For Immediate Release
Amistad Freedom Schooner Begins Voyage
Retracing the Middle Passage of the Slave Trade
First Stop - Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 29- June 30
New Haven, CT – The Freedom Schooner Amistad has departed its home port of New Haven on June 21st for its 2007-2008 Atlantic Freedom Tour. The next stop for the Tall Ship is Halifax, Nova Scotia- this Canadian community has direct links to the British abolition movement and the founding of Freetown, Sierra Leone, the homeland of the original Amistad captives. From Halifax, the Amistad will cross the North Atlantic and arrive in England for the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the United Kingdom and next year in the United States- values of understanding and unity represented by Amistad itself. The Freedom Schooner Amistad, the vessel for change, is a replica of the original ship that was commandeered by Africans who had been captured in 1839. The ship will be in Halifax from Friday, June 29th until late afternoon Saturday, June 30th. The schedule for the ship while in port is Press conference at 3 p.m. followed by an open house from 3:30 to 6:30. The open house will continue the following day, June 30th from 10 am until 5 pm. A farewell ceremony will send the ship and crew off at 3 pm on Sunday. “I look forward to our return to Halifax where amistad enjoyed a warm reception lst year. Stated amistad chairman chairman bill minter who is also sailing on amistad to halifax. We are joining our friends in celebrating the legacy of freedom and social justice. We plan to carry this message to freetown sierra leone as we continue our atlantic freedom tourI look forward to our return to Halifax where Amistad enjoyed a warm reception last year.” stated Amistad Chairman Bill Minter who is also sailing on Amistad on the first leg of this voyage. “ We are joining our friends in celebrating the legacy of freedom and social justice. We plan to carry this message to Freetown, Sierra Leone as we continue our Atlantic Freedom Tour. ‘ From this first stop in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Amistad will travel to England, arriving in London in early August in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Abolition Act passed by England’s Parliament. The Amistad will then join in the Liverpool National Museum’s public opening of the International Slavery Museum on August 23rd; the UNESCO designated Slavery Remembrance Day. The ship travels on to Bristol before continuing its voyage to Portugal and the West Coast of Africa, marking major points in the history of the slave trade. In December the Amistad will sail into the harbor of Freetown, Sierra Leone, the original West African homeland of many of the Amistad captives. This symbolic “homecoming” will be a capstone event of the Atlantic Freedom Tour. The Amistad will return to the United States via the Caribbean and Bermuda in Spring of 2008 and travel to multiple ports coming up the East Coast as the US commemorates the bicentenary of legislation to ban the importation of slaves. Amistad America, Inc. is not-for-profit US based charity that promotes improved relations between races and cultures through educational programs and Amistad schooner port visits.
To find out more about the Amistad Atlantic Freedom Tour, visit www.amistadamerica.org.
For further information, photography or to arrange interviews with Amistad representatives or crew, please contact:
Mary Coates, Media Relations-
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1-203-858-3148.
 Schooner Amistad sails away from Long Wharf in New Haven.
The Amistad Story In 1839.
53 Africans were kidnapped from West Africa and sold into the transatlantic slave trade. Shackled aboard the Portuguese slave vessel Tecora, the 49 men and four children were brought to Havana, Cuba, where they were fraudulently classified as native, Cuban-born slaves. Purchased illegally by Spanish planters Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montez, they were transferred to the schooner Amistad for transport to another part of the island. Three days into the journey, led by a 25-year-old Mende rice farmer named Sengbe Pieh, or “Cinque” to his Spanish captors, the Africans seized the ship, killed the captain and the cook, and ordered the planters to sail to Africa. After 63 days, La Amistad and her “cargo” were seized as salvage by the USS Washington near Montauk Point, Long Island, and towed to New London harbor. The Africans were held in a New Haven jail on charges of murder. The case took on historic proportions when former President John Quincy Adams successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of the captives. In 1841, the 35 surviving Africans were returned to Africa.
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