Exploring The Story of Amistad in New Haven, CT

Exploring The Story of Amistad in New Haven, CT was our homeschool activity of the week. Every week this summer for homeschool, my girls and I agree on one fun learning activity we would like to do together so last week, we decided to explore the story of Amistad at the Long Wharf Pier in New Haven, CT.

Along the pier, a series of placards tell the story of the Amistad revolt, the trials that followed, and the impact on slavery in America. In 1839, African Mendi Warriors were captured in Africa by Spanish slave traders. While off the coast of Cuba aboard a Spanish schooner named the Amistad, they overtook the boat and were found by a United States patrol boat.

The Amistad landed at Long Wharf on its voyage to New Haven for the trial and because New Haven had a U.S. District Court, the Mendi and their leader, Sengbe, were imprisoned and tried in the city. . At the end of a three-year trial that received national attention, the court ruled that the Mendi had been kidnapped into slavery in violation of Spanish law and the Mendi were able to return to their homeland.

Exploring The Story of Amistad in New Haven, CT was a very powerful story to share with my girls making them understand the magnitude of what took place not only in the boat but here in New Haven, CT shedding light on the facts of our collective history and the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade.

Doing more research about Amistad, I was thankful to find out about organizations like Discovering Amistad, a nonprofit educational organization that provides full-year programming on its tall ship, the Amistad, in classrooms and at historic sites of partner organizations.

Discovering Amistad enables children and adults in Connecticut and the region to discover the story of the Amistad and its impact on Connecticut and the nation. Importantly, the organization provides learning opportunities for children and adults to discover the relevance of the Amistad to today’s world.

Exploring The Story of Amistad in New Haven, CT serves as an enduring symbol of unity and the human struggle for freedom. The Freedom Schooner Amistad transformed a ship of enslavement to a symbol of hope and monument to the pursuit of universal human freedom. Today, the replica sails the world as a continuation of that symbol and as a floating classroom, reaching thousands of people every year.

We took a moment sitting on the pier talking about what freedom means to each of them because even though they can not look in the eyes some of the Mendi freedom fighters like Sengbe Pieh, Saby, Suma, Bar or Sarah Margru, they are bound to them by their actions so honoring their story is extremely important. The Amistad remains a powerful symbol of the struggle for equality and human rights having inspired books, plays and a movie.

I emphasize history in our home education because according to Marcus Garvey, “a people without the knowledge of their past, origin and culture is like a tree with no roots”. Roots have two roles: to anchor the tree in the ground and to take up water, minerals and nutrients from the soil to help the tree grow.

Exploring The Story of Amistad in New Haven, CT gave me an opportunity as a home educator and a mom of girls of African descent to anchor their trees in the ground taking up nutrients in the story of Amistad set in our state of Connecticut with national and international significance to remind my girls what they are made of or in exploring the story of Amistad, who they are made of.

The Amistad story connects history to issues facing America today and in many ways illustrate solutions in forstering cooperation and leadership among people of diverse backgrounds to achieve a common goal. The Amistad story is each us today fighting for our freedom to be all that we are called to be without being judged by the color of our skin but by the content of our character.