Week 3 - Saturday, November 21th, 2015

Aim: What is reality and/or fiction in Amistad by Steven Spielberg?

Do Now: What causes the enslavement of millions during the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries?

Movie Plot

Amistad is the name of a slave ship traveling from Cuba to the U.S. in 1839. It is carrying a cargo of Africans captured in Sierra Leone who have been sold into slavery in Cuba, taken on board, and chained in the cargo hold of the ship. As the ship is crossing from Cuba to the U.S., Cinqué, a leader of the Africans, leads a mutiny and takes over the ship. The mutineers spare the lives of two Spanish navigators to help them sail the ship back to Africa. Instead, the navigators deceive the Africans and sail north to the east coast of the United States, where the ship is stopped by the American navy and the 44 living Africans imprisoned as runaway slaves. In an unfamiliar country and not speaking a word of English, it seems like they are doomed to die for killing their captors. A lawyer named Baldwin, hired by the abolitionist Tappan and his black associate Joadson (a fictional character[1]) decides to take their case, arguing that the Africans had been captured in Africa to be sold in the Americas illegally, and therefore were free citizens of another country and not slaves at all. With help from James Covey, who speaks both Mende and English, Baldwin is able to start communicating with Cinque. The judge rules in favor of the Africans, but the case is eventually appealed to the Supreme Court. At this point, former U.S. President John Quincy Adams makes an impassioned and eloquent plea for their release, and is successful.

Brief Historic Overview

La Amistad, Spanish for Friendship) was a 19th-century two-masted schooner built in the US[citation needed] but owned by a Spaniard living in Cuba. It became renowned in July 1839 as the site of a slave revolt by Mende captives, who had been enslaved in Sierra Leone, and were being transported for sale between Havana, Cuba, and other Caribbean islands. The African captives took control of the ship in July 1839, killing some of the crew and ordering the survivors to sail the ship to Africa. The Spanish survivors secretly maneuvered the ship north and La Amistad was captured off the coast of Long Island by the brig USS Washington. The Mende and La Amistad were interned in Connecticut while federal court proceedings were undertaken for their disposition. The owners of the ship and Spanish government claimed the slaves as property; but the US had banned the African trade and argued that the Mende were legally free.

Because of issues of ownership and jurisdiction, the case gained international attention. Known as United States v. The Amistad (1841), the case was finally decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in favor of the Mende, restoring their freedom. It became a symbol in the United States in the movement to abolish slavery.

Historical Inaccuracies

Many academics, including Columbia University professor Eric Foner, have criticized Amistad for historical inaccuracy and the misleading characterizations of the Amistad case as a "turning point" in the American perspective on slavery.

Foner wrote: “In fact, the Amistad case revolved around the Atlantic slave trade — by 1840 outlawed by international treaty — and had nothing whatsoever to do with slavery as a domestic institution. Incongruous as it may seem, it was perfectly possible in the nineteenth century to condemn the importation of slaves from Africa while simultaneously defending slavery and the flourishing slave trade within the United States.”

“Amistad's problems go far deeper than such anachronisms as President Martin Van Buren campaigning for re-election on a whistle-stop train tour (in 1840, candidates did not campaign), or people constantly talking about the coming Civil War, which lay twenty years in the future.”

Other reported inaccuracies include the following:

Despite what the film suggests, the actual Supreme Court decision reversed District and Circuit decrees regarding the Africans' conveyance back to Africa; they were to be deemed free, but the U.S. government could not take them back to Africa, as they had arrived on American soil as free people.
The film version of Adams' closing speech before the Supreme Court and the court's decision as read by Justice Joseph Story bear no resemblance to the much longer historical versions; they are not even fair summaries.
During the scene depicting the destruction of the Lomboko slave fortress by a Royal Navy schooner, the vessel's captain refers to another officer as "ensign". This rank has never been used by the Royal Navy.

Sources:

- Foner, Eric. "The Amistad Case in Fact and Film", History Matters. Accessed December 8, 2011.

- Story, Joseph. "The United States, Appellants, v. The Libellants and Claimants of the Schooner Amistad, Her Tackle, Apparel, and Furniture, Together With Her Cargo, and the Africans Mentioned and Described in the Several Libels and Claims, Appellees", Supreme Court of the United States 40 U.S. 518; 10 L. Ed. 826 (January 1841 Term), Cornell University Law School. Accessed December 8, 2011.

Classwork & Homework

Lesson Video: Amistad (1997)

Lesson Activity:

Research Links:

Homework: Assignments

Special Education Modifications

Teaching Model: Co-Teaching
Special Education Teacher will work with All students General Ed and Special Ed.
- Special Ed Students:
  - Teacher will read-aloud to students when necessary.
  - Teachers will break down assignments into smaller tasks.
  - Teachers will work with students on vocabulary acquisition by breaking down words into prefixes/suffixes and etymology.
  - Teachers will group students according to learning style inventory as a homogeneous group.
  - Teachers will keep students on-task by managing distractions and on-task behavior.
  - Teachers will modify note-taking by modeling notes from PowerPoint to chalkboard/whiteboard.
  - Teachers will differentiate lessons by using; verbal cues for auditory learners, graphic organizers for visual learners, and hands-on cues for tactile learners.