Replica of the slave ship Amistad
Topics on the Page
Event Summary
Background and Documents
Cinque (Sengbe Pieh) and John Quincy Adams
Important Supreme Court Cases in Black History
Summary of the Amistad Case
The Amistad Case: Chronology
Summary (based on notes by Casey Moriarty, March 2020)
In 1839, a group of kidnapped Africans were taken onto a Spanish ship and left Havana, Cuba. 53 slaves were on board and they had an uprising, which killed the captain and the enslaved people took possession of the ship.
A group of the kidnapped slaves tried to sail the ship back to Africa.
On August 26, an American Navy ship discovered the Amistad off the Long Island shore and brought the people to a district court in CT. The two surviving captors, Ruiz and Montez claimed that the salves were their property and requested to keep them as property.
The alleged slaves argued that they were born free and were unlawfully kidnapped to be sold as slaves.
The case eventually went to the Supreme Court where John Quincy Adams argued for the Africans
The case concluded with the court holding that the kidnapping and transportation of the alleged slaves were illegal because the laws of Spain forbid the slave trade and the importation of slaves into the dominions of Spain.
- The court ordered the Africans free to return to their African homeland since they were not slaves in the first place and were kidnapped Africans.
- This is seen as the first civil rights case in America, although it is often not covered in schools.
A detailed summary of the events of the Amistad Affair can be found here
Background and Documents
Newspaper Article and Clippings about the Cas
John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States, half-length portrait
The Amistad Case
United States v. Amistad (1841)
160 Years and Two Court Cases, Cornell Law School
Here is a clip from the 1997 movie The Amistad, of former President John Quincy Adams's best moments in the film.
Click here for a cartoon video that is kid-friendly and explains the Amistad Case.
Click here for a 7 minute video on the case that utilizes interesting clip art and entertaining video features.
Click here for a video explanation of the event with interviews from people such as the Executive Director of the Amistad Foundation, a history professor from UConn, and the CT of the Afro-American Historical Society.
Click here for a PBS Newshour video on the depiction of African captives fighting against slavery through Talladega murals.
Letters to John Quincy Adams from Amistad slaves
Click here for a letter from John Quincy Adams to Roger S. Baldwin
A portrait of Cinque (Sengbe Pieh), the leader of the Mende revolt aboard the Amistad.
Sengbe Pieh (Joseph Cinque)
Sengbe Pieh (Cinque) and the Amistad Revolt
Click here for a grade eight lesson pan on African American voices of the Amistad Incident
A list of events relevant to the abolitionist movement from the same era as the Amistad affair can be found here
Click here for a lesson plan for the 8th grade on the Amistad Incident
Click here for a PBS lesson plan that connects murals to the Amistad Incident (the same murals seen in the PBS video from above).
Ten Important Supreme Court Cases in Black History
Decreed a slave was his master's property and African Americans were not citizens; struck down the Missouri Compromise as unconstitutional.
A number of cases are addressed under this Supreme court decision. Decided that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 (the last federal civil rights legislation until the Civil Rights Act of 1957) was unconstitutional. Allowed private sector segregation.
The Court stated that segregation was legal and constitutional as long as "facilities were equal"—the famous "separate but equal" segregation policy.
The Supreme Court overturned the "Scottsboro Boys'" convictions and guaranteed counsel in state and federal courts.
The justices ruled that a court may not constitutionally enforce a "restrictive covenant" which prevents people of certain race from owning or occupying property.
Reversed Plessy v. Ferguson "separate but equal" ruling. "[S]egregation [in public education] is a denial of the equal protection of the laws."
This case challenged the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The court ruled that the motel had no right "to select its guests as it sees fit, free from governmental regulation."
This decision ruled that the prohibition on interracial marriage was unconstitutional. Sixteen states that still banned interracial marriage at the time were forced to revise their laws.
The decision stated that affirmative action was unconstitutional in cases where the affirmative action program used a quota system.
The decision upheld affirmative action's constitutionality in education, as long it employeed a "highly individualized, holistic review of each applicant's file" and did not consider race as a factor in a "mechanical way."
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