"VOYAGE TO FREEDOM" Learn
about the powerful story of the Amistad incident when you visit our exhibit in the
Mallory Building. In addition to the story of the incident, the exhibit also features
images from Steven Spielberg's new movie Amistad, as well as plans for the vessel
Amistad, now under construction in Mystic Seaport's Shipyard. Drawings of the schooner
are on exhibit along with information about her mission as a floating classroom.
Connecticut Newspapers In Education (NIE) Mystic Seaport staff are working
with the newspapers in Education project to develop a four-part newspaper educational
supplement and corresponding classroom curriculum based on the Amistad Incident and
our construction project. Information about this project is available through the
Mystic Seaport Education Department (1-800-9SEAPORT).
Amistad CD-ROM Project: Cinegram Media and Mystic Seaport have developed
a CD-ROM product focused on the Amistad Incident and our construction project, released
in July 1998.
Amistad America, Inc. is building a recreation of the freedom schooner Amistad at Mystic Seaport. Keel laying was March 8, 1998, the nearest weekend day to March 9, the date the Supreme Court handed down its decision in favor of the Amistad Africans
”Amistad,” the Film: Mystic Seaport provided research and served as a location for four days of shooting during production. Our waterfront represented New Haven Harbor of 1839, and figures prominently in the film.
What the Amistad Means to American Maritime History an essay by Andy German of Mystic Seaport. The seizure of the Amistad in American waters in August 1839 is a “crystallizing moment” that shows the spectrum of moral and legal questions related to the central dilemma in U.S. history: slavery. In its exploration of the relationship of America and the Sea, Mystic Seaport must address the maritime dimensions of slavery. In doing so, the Museum will create a constructive opportunity to relate contemporary issues of race in America--perspective, perception, human agency, and equality before the law--to the nation’s history as epitomized in the Amistad incident.
