Amistad 175th Anniversary

Mara Lavitt — New Haven Register

Museum Marks 175th Anniversary of Amistad Captives' Freedom - A Connecticut museum is marking the 175th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that granted freedom to enslaved Africans held captive aboard the ship Amistad.

The story of one of four children held on the ship will be recreated during Thursday's event at the New Haven Museum.

The Africans aboard the Spanish ship revolted in 1839, seizing it and sailing up the East Coast. The U.S. Navy captured the ship and forced it to dock in New London.

The slaves were jailed in New Haven, thus beginning a long legal fight to win their freedom. President John Quincy Adams, who was a Massachusetts congressman by then, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that they were free people who acted in self-defense.

He won the case on March 9, 1841.