An Introduction to the Amistad Revolt
Prepared by the Connecticut Historical Society
Goals of this exercise:
Students will be able to use the Amistad incident to explore language and culture differences in the 19th century.
Discussion Starter/Lecture Topics:
In 1839, forty-nine men, one boy and three girls were taken from their homes, family and friends and sold as slaves. Some owed money and could not pay, some were sold by family or soldiers; some were captured as they worked near their homes. These people from Mendeland, an area on the west coast of Africa, were made to lie very close to one another in the hold of a ship with hundreds of other people. They were all chained together. Not everyone on the ship spoke the same language, but they had all been born in Africa.
The Africans were being taken across the Atlantic Ocean to Cuba. The voyage took two months and in the dark crowded ships hold, many Africans grew sick and died. The 49 men, one boy and three girls from Mendeland survived and were sold in Cuba to become slaves on a plantation there. They were all put on another boat, the Amistad, to be taken to another part of Cuba.
The boat carried the Africans, a captain, his crew and the two Spaniards who had purchased them as slaves. While the group of Africans did not all come from the same family or village they understood each other. They wore the same clothes, liked the same foods, wore their hair in the same ways: they were of the same culture. They chose a leader, a young man named Cinque, who tried to communicate with their captors. The captain, the crew and the two men who had purchased the Africans were Spaniards with a culture very different from that of the Africans.
The Africans could not understand them and did not know what awaited them at the end of this voyage; Cinque decided to find out. Using sign language, he asked the ships cook what would happen to them. The cook, thinking this was a huge joke, made signs to Cinque that the Africans were to be eaten. Cinque decided to lead the Africans in a revolt to save their lives. In the fight, the captain, the cook and two Africans were killed. The Africans decided to spare the lives of two Spaniards so that they could sail the ship east to Africa. Instead, the Spaniards sailed north, along the coast of the United States
The Amistad was captured by the U. S. Navy two months later and the group from Mendeland found themselves in another strange land where people spoke very differently, wore different clothes, ate different foods and wore their hair differently. Some of the people they met thought they had been right to fight for their lives. These people spent two years in U. S. Courts proving the Africans right to freedom, then helped them to return to their families, homes and friends in Africa. As you learn about the Mende Africans, their voyage on the ship Amistad, and the people they met in Connecticut, try to put yourself in their place.
Additional Discussion Topics:
You are living in Africa in the 1830’s. You were taken from your parents, marched to the coast of Africa and are now chained in a smelly, dark ship's hold. How do you feel? What are you thinking? If you were a child on the Amistad, would you have liked Cinque? Why or why not?
You are Cinque and you have just been told that you and your companions are to be killed. How do you feel? What will you do?
You are a slave trader. Why are you in this business?
Suggested Reading Assignments from the Exploring Amistad digital library:
AFRICAN VOCABULARY:
“A Vocabulary of the African Captives”, The New England Review, 21 Sept. 1839.
"The Captured Africans of the Amistad", New York Morning Herald, 4 Oct. 1839: 2.
Describes the Amistad Africans in the Hartford prison. Includes a description of Professor Pierce making a phrenological reading of Cinque, translations of Cinque's speech, and Pierce's list of Mandingo vocabulary."A Gissy or Kissy Vocabulary," "A Vai or Vey Vocabulary," and "A Mendi Vocabulary", Professor Josiah Gibbs,The American Journal of Science and Arts, April, 1840.
Yale linguist Josiah W. Gibbs compiled lists of Gis-si or Kissy, Vai or Vey, and Mende words and phrases taken from John Ferry, James Covey, Charles Pratt, and native Africans. These people had first hand knowledge of African languages and the African regions where they were spoken, and could therefore help identify the Amistad captives as African.
WORKING WITH THE AFRICAN INTERPRETERS:
"To the Committee on Behalf of the African Prisoners", Lewis Tappan, New York Journal of Commerce, 10 Sept.1839: 2.
Copies of letter from Lewis Tappan and of court orders requiring the detainment of the Africans in the New Haven jail. Tappan argues that the Africans should not be returned to Spain, and describes two visits to the Africans in prison, including statements from the Africans as translated by an interpreter."An Incident", New York Commercial Advertiser, 26 Sept. 1839.
Mr. Gallaudet, who assists deaf-mutes with the language barrier, visits the Amistad Africans in the Hartford jail. Communicating with them through a makeshift sign language, he determines that they are surprisingly intelligent and quick compared to "the average Southern negro"."The Africans", New York Commercial Advertiser, 8 Oct. 1839.
An article reporting on the discovery of other translators for the Amistad Africans. Information is provided about their origin and voyage."Plans to Educate Amistad Africans in English", New York Journal of Commerce, 9 Oct. 1839.
The Africans describe their treatment by the Spaniards aboard the Amistad through interpreters Charles Pratt and James Covey. Cinque and others desire to learn to speak English.
COURT TESTIMONIES:
"Testimony of James Covey in United States District Court", National Archives, 20 Nov. 1839.
The short testimony of Covey, describing his background as a freed slave and his genuine belief that those who revolted on board the Amistad are indeed Africans."African Testimony", New York Journal of Commerce, 10 Jan, 1840: 2.
Testimony by Cinque, Grabeau, Fuliwa on their capture, travel from Africa to Cuba, and revolt aboard Amistad.
THE AMISTAD AFRICANS COMMUNICATING IN ENGLISH:
"The Africans' Letters", under Personal Documents
A collection of letters, written mostly in the English language, from some of the Amistad Africans to various Americans.
"A Private Examination of Cinquez, alias Jingua", New York Commercial Advertiser, 13 Sept. 1839.
Lewis Tappan accounts his visit to the Hartford prison with the rest of the defense team and supporters (Baldwin, Staples, Gibbs...) in which Cinquez and other Amistad Africans laid out a detailed report--via an African interpreter--of the entire incident."Exhibition of the Amistad Blacks--Display of Mendi Learning, Eloquence, and Music", New York Morning Herald, 13 May 1841.
Lewis Tappan brings the Amistad Africans before the Tabernacle. They recount their story, read from the bible, and display their spelling capabilities.
Suggested In-Class Activity:
Have each student in the class chose a word from the vocabulary list and use
it orally in a sentence. Place all the cards with connectors in a box. Students chose
words and make up as many sentences as they can. Divide the class into teams. Give
each team flash cards with vocabulary words. The teams alternately flash each other
the cards and request the definition. The team with the most correct answers wins.
Variation: Teams can flash the cards and request a complete sentence.
This plan is one of many in a workbook series entitled "Free Men: The Amistad Revolt and the American Anti-Slavery Movement". It has been supplemented with links to primary documents within this web site. The complete workbook is available through the Connecticut Historical Society.
