Yesterday in Lisbon the entire crew of Freedom Schooner Amistad headed to the Auditorium of the Luso-American Foundation to participate in a day-long symposium examining slavery in Portugal.  The day-long event “From Slavery to Interculturality” organized in conjunction with the Fundacao Luso-Americana and the Centro de Historia de Alem-Mar (CHAM) offered Sankofa College Program participants and Amistad America staff a unique opportunity to hear Portuguese scholars discuss the transatlantic slave trade.

In the morning session Dr. Joao Paulo Oliveira e Costa, Director of CHAM presented an engaging paper entitled: “Slavery in the Context of Portuguese Maritime Expansion.”  Following Dr. Costa’s presentation, Dr. Antonio Mendes shared the results of his recent research focusing on the Portuguese Atlantic slave trade in the 16th century.
After some spirited questions from the audience in response to the first two speakers, the symposium’s focus shifted from Portuguese slavery to a broader discussion of human  rights and contemporary immigration policy in Portugal in the afternoon.   AAI’s Director of Education, Dwayne Williams, invited attendees to reconsider the Amistad Incident in the context of the transformations that shaped pubic thinking about the meaning of freedom and human rights in the 19th century.  The final presentation of the day was given by Duarte Miranda Mendes from the Alto Commissariado para a Imigracao e Dialogo Intercultural (ACIDI).  Mr. Mendes’ presentation offered some insights about how the national government has responded recently to the on-going challenge of trying to smoothly integrate emigrants from north and west Africa into Portuguese civil society.