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Meet the People, Share the Courage. Introduction to extraordinary people involved with this struggle for freedom.
- Cinque, the brave leader of the Mende captives, and Grabeau, his friend and supporter;
- Attorney Roger Sherman Baldwin of New Haven and former U.S. President John Quincy Adams, the African’s legal defenders;
- Reverend James Pennington, a Hartford minister and abolitionist;
- British sailor James Covey, enslaved as a child and freed by the British navy, and Yale professor Josiah Gibbs, both of whom served as interpreters for the Africans and helped improve their legal defense;
- John Warner Barber, illustrator and author of the only book on the incident at the time;
- Kali, Kinna, and Margru, three children onboard the Amistad who later became interpreters to their fellow Africans, worked with anti-slavery supporters, and helped raise funds for the return trip to Africa.
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Slavery - history
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Amistad Revolt - An Historical Legacy of Sierra Leone and the United States
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Arthur Abraham
Dr. Arthur Abraham is one of Sierra Leone's foremost historians. He is the author of Mende Government and Politics Under Colonial Rule and Topics in Sierra Leone History. He is also a past editor of the Journal of the Historical Society of Sierra Leone. Dr. Abraham has taught and researched at universities in Europe, Africa and the United States. Currently Professor of History at Virginia State University, he has been Professor of African Studies and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, with academic stints at Leiden in Holland, and Long Island and Yale Universities. Dr. Abraham has published extensively, and is the leading authority on the Mende. He has held a number of positions in government.
 Download ready to print, illustrated Adobe Acrobat (PDF) versions:
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Amistad Reccomends
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The Story of the Amistad
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The Amistad incident as it unfolded.
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AMISTAD America web resources
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The story behind the Freedom Schooner Amistad
"This exhibit tells the true story of a group of Africans who were captured in their homeland—and fought against enslavement. They revolted, seized their ship, and eventually won their freedom. The Freedom Schooner Amistad commemorates their struggle."
{Photo and link to the set of PDF panels}
These are the educational display panels that travel with the vessel. Find out background information leading up to the Amistad Incident of 1839, more of the fascinating history surrounding this infamous story and Amistad’s relevance then, now and leading into the future.
A more detailed history of the Amistad Incident is also available.
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Timeline of The Amistad Incident
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• April 1839: Slave ship Tecora leaves Lomboko, West Africa.
• June 1839: Tecora arrives in Havana. Jose Ruiz buys forty-nine adult males, paying $450 for each, and Pedro Montes buys four children, three girls and one boy.
• June 28, 1839: La Amistad sets sail for the other end of Cuba with fifty-three African captives, Ruiz, Montes and a crew of five.
• July 2, 1839: Africans revolt and seize control of La Amistad.
• July through August 1839: La Amistad sails east by day and north by night, up the U.S. coastline.
• August 25, 1839: La Amistad anchors off Long Island and lands ashore to obtain provisions.
• August 26, 1839: La Amistad is seized by U.S.S. Washington.
• August 27, 1839: La Amistad is brought to New London and the Africans are taken to a New Haven jail to await trial on charges of murder and piracy.
• September 9, 1839: Yale professor Josiah Gibbs finds British sailor and Mende speaker James Covey on the docks of New York and takes him to New Haven to serve as a translator.
• September 19, 1839: The first round of trials begins in the U.S. Circuit Court at Hartford.
• November 19, 1839: The second round of trials begins in Hartford, with Judge Judson presiding.
• January 8, 1840: Sengbe testifies in court.
• January 13, 1840: Judge Judson rules that the Africans were illegally enslaved and orders them to be returned to Africa. The Van Buren administration appeals the District Court decision.
• February 22, 1841: U.S. Supreme Court begins hearing the Amistad case.
• February 24, 1841: John Quincy Adams begins presenting his argument.
• March 9, 1841: Justice Story delivers the Supreme Court’s decision, affirming the Africans’ freedom.
• November 27, 1841: African survivors and American missionaries depart New York for Africa aboard the Gentleman.
• January 15, 1842: The Gentleman arrives in Sierra Leone.
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Places of The Amistad Incident
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Geographic settings at the time of the Amistad incident.
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Themes of the discovery
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The incident's significance as part of our history.
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Media Gallery 