The schooner Amistad is currently docked at Praia seaport, where the crew was welcomed yesterday in a celebration organized by the Ministry of Culture.

It was approximately four o’clock in the afternoon when the cannon rounds signaled the ship’s entrance into the port. The 129-foot-long, 136-ton vessel docked without any trouble, and, to the sound of tabanka and batuko, the captain of Amistad, Eliza Garfield, was greeted by Minister of Culture Manuel Veiga and by the visit’s organizing committee. For Garfield, the slave-ship replica’s stopover in Cape Verde is an honor, and signals the acknowledgement of the history of Cape Verde, which is, in part, the “history of the Amistad.” Prime Minister José Maria Neves was also on hand to welcome the crew of Amistad, visiting the ship’s cabin, where a photography exhibition reproduces the events that made the ship famous.

Later in the afternoon, local artists also made their way to Praia port for a meeting with the Amistad crew, which includes students and professionals from the United States, Canada, Bermuda, Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom. Amistad was built as a replica of La Amistad, which was not originally designed to transport slaves but went down in history as a slave ship, and first went to sea on March 25, 2000. The current voyage, denominated “The Atlantic Freedom Tour,” is aimed at commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in England.

After five days in Praia, the schooner will head to nearby Cidade Velha, where on the 9th Amistad Sunday will be commemorated, the date in which the slaves on La Amistad were liberated in the United States. 

Original aricle published by A Semana Online

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