La Amistad - When Slaves Turned the Tables on Their Brutal Captors

By Abdul-Karim Dapaah

 

The Incident

In 1839, a mass of African people were held captive on the Spanish ship named La Amistad. They had been taken by their own countrymen, against their will, to the Lamboko Slave Fortress at Sierra Leone. They were taken to Cuba where they were sold to two men: Pedro Montez and RW Mead. These men had already known that the slaves had been taken from Sierra Leone, which was an African country under the protection of the British crown. This meant that no slaves could be taken from that area.

Then, on July 2nd, the slaves revolted and killed the crew, leaving only a few alive to help them get back to Africa. But they were soon tricked into heading towards America and were recaptured by the Navy.

 

The Trial

After the slaves were captured, there was a huge, lengthy court case lasting several months. There were four groups, each group trying to get control of the slaves for their own reasons:

• Queen Isabella II of Spain (then age 11)
• Martin Van Buren, the 8th President of America
• The Abolitionists, including John Quincy Adams and Robert S Baldwin
• And the Spanish slavers

It took three trails to get the slaves back to Africa.

At first, the original judge agreed with them, but the Spanish pressured the government to redo the case with a different judge. The second judge went with the Abolitionists. Finally, they went to the Supreme Court and with the help of Mr Adams, they won the case and the slaves were sent back to Africa.

Although all these people were involved, only one person actually deserves the credit for winning the case: Cinque. Cinque is the African slave who told his story and inspired many others to help abolish slavery. He was the slave that broke free of his chains and started the revolt. He did all of this because he wanted to see his family again.

 

A Sad Ending

As a result of this trial, the Lamboko slave fortress was destroyed and all the slaves freed. But Cinque returned to Sierra Leone to find his own people engaged in a civil war. His village was destroyed and his family was gone. It is believed they were sold into slavery.