1 THE AMISTAD REVOLT: An Historical Legacy Sierraof Leone and TheUnited States y ArthurB Abraham

2 INTRODUCTION

In 1839, slaves aboard a ship called the Amistad revolted to secure their freedom while being transported from one Cuban port to another. Their leader was Sengbe Pieh, a young Mende man, but popularly known in history as Joseph Cinque. The slaves had been kidnapped mostly from the neighborhood of the Colony of and sold to Spanish slavers. They eventually received their freedom in 1841, after two years’ internment in the United States awaiting the verdict of the courts regarding their “revolt.” This was the celebrated Amistad Case, an episode far better known in the United States than on the other side of the Atlantic. But the incident had a far-reaching impact on both sides, influencing the course of American history and especially the development of Afro-American culture, while, in Sierra Leone, leading to the inauguration of American missionary activity that trained many of the elite group that led the nationalist movement to achieve independence from colonial rule.

3 CAPTURE AND blacksmiths held a sacred place ENSLAVEMENT in society and could neither be enslaved engbe Pieh, the hero in this nor killed even in war. episode, was born about 1813 in All these people were shipped from the town of Mani in Upper Mende Lomboko in March aboard the Scountry, a distance of ten days’ Tecora, which arrived at in the march from the Vai or Gallinas coast. Spanish colony of in June. At a Said to have been the son of a local slave auction following advertisement, chief, he was married with a son and Jose Ruiz, a Spanish plantation owner, two daughters. Sengbe, a farmer, was bought Sengbe and forty-eight others going to his field one day in late for $450 each to work on his sugar January 1839 when he was captured in plantation at Puerto Principe, another a surprise attack by four men, his right Cuban port three hundred miles from hand tied to his neck. He was taken to Havana. Pedro Montez, another Spaniard bound for the same port, a nearby village where he passed three bought four children, three girls and a days with a man called Mayagilalo, boy. On June 26, the fifty-three apparently the boss of his captors. Africans were herded on board an Indebted to the son of the Vai King American-built schooner, originally Manna Siaka, Mayagilalo gave over called Friendship, but changed to the Sengbe to him in settlement. After Spanish when the vessel staying in Siaka’s town for a month, changed ownership and registration to a Sengbe was marched to Lomboko, a Spanish subject. Although Spain had notorious slave-trading island near prohibited the importation of new slaves Sulima on the Gallinas coast, and sold into her territories since 1820, the two to the richest slaver there, the Spaniard Spanish planters were able to obtain Pedro Blanco, whose activities had official permits to transport their slaves. helped to make King Siaka wealthy as They chartered the Amistad from well. Ramon Ferrer, who was both owner and At Lomboko, Sengbe was imprisoned captain. Apart from the fifty-three with other slaves, while fresh ones Africans and their Spanish owners, the joined them for the two months they schooner carried a crew comprising the were there, waiting to be transported master, Ferrer; his two black slaves, across the Atlantic. Most of the cap- Antonio (the cabin boy) and Celestino tives came from Mende country, but (the cook); and two white seamen. The others were Kono, Sherbro, Temne, ship also carried a cargo of dishes, Kissi, Gbandi (in present-day Liberia), cloth, jewelry, and various luxury items and Loma (in present-day Liberia and and staples. The cargo was insured for in Guinea, where they are known as $40,000. Ruiz insured his forty-nine Guerze). Some, who did not speak slaves for $20,000, while Montez Mende, learned the language during insured the four children for $1,300. their forced journey through Mende country to the coast. Most were farm- ers, but it is said that others were hunters and blacksmiths. This is sur- prising, because all over West Africa

4 THE REVOLT RECAPTURE he trip to Puerto Principe usually he Amistad drifted off Long took three days, but the winds Island, New York, in late August were adverse. Three days out at 1839. Sengbe and others went sea, on June 30, Sengbe used a ashore to trade for food and sup- loose spike he had removed from the plies and to negotiate with local seamen deck to unshackle himself and his fel- to take them back to Africa. News low slaves. They had been whipped soon got around about a mysterious and maltreated and, at one point, made ship in the neighborhood with her “sails to believe that they would be killed for nearly all blown to pieces.” It was the supper on arrival. Sengbe armed him- “long, low, black schooner,” the story of self and the others with cane knives which had been appearing in newspa- found in the cargo hold. He then led pers in previous weeks as the ship them on deck, where they killed cruised northeast along the U.S. coast- Captain Ferrer and the cook Celestino line. Reports said that Cuban slaves and wounded the Spaniard Montez. But had revolted and killed the crew of a Sengbe spared Montez’ life together Spanish ship and were roaming the with those of Ruiz and Antonio, the Atlantic as buccaneers. cabin boy. The mutineers lost two of On August 26, the United States sur- their own party, killed by Captain vey , under command Ferrer. The two white seamen man- of Lt. Commander Thomas R. Gedney, aged to escape from the Amistad in a sighted the battered schooner near small boat. Culloden Point on the eastern tip of Sengbe then ordered the Spaniards to . The sail in the direction of the rising of the and the Customs Service had previous- sun, or eastward towards Africa. At ly issued orders for the capture of the night, however, Montez, who had some ship; and Commander Gedney seized experience as a sailor, navigated by the the Amistad and took her in tow to New stars and sailed westward, hoping to London, Connecticut, arriving there the remain in Cuban waters. But a gale following day. Gedney sent a message drove the ship northeast along the at once to the United States Marshall at United States coastline. The schooner New Haven who, in turn, notified United followed a zigzag course for two States District Judge Andrew Judson. months, during which eight more slaves The latter was certainly no friend of the died of thirst and exposure. Sengbe black man, for in 1833 he had prose- held command the whole time, forcing cuted a Miss Prudence Crandall for the others to conserve food and water, admitting Negroes into her school in and allotting a full ration only to the Canterbury, Connecticut. four children. He took the smallest por- Judge Judson held court on board tion for himself. the Washington on August 29, in New London harbor, examining the ship’s documents and hearing the testimony of Ruiz and Montez, as well as their urgent request that the ship and all its cargo, including the Africans, be sur-

5 rendered to the Spanish Consul in be dragged back onto the ship: Boston. Judson immediately released he urged his fellow slaves to fight Ruiz and Montez and ordered that against hopeless odds, and was taken Sengbe and the others be tried for mur- away to the American vessel and sepa- der and piracy at the next session of the rated from his men; he made such vio-

Senge Pieh and the “Amistads” at the time of their capture in 1839. The Africans had been kidnapped mostly from the area of the Colony of Sierra Leone and sold to Spanish slavers. Circuit Court, due to open on lent protest that the naval officers September 17 at Hartford, Connecticut. allowed him to remain on the The Africans were consigned to the Washington’s deck, where he stood and county jail in New Haven. stared fixedly at the Amistad through- Meanwhile, Ruiz had renamed Sengbe out the night. The New York Sun Pieh “Jose Cinque” in order to show reported: that Sengbe was not a recent importee He evinces no emotion...and and that he, Ruiz, was therefore not had he lived in the days of Greece guilty of violating the prohibition law of or Rome, his name would have 1820. Cinque, being a Spanish approx- been handed down to posterity as imation of Sengbe, soon found further one who had practiced those most distortion in the press as “Cinquez,” sublime of all virtues — disinterest- “Sinko,” “Jinqua,” etc. When the ed patriotism and unshrinking Amistad was captured off Long Island, courage. a reporter from the New York Sun wit- nessed Sengbe’s defiance of his captors and repeated attempts to escape. Sengbe jumped overboard and had to

6 THE ABOLITIONISTS hapless Africans formally STEP IN became the “Amistad Committee” on t this time, the U.S. anti-slavery September 4, comprised, inter alia, of movement was in disarray, with Joshua Leavitt, editor of the divergent views on several issues Emancipator, the official organ of the — political action, women’s American Anti-Slavery Society; Rev. rights, American churches and slavery, Simeon S. Jocelyn, a white pastor of a and the basic nature of American gov- black church in New York; and Lewis ernment. The Amistad Case provided a Tappan, a wealthy New York merchant focal point for rallying the dispersed and prominent abolitionist. Tappan ranks of the abolitionists, as they all launched the campaign for the defense came out in defense of the captives, of the Amistad Africans and issued an fully convinced of their innocence. This “Appeal to the Friends of Liberty”: was put forth in the Herald of Freedom: Thirty-eight fellow men from Cinques is no pirate, no Africa, having been piratically kid- murderer, no felon. His homicide is napped from their native land, justifiable. Had a white man done transported across the seas, and it, it would have been glorious. subjected to atrocious cruelties, It would have immortalized him. have been thrown upon our shores, Joseph Cinques ought not to be and are now incarcerated in jail to tried. Everybody knows he is await their trial for crimes alleged to innocent. He could not be guilty. have been committed by them. The paper added that Lt. Commander They are ignorant of our language, Gedney had no authority to capture the of the usages of civilized society, Amistad, she being “the lawful prize of and the obligations of Christianity. Commandant Joseph Cinques.... Under these circumstances, several That she was ‘suspicious’ looking, is no friends of human rights have met to warrant.” consult upon the case of these This strong conviction was, however, unfortunate men, and have appoint- not enough. The abolitionists had to ed the undersigned a Committee to get the Africans’ version of events and employ interpreters and able coun- to obtain counsel to prove their inno- sel and take all the necessary cence before the Circuit Court. They means to secure the rights of the held no illusions about the difficulties. accused. It is intended to employ The day following Judge Judson’s three legal gentlemen of distin- orders, the abolitionists of New Haven guished abilities, and to incur other met and wrote to fellow abolitionists in needful expenses. The poor prison- New York to check on the validity of the ers being destitute of clothing, and ship’s documents, find an African who several having scarcely a rag to could speak the language of the cap- cover them, immediate steps will be tives and record their own version, and, taken to provide what may be nec- finally, obtain qualified counsel. essary. The undersigned therefore A committee formed to defend the make this appeal to the friends of

7 humanity to contribute for the disbursement. above objects. Donations may be SIMEON S. JOCELYN, 34, WALL STREET. sent to either of the Committee, who JOSHUA LEAVITT, 143, NASSAU STREET. will acknowledge the same and , 122, PEARL STREET. make a public report of all their

Senge Pieh, or “Joseph Cinque” as he is known in the United States. This painting, by , was made while Senge was awaiting trial in New Haven, Connecticut.

8 Defense counsel comprised the FIRST TRIAL formidable team of Roger Baldwin, Seth n September 14, all the prisoners, Staple, and Theodore Sedgwick, among except one who was too ill to the best legal minds of the day. But the travel, were removed from New lawyers recognized a serious limitation Haven to Hartford, the capital of to any case they might present if an Connecticut, where the trial opened on interpreter were not found to tell the September 17, with Judge Smith story of the captives. A desperate Thompson presiding. After three days search began that was only partially of legal battling, the judge rendered his successful before the trial. Lewis opinion: the Circuit Court had no juris- Tappan brought from New York three diction over the charges of murder and Africans, one of whom was a Kissi (a piracy, since the alleged crimes were neighboring ethnic group of the Mende) committed on a Spanish ship and in who could converse very limitedly with Spanish waters; the various property some of the captives. But the inter- claims, including Ruiz’ and Montez’ preter was able to corroborate the opin- claims to the African “slaves,” should ion of the abolitionists that the Amistad be decided in a District Court; and the captives had been kidnapped in Africa writ of habeas corpus for the release of and sold illegally into slavery. the small girls was rejected. The issue before the Amistad As soon as the Circuit Court Committee was a delicate and sensitive adjourned, Judge Judson convened a one. The abolitionist movement had District Court in the same room. He been deeply divided before the Amistad decreed that the property claims need- incident, and this incident restored unity ed more investigation, but that the cap- to the movement. But there were some tives could be released on bail, based people who sympathized with the cap- on their appraised value as slaves on tives, but were in no sense abolitionists. the Cuban market. The defense To have pegged the Amistad Case to a lawyers rejected this bail formula, which general campaign for the abolition of implied that the Amistad Africans were slavery would have alienated their sym- slaves, and the captives were returned pathy, thus weakening the financial and to prison. moral base of the Committee. One The interpreter had not been effective respondent to the “Appeal,” for during the trial, and the Amistad instance, stated clearly that he was Committee intensified the search for “a friend of human rights, but not an another who could speak Mende fluent- abolitionist.” ly. J.W. Gibbs, Professor of Theology and Sacred Literature at Yale Divinity School, took a great interest in the Amistad captives. He learned to count from one to ten in Mende and, armed with this new knowledge, proceeded to the New York docks, counting to every African sailor he met. His efforts paid dividends when, in early October, he found , a seaman on the

9 British warship Buzzard, who DEMANDS OF THE could understand him. Covey, a SPANISH GOVERNMENT Mende, had been captured and sold as he Spanish government had put a child, but was recaptured by British forward certain demands to the squadrons and brought to Freetown United States even before the where he was released. He learned to Hartford trial. The Spanish speak English fluently and joined the Minister, de la Barca, wrote to the British Navy. Professor Gibbs took Secretary of State, John Forsyth, a for- Covey to see the Amistad captives in mer Minister to Spain and a known the New Haven jail, and the Africans defender of Negro slavery, that when shouted for joy when they heard Covey the Amistad was “ rescued,” she should speak in Mende. They could now relate have been set free to return to Cuba so their version of the events. that the Africans on board could have Meanwhile, the Amistad Committee been “tried by the proper tribunal, and was not happy with treatment of the by the violated laws of the country of captives, and began efforts to provide which they are subjects.” This had not for their physical well-being and their been done, and so he put forward a fur- intellectual and religious instruction. ther set of demands. He claimed the Rev. George Day, a former professor at vessel and cargo, including the Africans, in the name of the Spanish the New York Institution for the Deaf Monarch, demanding that they be sent and Dumb, was employed to supervise back to Havana for adjudication, since the instruction of the Mende captives by “no tribunal in the United States has the Yale Divinity School students. The right to institute proceedings against, or teachers began their instruction with to impose penalties upon, the subjects simple pictures and sign language. By of Spain, for crimes committed on this time, several captives had already board a Spanish vessel, and in waters died in custody from the lingering of the Spanish territory.” He cited arti- effects of exposure, hunger, and dehy- cles of existing treaties between the dration suffered aboard the Amistad. United States and Spain to buttress his case. The U.S. President, , had no strong views on the slavery question, but he depended on the sup- port of the Southern pro-slavery Democrats, whose goodwill he wished to maintain for the upcoming presiden- tial election in 1840. He, therefore, told Forsyth on September 11 to instruct District Attorney William S. Holabird to “take care that no proceedings of your Circuit Court, or any other judicial tri- bunal, place the vessel, cargo, or slaves beyond the control of the Federal Executive.” The President hoped that the courts would order the Amistad

10 captives returned to Cuba, thus DEFENSE STRATEGY OF relieving him of political pressure from THE ABOLITIONISTS both the Southern Democrats and the he Amistad Committee was Spanish government; but he was pre- painfully aware that the pared to return the captives on his own President’s policy aimed at authority, if necessary. To bolster sup- condemning the African captives port for such a potential move and to to permanent slavery, or possibly death, placate the Spanish, he requested an and the abolitionists worked out a opinion from U.S. Attorney General defense strategy to ensure that the ver- Felix Grundy, who declared that the dict did not go against them. They built Africans were to be considered the up a case around the argument that the property of those for whom the Spanish Africans were not legally slaves, as they Minister was claiming them, and that had been brought to Havana and sold the ship should be returned with all its there contrary to the Anglo-Spanish contents to Cuba. The Cabinet Treaty of 1820, which prohibited the endorsed this view. transatlantic slave trade. This treaty had been re-affirmed in 1835 and fol- lowed by a Royal Order from the Queen of Spain in 1838 directing the Captain- General of Cuba to enforce the law with “the strongest zeal.” This line of defense was strengthened by a deposition made by Dr. R.R. Madden, a native of Ireland, who had served the British government in the Gold Coast (Ghana) and in Havana, Cuba, as a Commissioner on the Court of Mixed Commission for suppressing the slave trade. Dr. Madden revealed that flagrant violations of treaty stipula- tions regarding the slave trade were openly sanctioned by the Spanish Captain-General and other government officials in Cuba, and that the American Consul there, Nicholas Trist, was a col- laborator who reaped huge financial benefits from the slave trade. Dr. Madden came to New York in November and met with Lewis Tappan. He went to see the captives at New Haven and proceeded to Hartford to give evidence at the trial. Since the trial had been deferred, he had to give testimony to Judge Judson in chambers. Dr. Madden argued that the Amistad captives were recent importees. On the

11 licenses for transporting them SECOND TRIAL from Havana to Puerto Principe, they he U.S. District Court opened at had been entered as Ladinos, i.e., Hartford, Connecticut, on slaves brought to Cuba before 1820. November 19, 1839, to hear the But Madden pointed out that this type case, but it adjourned to January of forgery was common practice in because of the absence of certain cardi- Cuba and that Ruiz’ and Montez’ papers nal witnesses. In the interim, the of ownership were not legally valid. Spanish Minister pressed his claims About this time, Ruiz and Montez once again, and Forsyth promised that were arrested in New York on charges of assault, kidnapping, and false impris- he would get a ship ready to transport onment, brought against them on behalf the captives to Cuba, should the verdict of two of the Africans. Lewis Tappan, go against them, so that the abolition- the real leader of the Amistad ists would have no time to appeal. Committee, was blamed for this action, When the Court resumed hearings on which horrified political conservatives. January 8, the U.S. Navy schooner Bail was fixed at $1,000 each. Montez Grampus was in the New Haven harbor paid immediately and departed for on instructions of the President, who, Cuba. Ruiz chose to enlist sympathy many felt, “went to disgraceful by staying in jail. The Spanish Minister extremes in his persistent attempts to immediately protested to the State thwart justice as promulgated by the Department that for alleged offenses courts.” The three defense counsels committed in Cuba, the U.S. Courts had urged the President not to have the no jurisdiction. The Secretary of State, case decided outside the courts “in the Forsyth, instructed the District Attorney recesses of Cabinet, where these to render every possible assistance to unfriended men can have no counsel the Spaniards. The abolitionists were and can produce no proof....” The abo- accused of “making sport of the law....” litionists stood watch in shifts over the It was a tactical error on the part of the New Haven jail. They were afraid that abolitionists, and it cost them some the President might send men to seize support from moderates. But Ruiz the Amistad Africans even before the finally got tired of confinement, paid the trial had concluded, and they were pre- bail, and returned to Cuba. Ruiz and pared to hide the captives, if necessary. Montez were both absent at the final On January 13, 1840, Judge Judson hearing. finally rendered his verdict: the Amistad captives had been kidnapped and sold into slavery in violation of Spanish law; they were legally free and should, there- fore, be transported back to Africa, whence they had been taken against their will. During the trial, Sengbe had made a favorable impression by giving detailed testimony through the inter- preter, showing how he and his fellow Africans were kidnapped, bound, and mistreated. Emotion overcame him at

12 one point, and Sengbe rose and EX-PRESIDENT ADAMS shouted in English: “Give us free! Give AND THE THIRD TRIAL us free!” But many people were against he Amistad Committee recog- this freedom verdict, among them nized the need for a public figure President Van Buren. He ordered of the highest standing to plead the District Attorney Holabird to appeal cause of the African captives immediately against the decision. before the United States Supreme Meanwhile, the Amistad captives Court. The abolitionists persuaded were continuing with their classes in reading and writing and in the doctrines of Christianity. Despite their bitter dis- appointment at remaining in custody even after a favorable court decision, they still approached their studies with enthusiasm. The days began with James Covey translating Christian prayers into Mende, followed by a short sermon, and then instruction in the English language. The best pupil was eleven-year-old Kali, one of the four Amistad children, who learned to read and write with surprising speed. But all of the Amistad captives were keen to learn, and at times they grasped their Yale Divinity School teachers at the end of the day, pleading with them to stay just a bit longer. During this period little Kali wrote: We talk American language a lit- tle, not very good. We write every- day; we write plenty letters; we read most all time; we read all Matthew and Mark and Luke and John, and plenty of little books. We love books very much.

John Quincy Adams, at age 73 and then a former President of the United States, came out of retirement to speak on behalf of the “Amistads” before the U.S. Supreme Court.

13 THE RETURN HOME former President he Africans were released from to lead the defense. At seventy-three, custody and taken to and thirty years out of legal practice, Farmington, an early abolitionist the ex-President was reluctant to accept town in Connecticut, where they the case, lest he should jeopardize the received more formal education for the lives of the Africans by failing to win. rest of 1841. As President Van Buren He wrote in his diary: refused to provide a ship to repatriate The world, the flesh, and all the them, the Amistad Committee assumed devils in hell are arrayed against complete responsibility for the Africans. any man who now in this North To raise funds to charter a ship, the American Union shall dare to join abolitionists organized a speaking tour the standard of Almighty God to in the Northern states, and the put down the African slave trade; “Amistads” went from town to town, and what can I, upon the verge of appearing before sympathetic audi- my 74th birthday, with a shaken ences, telling the story of their ordeal, hand, a darkening eye, a drowsy and displaying their knowledge of writ- brain, and with my faculties drop- ten and spoken English. By this time ping from me one by one as the Sengbe Pieh, or Joseph Cinque, had teeth are dropping from my head — become a public figure in the United what can I do for the cause of God States, and many were anxious to see and man, for the progress of human the man whom Northern newspapers emancipation, for the suppression of compared to the heroes of ancient the African slave-trade? Yet my Greece and Rome. conscience presses me on; let me Towards the end of the year enough but die upon the breach. funds had been raised, and the barque Thus, Adams accepted the sensa- Gentleman was chartered for $1,840. tional case that came to be called “the The thirty-five surviving Africans would trial of one President by another.” travel to the Colony of Sierra Leone, Attorney Baldwin prepared an elaborate accompanied by five American mis- defense and opened the case, but on sionaries. Among the five were two February 24, “Old Man Eloquent,” as black Americans, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Adams came to be called thereafter, Wilson, who had taught at Farmington, addressed the Court for a total of four and three whites, Rev. and Mrs. William and a half hours. On March 9, 1841, Raymond and Rev. James Steele. The the United States Supreme Court issued Amistad Committee instructed the its final verdict in the Amistad Case — Americans to start a “Mendi Mission” in the captives were free! Adams sent Sierra Leone. Before the ship left, word at once to Lewis Tappan, the Lewis Tappan addressed the passen- principal leader of the Amistad gers, and Sengbe replied on behalf of Committee: “Thanks — Thanks in the his fellow Africans. The newspapers name of humanity and of justice, reported a deeply moving scene in to YOU.” which many of those present openly wept. As the Gentleman left, the plan of

14 the passengers was “for all to to their homes and their families, keep together and somewhere in the they drifted away, leaving only ten vicinity of Cinque’s town to settle down adults and the four children. Sengbe, and commence a new town and then himself, procured an investment of persuade their friends to come and join goods with which he proceeded to them, and then to adopt the American Sherbro country to purchase produce dress and manners.” The ship arrived for the Freetown market. in Freetown in mid-January 1842 amid great excitement. Many of the new arrivals were able to find friends and, in

some cases, family members. Sengbe The “Amistads” return to Sierra Leone in soon learned from Mende Recaptives 1842. In this painting,by Hale Woodruff, that his own home had been ravaged by Sengbe Pieh appears in the foreground with three American missionaries. The barque war and most of his family wiped out. Gentleman is in the background. Thus, the hope to locate the Mendi Mission near Sengbe’s town never materialized. Having unrestricted asso- ciation with many of their countrymen in the Colony, some of the Amistad Africans lost the desire to remain with their American patrons. Anxious to get

15 THE MENDI MISSION IMPACT IN SIERRA t was not easy to find a location for LEONE establishing a mission station, as he Amistad Case gave rise to the original hope of building one American missionary activity in Inear Sengbe’s town was not feasi- Sierra Leone, with all its positive ble. After several attempts, Rev. consequences. The American Raymond finally secured a place at Missionary Association ultimately Komende in the Sherbro region in turned over its mission stations in Sierra 1844. Raymond attributed his success Leone to the United Brethren in Christ partly to Sengbe’s influence; and he (UBC). Apart from evangelization interpreted the dispersal of the former work, the UBC was responsible for captives as an advantage, because they establishing an expansive system of would spread news of the Mission far mission schools in the southern part of and wide. The establishment of the the country, especially among the Mendi Mission was, in fact, due in no Mende and Sherbro peoples. Many small measure to the efforts of Rev. schools were established and many new Raymond, to whom every credit should technological skills introduced as part be given. In the course of time, the of vocational training. The most cele- Mission opened stations in several brated of these schools are the Harford places, one of which was named “Mo School for Girls at Moyamba and Albert Tappan” in gratitude for the selfless Academy in Freetown. It should be assistance of Lewis Tappan. In 1846, remembered that Albert Academy, the Amistad Committee evolved into founded in 1904, was the first sec- the American Missionary Association, ondary school for upcountry boys (pre- and in that year the Association took dating the government Bo School in over full financial responsibility for the that capacity by many years), and that Mendi Mission. many of the early students were promising boys on scholarship. The long-term impact of these develop- ments was to help create an elite group that excelled not only in Sierra Leone, but in the United States as well. Some of the students who had their early education in American mission schools in Sierra Leone proceeded to the United States for further studies, and left a mark in America. Two important examples are Barnabas Root and Thomas Tucker. Root and Tucker attended the original Mendi Mission school and, after completing further studies in the United States, were employed by the American Missionary Association — Tucker in 1862 as a

16 teacher in a school for freedmen in IMPACT IN THE Virginia, and Root in 1873 as pastor for UNITED STATES a Congregational Mission Church for y the time the Amistad Case freedmen in Alabama. While Root later came to an end, it had so embit- returned to Sierra Leone, Tucker stayed tered feelings between the anti- on in America and founded the State bslavery North and the slave-hold- Normal College (for blacks) at ing South that it must be counted as Tallahassee, Florida, together with one of the events leading to the out- Thomas Van Gibbs, in 1887. Tucker break of the in was the first President of the College, 1860. Although the Supreme Court’s which grew into the present-day Florida decision in the Amistad Case was not A&M University. an attack on slavery, it drew the aboli- In the 20th century, American mis- tionists together and prevented their sionary activity helped give rise to a movement from breaking up. nationalist elite which pressed for inde- Moreover, the missionary work that pendence. Significantly, the first Prime began with the freedom of the Amistad Minister of Sierra Leone, Dr. (later Sir) Africans led to the foundation of the Milton Margai, and the first Executive American Missionary Association in President of Sierra Leone, Siaka 1846, which was the largest and best Stevens, were both products of organized abolitionist society in the American mission primary schools in United States before the outbreak of the the Southern part of the country and, Civil War. After the War, the later, graduates of Albert Academy. Association established more than five hundred schools and colleges in the South and in the border states for the education of newly liberated blacks. These schools evolved into Atlanta, Howard, Fisk, and Dillard Universities; Hampton University; Talladega College; etc, to which countless black Americans owe their higher education. The Amistad Case, thus, gave rise to this tremendous network of institutions in the South that educated the leaders of the modern-day Civil Rights Movement, including the venerable Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

17 CONCLUSION thankful to those who, like Mr. he Amistad Rebellion, which Adams, have helped him and his fellow began with the determination of captives; and deeply homesick. Sengbe Pieh and fifty-two other When the Amistad captives gained Sierra Leoneans not to accept their freedom and went on a speaking enforced slavery, has had far reaching tour to raise money for their return pas- consequences on two continents. sage to Sierra Leone, Kali was a star Although the origins are mostly forgot- performer. He impressed audiences ten today, the processes set in motion with his ability, after less than two years by this revolt will continue to influence of instruction, to write correctly any the course of historical development in sentence read to him from the Christian both the United States and Sierra Leone gospels. Kali returned with the others — thanks, in large measure, to the to Sierra Leone in 1842. He stayed courage of Sengbe Pieh. with the American missionaries and was ultimately employed by the Mendi Mission. Kali married, but, while still young, contracted a disease that crip- Addendum: A Letter from Little Kali pled him for the remaining years of his to John Quincy Adams life.

Kali was one of the four Mende chil- Dear Friend Mr. Adams: dren, and the only little boy, among the I want to write a letter to you Amistad captives. He had been kid- because you love Mendi people, and napped from the streets of his own vil- you talk to the grand court. We want to lage, taken to the slave-trading base at tell you one thing. Jose Ruiz say we Lomboko, and then sent across the born in Havana, he tell lie....We all born Atlantic to Havana, Cuba. Later, in Mendi.... aboard the Amistad, ten-year-old Kali We want you to ask the Court what was of some help to Sengbe Pieh. He we have done wrong. What for sat with the three little girls and kept Americans keep us in prison? Some them quiet while Sengbe and the oth- people say Mendi people crazy; Mendi ers, armed and unshackled, waited for people dolt; because we no talk their opportunity to climb up to the American language. Merica people no deck and surprise their captors. In the talk Mendi language; Merica United States, little Kali, at his young people dolt? and adaptable age, was able to learn to They tell bad things about Mendi speak and read English much faster people, and we no understand. Some than the Amistad adults. In 1840, while men say Mendi people very happy awaiting the final decision of the United because they laugh and have plenty to States Supreme Court on the issue of eat. Mr. Pendleton come, and Mendi his freedom, young Kali wrote this people all look sorry because they think thoughtful letter to former President about Mendi land and friends we no see John Quincy Adams, his lawyer. Kali’s now. Mr. Pendleton say Mendi people feelings come through clearly — he is angry; white men afraid of Mendi angry at his arrest and imprisonment; people. The Mendi people no look sorry

18 again — that why we laugh. But BIBLIOGRAPHY Mendi people feel sorry; O, we can’t tell Abraham, Arthur. “Sengbe Pieh: A how sorry. Some people say Mendi Neglected Hero?” Journal of the people no got souls. Why we feel bad, Historical Society of Sierra Leone, vol. 2, [if] we no got souls...? no. 2, 1978, pp. 22-30. Dear friend Mr. Adams, you have children, you have friends, you love Abraham, Arthur. “Sengbe Pieh.” them, you feel sorry if Mendi people Dictionary of African Biography. vol. 2. come and carry them all to Africa. We Algonac, Michigan: Reference feel bad for our friends, and our friends Publications, 1979. pp. 141-144. all feel bad for us. If American people give us free we glad, if they no give us Adams, John Quincy. Argument of free we sorry — we sorry for Mendi peo- John Quincy Adams Before the ple little, we sorry for American people Supreme Court of the United States, in great deal, because God punish liars. the Case of the United States, vs. We want you to tell court that Mendi Cinque & Others: Africans Captured in people no want to go back to Havana, the Schooner Amistad. Westport, we no want to be killed. Dear Friend, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1969. we want you to know how we feel. Reprinted by Ayer, 1978. Mendi people think, think, think. Nobody know what we think, the Cable, Mary. Black Odyssey: The teacher he know, we tell him some. Case of the Amistad. New Mendi people have got souls....All we York: Viking Press, 1971. Reprinted by want is make us free. Penguin Books, 1998.

Jackson, Donald Dale. “ on the Amistad.” Smithsonian, December 1997, pp. 114-124.

Johnson, Clifton H. “The Amistad Case and Its Consequences in U.S. History.” Journal of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, Spring 1990, pp. 3-22.

Jones, Howard. “All We Want Is Make Us Free.” American History, January-February 1998, pp. 22-28, 71.

Jones, Howard. : The Saga of the Slave Revolt and Its Impact on American Abolition, Law, and Diplomacy. Revised and expanded edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

19 Kromer, Helen. The Amistad SELECTED INTERNET Revolt 1839: The Slave Uprising Aboard SITES the Spanish Schooner. New York: Franklin Watts, 1973. Reprinted by AFRICAN AMERICAN ODYSSEY — Pilgrim Press, 1997, as Amistad: The PREVIEW (Library of Congress) Slave Uprising Aboard the Spanish http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ Schooner. aaohtml/aohome.html Owens, William A. Slave Mutiny: The THE AMISTAD CASE (National Revolt on the Schooner Amistad. Archives and Records Administration) London: Peter Davies, 1953. Reprinted http://www.nara.gov/education/ by Plume, 1997, as Black Mutiny: The teaching/amistad Revolt on the Schooner Amistad. THE AMISTAD IN THE GILDER LEHRMAN COLLECTION (Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History) http://www.gilderlehrman.com/HTM/ amistad/index.html

AMISTAD RESEARCH CENTER () http://www.arc.tulane.edu/

CONNECTICUT: AMISTAD TRAIL (Mystic Media, Inc.) http:// visitconnecticut.com/amistad.htm

EXPLORING AMISTAD: Race and the Boundaries of Freedom in Antebellum Maritime America (Mystic Seaport) http://www.mysticseaport.org/ amistad.online/overview.html

LII AMISTAD HOME PAGE (Legal Information Institute, Cornell University) http://www.law.cornell.edu/amistad/

20 ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Arthur Abraham is one of This pamphlet was commissioned by the Sierra Leone’s foremost historians. He is the United States Information Service author of Mende Government and Politics Under in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in observance of the Colonial Rule and Topics in Sierra Leone History. Bicentenary of Sierra Leone and of the He is also a past editor of the Journal of the Bicentennial of the Constitution of the United Historical Society of Sierra Leone. Dr. Abraham States of America. It was first published in 1987. has lectured in Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Joseph Opala was the editorial production Netherlands, and the United States. He has held coordinator for the original version. It is a number of positions in government. being republished by the United States PICTURE CREDITS: p. 6, Chicago Historical Society; Information Agency in 1998. ICHi-22004; p. 8, New Haven Colony Historical Society; p. 13, Culver Pictures, Inc.; p.15, The Amistad Murals, painted by Hale Woodruff, are found at Savery Library, Talladega College, Talladega, Alabama..

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