Over the last couple of days I've been reading David Brion Davis' article 'The Amistad test of law and justice' it has beefed out my knowledge of the Amistad incident and presented some new interesting elements and characters of the story that I didn't know before. I thought I'd share some of these new things with you.

 

* Sengbeh Pieh had 3 children and a wife and was seized by 4 strangers from his own clan when he was working on a road between 2 villages. He suspected that he was seized to pay debt he owed to a business associate.
* Most of the Africans on the Tecora (the ship that transported the Amistad captives from Africa to Cuba) were women and children.
* According to Spanish law any Africans imported to Cuba after 1820 were supposed to be legally free. Violators to this law were subject to the death penalty. The Spanish government did not take measures seriously as they were reaping the benefits as Cuba emerged as the worlds greatest producer of sugar - by 1856 Cuba was producing 4 times the amount of sugar as Brazil-. Their global market has dramatically increased after Britain had emancipated enslaved Africans in its colonies in 1834.
* Jose Ruiz was an experienced slave merchant and he was only 24 years old. He bought the 49 African men for $450 each.

* People who boarded the Amistad:
53 enslaved Africans (49 men, 3 girls and a boy)
An enslaved Cuban-born cook called Celestino
A 16 year old enslaved cabin boy called Antonio
Ruiz and Montes (the men who purchased the captives)
4 crew: Captain, ship owner and 2 sailors

* I have always wondered what the captives lived on for the 63 days whilst on the ship as the original journey was only meant to be 6 days. In Davis' article he states that one Mendean who spoke some English managed to obtain a keg of water and some apples from a captain of another ship when traveling through Burnah. Apparently the Amistad ran into a number of other ships but they usually fled at the sight of Africans on decks with long knives. 10 of the captives died onboard, most likely from drinking dangerous medications to quench their thirst. When the Amistad was seized Sengbeh had anchored the ship and gone ashore with a small group to find provisions.

* When the first trial began in New Haven the American president Martin Van Buren sent a naval vessel to New Haven giving secret orders that the captives should be smuggled to the ship. He expected that the court decision would favor Spain, who wanted the captives transported to Cuba for trial, which would have cut out any right of appeal to the Supreme Court. The vessel he sent was so small that many of the captives would have been chained to the deck in the icy weather. Those who survived the journey would have been executed for murder.

* For the 18 months the Africans were in prison thousands of people paid 12 1/2 cents to see the 'African savages'.

* The only person who wasn't freed at the end of the Amistad story was the enslaved cabin boy Antonio, as he was legally still enslaved. He was meant to be sent back to Cuba; however, abolitionists managed to smuggle him to freedom in Canada.

* Some people who have visited the Freedom Schooner Amistad have questioned whether Sengbeh engaged in the slave trade when he finally returned home in 1842. At the end of Davis article he asserts that there are no facts to support this theory.

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