As publicity mounts for the opening of Steven Spielberg's film "Amistad" -- a drama about a group of Africans kidnapped into slavery who rose up against their captors in 1839 -- those interested in learning the real facts about the historical uprising will have the opportunity to do so at two University-sponsored events.
In conjunction with the opening of the movie, the Sterling Memorial Library is offering an exhibition of original letters, documents and drawings of the key figures in what has come to be known as the "Amistad Affair." The exhibit, which is on view Dec. 4-Feb. 28, was organized by Judith A. Schiff, chief research archivist at the library, located at 120 High St.
Ms. Schiff will also present a talk titled "Yale and the Amistad: The True Story Behind the Movie" on Thursday, Dec. 4, at a tea at 4 p.m. in the Pierson College master's house, 231 Park St. Both the exhibition and her talk are free and open to the public.
"From 1839 to 1841 New Haven was the focal point of the Amistad Affair, a milestone in the long struggle to end slavery in the United States," Ms. Schiff wrote in the current issue of the Yale Alumni Magazine.
Yale students, faculty and alumni joined with local abolitionists and others around the country to help the 50 Africans who were jailed in New Haven on charges of piracy and murder after their revolt on the ship Amistad. Among those instrumental in helping the Africans to win their freedom was the Reverend Joshua Leavitt, a member of the Yale College Class of 1814 and an anti-slavery activist, who arranged for the prisoners to be defended in court by attorney and fellow Yale alumnus Roger Sherman Baldwin, Class of 1811. (Baldwin later became a Connecticut governor and U.S. senator.)
Another Yale alumnus, Josiah Willard Gibbs Sr., Class of 1809 -- who was a professor of Hebrew and philology at the University -- studied the captives' language and then searched the wharves of New York City until he found a sailor who could translate the captives' Mende language into English. In addition, a group of Yale divinity students, with their instructor George Edward Day, Yale Class of 1833, taught the Amistad captives English, Christianity and practical skills.
"You tell our Judges let us free." Among the items on view in the Sterling Memorial Library is an original letter written by the captives' leader, Joseph Cinqué, to defense attorney Mr. Baldwin on Feb. 9, 1841. "You tell our Judges let us free," Cinqué wrote. Also on display is a letter written by former U.S. president John Quincy Adams, who defended the Africans in the U.S. Supreme Court. His March 9, 1841 letter to Mr. Baldwin states: "The decision of the Supreme Court in the case of the Amistad has this moment been delivered by Judge Story. The Captives are free."
While money was being raised to send the Africans home, they stayed in Farmington, Connecticut, where they continued to study with Yale students and faculty. The group set sail for their home in Sierra Leone on
Nov. 27, 1841, and reached their destination in January.
"Among millions of slaves, they became some of the few who were able to return home, thanks to their own courage, a quirk of fate, and the aid of those at Yale and in New Haven who were committed to ending slavery," Ms. Schiff wrote in the Yale Alumni Magazine.