The movie Amistad depicted the slave uprising aboard La Amistad and the court cases that led to their release back to Africa. In 1839, several Africans were captured and transported by Spanish slave traders to be sold to plantation owners in Cuba and the United States. During the journey, the slaves led an attack on the ship’s crew, killing all members except Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montez. Cinque, a Mende, led the revolt after freeing himself and arming the ships occupants with swords and clubs. With the ship under their control, they demanded Ruiz and Montez to sail the ship back home to their homeland of Africa. At night, Ruiz and Cortez changed the course of the ship in an attempt to sail for Cuba or the United States and save themselves. The boat was seized by the American Navy and eventually towed to Connecticut where the enslaved were brought before the American courts. Initially, there were many allegations as to whom the blacks belonged to as well as whether they should be charged for piracy and murder. Since the Atlantic Slave Trade had been recently banned, blacks brought from Africa were considered illegally acquired people and they would be returned home. If they were found to be born in Cuba and transported to the United States, the blacks are returned back to the Spanish slave traders. Cinque’s lawyers provided him with a translator that could speak Mende and help him testify before the court. During the court proceedings, based on Cinque’s testimony and La Amistad’s records, it was determined that the Africans were seized from the coast of Africa by Portuguese slave traders and transported to Cuba on the Tecora. Once in Cuba, Spanish slave traders purchased the slaves and attempted to sell them to plantation owners throughout Cuba and United States. The judge ruled that the blacks were illegally acquired and to be returned to Africa. President Martin Van Buren appealed the decision and the case was moved to the Supreme Court. Along with testimony from former president John Quincy Adams, the Supreme Court freed the blacks and allowed them to return to Africa. Stephen Spielberg’s Amistad was a compelling story that effectively displayed slave trading and the experiences of an enslaved person. The film reinforced many concepts that we have learned in class. Many of the enslaved were captured by their own people and sold off to European slave traders bound for the Americas. Death, disease and violence were prominent on the ship tightly packed ships. Many of the sick were thrown overboard in order to maintain supplies. While awaiting trial, it was evident that the enslaved consisted of individuals from many different African groups and cultures. Africans groups maintained their own territory in the jail and practiced their native customs. The court case was centralized on how the Africans were obtained. The ban of the Atlantic Slave Trade in the early 1800s made it illegal to transport Africans to the Americas. Despite the many facts that the movie presented, there were a few elements of the film that I found to be exaggerated. The film depicted the
