The Amistad pulled up to the Maine State Pier on Thursday afternoon, ready to begin its stint as a floating classroom in Portland for the next week.

The visit is part of an 18-month journey commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trades in the United Kingdom and the United States. The United Kingdom outlawed the trade in 1807 and the United States followed the next year, although slavery was still practiced.

Amistad's 14,000-mile voyage retraced the routes of the slave trade. The ship set sail last year in Connecticut, traveled to England and Portugal, and then to Sierra Leone, where captives of the original La Amistad eventually returned. The ship visited other spots in Africa before sailing across the Atlantic to Barbados and U.S. ports.

The voyage is one made "in the spirt of freedom and unity and democracy," as well as a celebration of the captives' return to Sierra Leone, said Donald George, the international coordinator for AMISTAD America, the organization behind the trip. George is among the Sierra Leoneans who will be teaching visitors about the history of the Amistad.

The ship is a re-creation of the original La Amistad, a coastal cargo schooner that was seized by its African captives in 1839. The incident, which was at the center of a human rights case, became the subject of the 1997 Steven Spielberg film of the same name.

The schooner offers visitors an opportunity to learn about the history of the era, and it is an ongoing educational experience for the students and crew who have been aboard for various legs of the journey, George said.

In addition to history and sailing, they learn to work together and become better leaders, he said.

"The moment you join Amistad, we recalibrate your thinking," George said.

In 1839, despite the abolition of the slave trade, 53 Africans were captured and brought to Cuba. Falsified documents classified them as Cuban-born slaves, and they were transferred to La Amistad for travel to another part of Cuba.

The captives overpowered the crew, killing the captain and cook, and demanded to be taken back to Africa. But during the night, the crew changed course and the ship ended up along the U.S. coast.

The Navy seized the ship near Long Island, and the Africans were charged with murder. Abolitionists and John Quincy Adams became involved in the case, which Adams successfully argued before the Supreme Court. The 35 surviving captives returned to Africa in 1841.

City Councilor Dan Skolnik, who met the ship at the Maine State Pier, said the Amistad story offers a lesson that can always apply to the local community.

"Sometimes it's right to stand up and say, 'This is wrong,'" he said.

The story of the original La Amistad is well-known in Sierra Leone, the home of John Augustine Kamara. A descendant of former slaves, Kamara is now a crew member on the boat. He will help teach visitors about the ship through songs he's composed, including a traditional piece with the message, "Let us bring our treasures together."

Kamara sees his ancestors' contributions in the places he visits and traces of African features in the faces of some residents.

"I'm proud that my people participated in the history of the world," he said. "We believe in our ancestors. We believe it so deeply."

While Maine entered the union as a free state in 1820 as part of the Missouri Compromise, it did play a role in the slave trade. Slave auctions took place before then in Wells, Kittery and Thomaston, said Wells Stanley-Mays, historian for Maine Freedom Trails, an organization that works to create marked sites related to the abolitionist movement.

Stanley-Mays said the economy of Portland benefited indirectly from the slave trade. Shipowners in Portland traded food, primarily salted cod, to slaveowners in the Caribbean. Slaves there produced molasses that was sent to Portland for rum production, and the rum was traded for slaves in Africa.

In addition to public tours and sails, a number of events organized by the Amistad Arts Collective, an organization separate from AMISTAD America, will be held in conjunction with the ship's visit. Hashim A'Allah, the group's founder, said different art forms will be used to facilitate discussions about Amistad–-as well as about how those historical events are relevant now.

"The whole lesson of Amistad is about the future," he said.

Rachel Talbot Ross, president of the Portland branch of the NAACP and Maine Freedom Trails, said she appreciates how Amistad brings attention to an important part of history and a window to examine current issues.

"I do think it allows us to stop and reflect and engage across lines about what the issues of freedom and justice are today," she said.

Read the original article published in Portland Press Herald on Aug 15th, 2008