With a bang: A gun salute is fired from a cannon at Fort St. Catherine as the 'Freedom Schooner Amistad' sails past on the North Shore yesterday afternoon. The schooner is a rebuild of the original 'La Amistad' which in 1839 was overthrown by 53 captives that had been kidnapped from Africa despite a 30-year-old treaty that outlawed the importation of Africans for the purpose of slavery. Today the vessel serves as a symbol of hope and monument to the pursuit of universal human freedom.

Photo by Mark Tatem

Black History Month starts today. History Channel, like hundreds of various media outlets prepared special programming for February.   On their website we can find very well designed Black History Interactive Timeline. It consist of 42 Milestone events between 1619 and 2009. It is easy to guess what is the 2009 Milestone - Obama becomes President. The start of the timeline - year 1619 is captioned: Slavery comes to America.  Most of the Milestones listed are from the 20th Century, we can find the classics like:  Brown v. Board Of Education - May 17, 1954 or Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott - December 1955 but there is also a place for Black Oscars and Halle Berry Triumphing in Hollywod.  The timeline has however a huge omission - it does not list The Amistad Case of 1839 that ended in Supreme Court of United States in January 1841.  Is the Amistad Story forgotten? 

Amistad story is often divided into two chapters - The Rebellion at Sea and The Court Trial.  On July 2, 1839, Sengbe Pieh (later known in the United States as Joseph Cinqué) led 56 fellow Africans (52 adults and 4 children), the captives being transported aboard La Amistad from Havana, in a revolt against their captors.  The captives freed themselves, and they quickly ascended the stairs to deck. Armed with machete-like cane knives, they were successful in gaining control of the ship and demanded to be returned home. The ship's navigator, Don Pedro Montez, deceived them about which direction their course was on and sailed the ship north along the North American coast to the eastern tip of Long Island, New York. The United States Revenue Cutter USS Washington discovered the schooner and took it and its occupants to New London in Connecticut. A widely publicized court case ensued in New Haven, Connecticut, about the ship and the legal status of the African captives, which became a cause célèbre among abolitionists in the United States. At the time, the transport of slaves from Africa to the Americas was already illegal, so the ship owners fraudulently described the Africans as having been born in Cuba. The court had to decide if the Africans were to be considered salvage and the property of Naval officers who had taken custody of the ship, whether they were the property of the Cuban buyers or of Spain as Queen Isabella II of Spain claimed, or if the circumstances of their capture and transportation meant they were free. On appeal, The Amistad case reached the US Supreme Court, which in 1841 ruled in that the Africans had been illegally transported and held as slaves, and ordered them freed.

In 1998 thanks to Steven Spielberg's movie Amistad became a household name despite of the fact that it was way less successful at the box office as his other movies.  We, at Amistad America hold our own grudges with the movie - it is guilty of introducing of several historical inaccuracies, that our educators have to correct while telling the true Amistad Story .  Still there is no better way to introduce something to collective conscience than a Hollywood mega-production including big stars. 

I have watched the Amistad many times. The most memorable for me screening happened in US Embassy in Freetown in Sierra Leone, when I watched the movie with a group of Sierra Leonean high school students as a part of the 2007/2008 Amistad's Atlantic Freedom Tour outreach program. Some of the students could have been far blood relatives of Sengbe Pieh - the leader of the revolt.  The horror painted on their faces while watching a scene of throwing overboard chained people, looking just like thir brothers and sisters is something that I will never forget.  The Spielberg's movie is very graphic for a movie that is in fact a report from a two years long legal saga that finally ended in the Supreme Court of United States. 

US Supreme Court of 1841 - the very same institution that delivered lately a widely discussed and politicized controversial ruling - 9 people appointed by presidents.  The difficulty of their decision in 1841 was, like today more political than legal.   The Amistad Case was wildly discussed public controversy that pitted the courts against the President and polarized the society.  Who knows how the political conflict between South and North would evolve without Amistad Case, without a single black hero - Sengbe Pieh who picked a lock of his shackles with a nail...  The La Amistad incident became a catalyst in the development of the abolitionist movement. 

Wisdom and legal talent was required to win that case. In 1841 John Quincy Adams provided both, securing freedom for the Amistad captives. In 1978, in one of the most riveting cinematographic court room monologues - Anthony Hopkins rules the screen for 10 minutes delivering closing argument... there are several great moments in that speech that resonate very loud today!  I am posting that fragment from the movie Amistad below.

If 10 minutes is too long for you, I can understand - most of people reduced their attention span online to 3 minutes. No problem - just cue in around 5:30 (video timer) and start listening at 5:38 "...This man is black..." and watch just one minute...  

I think that after watching that fragment you will agree with me that it is a serious error on the side of History Channel to forget about the Amistad Story...   Amistad Case is a milestone in the Black History Timeline...   Freedom Schooner Amistad is an ambassador carrying the legacy of that milestone around the Atlantic Ocean.   Tell us what you think. Add a comment below or post your opinions on Amistad's Facebook Page - follow the 2010 Amistad's Caribbean Heritage Tour. 

We need your support and participation in our mission of connecting the dots on Atlantic Ocean chart... centers of African Diaspora - the legacy of the Atlantic Slave trade.

- Saturday Jan 30th, 08:30 Eastern Time - Amistad just sailed through the Town Cut and entered St. Georges Harbor in Bermuda - proceeding for Bermuda Customs and Immigration clearance.    The ship sailed the distance of 652 Nm in 86 hours since departing from Norfolk, Virginia last Tuesday at 18:30.  Very good run!  Congratulations for the ship and her Crew!    Stay tuned for more news and extensive coverage of Schooner Amistad's visit to Bermuda.

Connecticut's Flagship and Tall Ship Ambassador - Schooner Amistad and her crew will be participating in the celebration of 175th Anniversary of the Enterprise Landing in Bermuda. That Bermudian story of emancipation of 76 slaves in 1835 is connected to the Amistad Case of 1839 not only by legal procedures but also by involvement of John Quincy Adams in both cases.

Freedom Schooner Amistad and her crew commanded by Capt Sean Bercaw are expected to arrive to St Georges in Bermuda around noon on Saturday Jan 30th,  the ship will be hosted by Bermuda Sloop Foundation - our long time partner organization operating sail training ship Spirit of Bermuda 

History of Emancipation in Bermuda:

People of African decent, whether in Bermuda, the Caribbean or the U.S. are descendants of the African Diaspora propelled by the advent of transatlantic slavery. Current research into historical archives indicates that the discoverer of Bermuda, Spanish navigator Juan de Bermudez, had more than a dozen African slaves on board his ship. No earlier record of African slaves being transported across the Atlantic to the Western Hemisphere has to date been found. 

Bermuda's African-descended population became free citizens after British Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. This act gave all slaves in the British Empire their freedom.

The Enterprise Story:

In 1835, the American ship Enterprise, carrying 78 slaves from Virginia to South Carolina, was driven off course by a storm. The ship docked in Bermuda for provisions; however, local customs officials refused to let the ship sail again until the Governor ruled on the disposition of the slaves aboard, since Bermuda had freed its slaves in 1834 -- nearly 30 years earlier than the U.S. Emancipation Proclamation. The slaves were allowed to appear before the Governor and choose between staying in Bermuda as free individuals or continue on their voyage to the United States as slaves. All but six out of 78 slaves chose to remain in Bermuda.

Captain Sean Bercaw reporting from the Amistad : "We had a fantastic 200 nautical miles run in last 24 hours.  Great fresh tradewinds allow the Amistad to show how well she can sail.  We have less than 150 miles left to our destination. We are expecting to arrive to St Georges in Bermuda on Saturday at 13:00. "