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Exploring Amistad at Mystic Seaport Museum (MSM)

Mystic Seaport Museum explored the Amistad Revolt of 1839-1842 and published the results of the research as a part of the Seaport involvement in recreating the Schooner Amistad.

The Amistad Revolt was a shipboard uprising off the coast of Cuba that carried itself, inadvertently but fatefully, to the United States#where the Amistad Captives set off an intense legal, political, and popular debate over the slave trade, slavery, race, Africa, and ultimately America itself.

For a detailed narrative of the revolt, jump directly to Discovery, or follow the Timelines.

The web site also gathers resources to open up and explore this history. The heart of the web site is the Library which contains thousands of pages from over 500 primary documents including court documents, journal entries, and newspaper stories. Each can be viewed in the original print or handwriting or in transcription. 

Teaching contains curricular adaptations designed for use both in and outside of the classroom. For a helpful overview of the entire website, view the Exploring Amistad at Mystic Seaport Site Map.  

 
  • Discovery  ( 24 items )

    The Discovery Section introduces the story of the Amistad Revolt and its historical setting. You can explore this history by tracking...

    • The STORY at the core of the Amistad experience: the Africans' enslavement, revolt, legal struggle, and eventual return to Africa.
      The PLACES that this story moved through.
      The PEOPLE drawn into this drama.
      The THEMES beneath the story # the historical contexts and currents that shaped the directions the story took.

    The TIMELINE provides additional settings for the story with historical events listed chronologically.

    Publications used to create the material in this Discovery Section are listed in the Teaching Bibliography Section for your reference.

  • Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Ross Woodward School - New Haven  ( 2 items )

    Teacher - David Senderoff;  5th – 8th  Grades - Social Studies

  • Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Ross Woodward School - New Haven  ( 2 items )

    Teacher - David Senderoff;  5th – 8th  Grades - Social Studies

  • Timeline  ( 7 items )

    This section provides a chronological framework for the Amistad incident by summarizing relevant historical events. These events are arranged by thematic timelines.

    The Amistad timeline describes the revolt event, the court hearings and judgements, and the return to freedom.

    The Atlantic Slave Trade timeline provides a brief history of slavery on both sides of the ocean, including significant treaties and legislation abolishing the practice.

    A relevant history of Africa and Sierra Leone traces early colonial settlement, and attempts to stop the illegal coastal slave trade.

    The West Indies timeline chronicles events of Cuba and the Carribean, with the rise of a slave trade market despite legislative prohibitions.

    A United States timeline considers national history relevant to the slave trade, emancipation, and the early beginnings of the Civil Rights movement.

    Follow the legal path of the Amistad case with the Courts timeline.


     

  • Library  ( 22 items )

    The Library houses the archive of Amistad documents. As of July 1998, the Library includes over 500 documents.

    Warning: these documents reflect the racial and social attitudes of antebellum American popular culture. Some contain disturbing material. A few are extremely racist, and we are a little uncomfortable putting them on-line. But they are an important aspect of this history, part of the climate that surrounded the Amistad Africans as they made their way through the United States.

    Browse the collection of documents using the following categories: (Each document in the collection is searchable.)

    Newspapers

    Personal Papers

    Court Records

    Government Papers

    Popular Media

    Maps

    Gallery


    For documents and resources not available on the web, visit the Teaching Bibliography section.

    View the Staff Picks page for links to the documents, images, and contextual materials that Amistad project staff have found most compelling, unusual, or interesting.

     

  • Teaching  ( 11 items )

    Do you want to introduce your students to the Amistad Incident? The Curriculum section contains a number of starting points for exploring Amistad in the classroom.

    For publications not available on the Internet, but accessible for research and coursework, view the Bibliography page.

    Do you have another way to bring the Amistad story into the classroom? Let us know via the Forum Feedback section of this website, so we can share your ideas with the community of educators committed to exploring Amistad in their classrooms.

  • Feedback From Readers  ( 1 items )

    The Amistad story resonates in some way with each of us#what does it mean to you?

     

    We are presenting below some feedback from readers expressed in 2000 just around when the Amistad was launched - it shows that some issues never die and that a need for discourse will be always present

     
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