to Sierra Leone, Tucker stayedon in America and founded the StateNormal College (for blacks) atTallahassee, Florida, together withThomas Van Gibbs, in 1887. Tuckerwas the first President of the College,which grew into the present-day FloridaA&M University.

In the 20th century, American mis-sionary activity helped give rise to anationalist elite which pressed for inde-pendence. Significantly, the first PrimeMinister of Sierra Leone, Dr. (later Sir)Milton Margai, and the first ExecutivePresident of Sierra Leone, SiakaStevens, were both products ofAmerican mission primary schools inthe Southern part of the country and,later, graduates of Albert Academy.

IMPACT IN THE UNITED STATES

by the time the Amistad Casecame to an end, it had so embit-tered feelings between the anti-slavery North and the slave-hold-

ing South that it must be counted asone of the events leading to the out-break of the American Civil War in1860. Although the Supreme Court’sdecision in the Amistad Case was notan attack on slavery, it drew the aboli-tionists together and prevented theirmovement from breaking up.Moreover, the missionary work thatbegan with the freedom of the AmistadAfricans led to the foundation of theAmerican Missionary Association in1846, which was the largest and bestorganized abolitionist society in theUnited States before the outbreak of theCivil War. After the War, theAssociation established more than fivehundred schools and colleges in theSouth and in the border states for theeducation of newly liberated blacks.These schools evolved into Atlanta,Howard, Fisk, and Dillard Universities;Hampton University; Talladega College;etc, to which countless blackAmericans owe their higher education.The Amistad Case, thus, gave rise tothis tremendous network of institutionsin the South that educated the leadersof the modern-day Civil RightsMovement, including the venerable Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr.

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CONCLUSIONhe Amistad Rebellion, whichbegan with the determination of

Sengbe Pieh and fifty-two otherSierra Leoneans not to accept

enforced slavery, has had far reachingconsequences on two continents.Although the origins are mostly forgot-ten today, the processes set in motionby this revolt will continue to influencethe course of historical development inboth the United States and Sierra Leone— thanks, in large measure, to thecourage of Sengbe Pieh.

Addendum: A Letter from Little Kalito John Quincy Adams

Kali was one of the four Mende chil-dren, and the only little boy, among theAmistad captives. He had been kid-napped from the streets of his own vil-lage, taken to the slave-trading base atLomboko, and then sent across theAtlantic to Havana, Cuba. Later,aboard the Amistad, ten-year-old Kaliwas of some help to Sengbe Pieh. Hesat with the three little girls and keptthem quiet while Sengbe and the oth-ers, armed and unshackled, waited fortheir opportunity to climb up to thedeck and surprise their captors. In theUnited States, little Kali, at his youngand adaptable age, was able to learn tospeak and read English much fasterthan the Amistad adults. In 1840, whileawaiting the final decision of the UnitedStates Supreme Court on the issue ofhis freedom, young Kali wrote thisthoughtful letter to former PresidentJohn Quincy Adams, his lawyer. Kali’sfeelings come through clearly — he isangry at his arrest and imprisonment;

thankful to those who, like Mr.Adams, have helped him and his fellowcaptives; and deeply homesick.

When the Amistad captives gainedtheir freedom and went on a speakingtour to raise money for their return pas-sage to Sierra Leone, Kali was a starperformer. He impressed audienceswith his ability, after less than two yearsof instruction, to write correctly anysentence read to him from the Christiangospels. Kali returned with the othersto Sierra Leone in 1842. He stayedwith the American missionaries and wasultimately employed by the MendiMission. Kali married, but, while stillyoung, contracted a disease that crip-pled him for the remaining years of hislife.

Dear Friend Mr. Adams:I want to write a letter to you

because you love Mendi people, andyou talk to the grand court. We want totell you one thing. Jose Ruiz say weborn in Havana, he tell lie....We all bornin Mendi....

We want you to ask the Court whatwe have done wrong. What forAmericans keep us in prison? Somepeople say Mendi people crazy; Mendipeople dolt; because we no talkAmerican language. Merica people notalk Mendi language; Merica people dolt?

They tell bad things about Mendipeople, and we no understand. Somemen say Mendi people very happybecause they laugh and have plenty toeat. Mr. Pendleton come, and Mendipeople all look sorry because they thinkabout Mendi land and friends we no seenow. Mr. Pendleton say Mendi peopleangry; white men afraid of Mendi people. The Mendi people no look sorry

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again — that why we laugh. ButMendi people feel sorry; O, we can’t tellhow sorry. Some people say Mendipeople no got souls. Why we feel bad,[if] we no got souls...?

Dear friend Mr. Adams, you havechildren, you have friends, you lovethem, you feel sorry if Mendi peoplecome and carry them all to Africa. Wefeel bad for our friends, and our friendsall feel bad for us. If American peoplegive us free we glad, if they no give usfree we sorry — we sorry for Mendi peo-ple little, we sorry for American peoplegreat deal, because God punish liars.We want you to tell court that Mendipeople no want to go back to Havana,we no want to be killed. Dear Friend,we want you to know how we feel.Mendi people think, think, think.Nobody know what we think, theteacher he know, we tell him some.Mendi people have got souls....All wewant is make us free.

BIBLIOGRAPHYAbraham, Arthur. “Sengbe Pieh: A

Neglected Hero?” Journal of theHistorical Society of Sierra Leone, vol. 2,no. 2, 1978, pp. 22-30.

Abraham, Arthur. “Sengbe Pieh.”Dictionary of African Biography. vol. 2.Algonac, Michigan: ReferencePublications, 1979. pp. 141-144.

Adams, John Quincy. Argument ofJohn Quincy Adams Before theSupreme Court of the United States, inthe Case of the United States, vs.Cinque & Others: Africans Captured inthe Schooner Amistad. Westport,Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1969.Reprinted by Ayer, 1978.

Cable, Mary. Black Odyssey: TheCase of the Slave Ship Amistad. NewYork: Viking Press, 1971. Reprinted byPenguin Books, 1998.

Jackson, Donald Dale. “Mutiny onthe Amistad.” Smithsonian, December1997, pp. 114-124.

Johnson, Clifton H. “The AmistadCase and Its Consequences in U.S.History.” Journal of the New HavenColony Historical Society, Spring 1990,pp. 3-22.

Jones, Howard. “All We Want IsMake Us Free.” American History,January-February 1998, pp. 22-28, 71.

Jones, Howard. Mutiny on theAmistad: The Saga of the Slave Revoltand Its Impact on American Abolition,Law, and Diplomacy. Revised andexpanded edition. New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1997.

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Kromer, Helen. The AmistadRevolt 1839: The Slave Uprising Aboardthe Spanish Schooner. New York:Franklin Watts, 1973. Reprinted byPilgrim Press, 1997, as Amistad: TheSlave Uprising Aboard the SpanishSchooner.

Owens, William A. Slave Mutiny: TheRevolt on the Schooner Amistad.London: Peter Davies, 1953. Reprintedby Plume, 1997, as Black Mutiny: TheRevolt on the Schooner Amistad.

SELECTED INTERNET SITES

AFRICAN AMERICAN ODYSSEY —PREVIEW (Library of Congress)http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/

aaohtml/aohome.html

THE AMISTAD CASE (NationalArchives and Records Administration)http://www.nara.gov/education/

teaching/amistad

THE AMISTAD IN THE GILDERLEHRMAN COLLECTION (GilderLehrman Institute of American History)http://www.gilderlehrman.com/HTM/

amistad/index.html

AMISTAD RESEARCH CENTER(Tulane University)http://www.arc.tulane.edu/

CONNECTICUT: AMISTAD TRAIL(Mystic Media, Inc.) http://

visitconnecticut.com/amistad.htm

EXPLORING AMISTAD: Race and theBoundaries of Freedom in AntebellumMaritime America (Mystic Seaport)http://www.mysticseaport.org/

amistad.online/overview.html

LII AMISTAD HOME PAGE (LegalInformation Institute, Cornell University)http://www.law.cornell.edu/amistad/

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Arthur Abraham is one ofSierra Leone’s foremost historians. He is theauthor of Mende Government and Politics UnderColonial Rule and Topics in Sierra Leone History.He is also a past editor of the Journal of theHistorical Society of Sierra Leone. Dr. Abrahamhas lectured in Sierra Leone, Liberia, theNetherlands, and the United States. He has helda number of positions in government.

This pamphlet was commissioned by theUnited States Information Service in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in observance of theBicentenary of Sierra Leone and of theBicentennial of the Constitution of the UnitedStates of America. It was first published in 1987.Joseph Opala was the editorial productioncoordinator for the original version. It isbeing republished by the United StatesInformation Agency in 1998.

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PICTURE CREDITS: p. 6, Chicago Historical Society; ICHi-22004; p. 8, New Haven Colony Historical Society;p. 13, Culver Pictures, Inc.; p.15, The Amistad Murals,painted by Hale Woodruff, are found at Savery Library,Talladega College, Talladega, Alabama..