The Amistad Affair

A second legal cause celebre that took place in Connecticut was the Amistad case. Fifty-four Africans being transported on the Spanish schooner Amistad mutinied, killed some of the crew, and ended on Long Island Sound. The international legal questions involved were complicated, and the case was heard in two different federal courts. John Quincy Adams was attorney for the Africans before the United States Supreme Court in 1841. The Amistad captives, who had been held in loose arrest in Con­necticut, were freed, and some stayed on for schooling.

Since the production of the Speilberg film and a documentary by Karyl K. Evans, the Amistad affair has generated a huge literature -- much of it hogwash. You can get a good survey of the scholarly literature from Howard Jones, et al., in a collection of articles and responses in the Journal of American History. 87 (December 2000). Jones is the author of the best accepted account of the mutiny. It is: Jones, Howard, Mutiny on the Amistad: The Saga of a Slave Revolt and Its Impact on American Abolition, Law, and Diplomacy. Oxford, 1987. In the JAH, Jones' piece is: "Cinque of the Amistad a Slave Trader? Perpetuating a Myth," Journal of American History 87 (December 2000) 3:923-50. An essay by Howard Jones quite successfully undermines the generally accepted claim that Cinque became a slave trader on his return to Africa. A great case study of carelessness on the part of even the most distinguished historians like S.E. Morrison and C. van Woodward who relied on a novel for their information. Three accompanying short essays from historians who helped perpetuate the canard.  See also: "Amistad: Controversy about the Film and Its Use," Special Section in History Teacher 31 (May, 1998) 369-402.

Baldwin, Simeon E. “The Captives of the Amistad.” Papers of the NHCHS 4(1888):331-70. Long a standard account, this is based on Barber, below, and an excellent account in Henry Wilson, Vol. 1 of The Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America. (Boston: J. R. Osgood, 1872.) Baldwin had access to some people with ancient recollections of the episode.

Barber, John W. A History of the Amistad Captives. New Haven: E., L. and W., 1840. A sympathetic contemporary account.

Cable, Mary. Black Odyssey. New York: Viking, 1971. A popular but serious ac­count for the modern, post-black-consciousness reader. An appendix has a phrenological study of the captives that appeared originally in Barber’s ac­count of 1840.

Cook, Fred J. “The Slave Ship Rebellion.” American Heritage 8(February, 1957)2:61-64. A popular account focusing on Cinque', the leader of the mutiny. Includes a large color portrait of him.

Kromer, Helen. The “Amistad” Revolt, 1839: The Slave Uprising Aboard the Spanish Schooner. New York: Franklin Watts, 1973. Maps. Junior-high level.

Lewis, Alonzo N. “Recollections of the Amistad Slave Case: ... Several Hitherto unknown Aspects of the Case Told.” Connecticut Magazine 11(1807)1:125-38. The author when a young boy saw the Mendi Africans. Some eye-witness mate­rial written many years after the event.

Norton, Charles Ledyard. “Cinquez—Black Prince.” Farmington Magazine 1 (Feb­ruary, 1901). About the leader of the Amistad captives.

Owens, William A. Slave Mutiny: The Revolt on the Schooner “Amistad.” New York: John Day, 1953. This work, or a version of it, was published also as Black Mutiny: The Revolt on the Schooner “Amistad.” Boston: Pilgrim Press, 1968. The author rejects “a completely factual treatment” for a “dramatic telling.” (p. 311) No citations, but Owens’ ms. notes are at the NHCHS.

Rukeyser, Muriel. Willard Gibbs. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday Doran, 1942. A biography of one of the New Haven citizens most involved; a full chapter is devoted to the Amistad case.

Walton, Perry. “The Mysterious Case of the Long, Low, Black Schooner.” New England Quarterly 6(June, 1933)3:353-61. Taken from newspaper accounts of the ship’s activities before it was captured and immediately afterward. Good detail, but reported in other accounts.