The Amistad cruised up the Connecticut River to Hartford in September to dock at Riverfront Recapture’s Mortensen Riverfront Plaza for a month-long series of community events, ecumenical services and educational programs. Thousands of students from five capital-area school districts will participate in the Amistad Journey to Freedom to learn the Amistad Story and its connection to current events of today.
The Amistad Journey to Freedom will commemorate the 1839 trial at Connecticut’s Old State House of 53 natives from Sierra Leone who were kidnapped and illegally sold into slavery. These men and children fought for their lives and their freedom aboard the Amistad. The trial, which found those involved in the Amistad Uprising not guilty, marked an early victory for Black and White abolitionists and led to the eventual return of the captives to their native land.
Discovering Amistad’s team of educators, assisted by Student Educators from Eastern Connecticut State University, will spend a month teaching at middle and high schools in Hartford, Farmington, Windsor, Bloomfield and East Hartford. Students from these districts will be brought together at a Symposium to discuss what they learned and to learn from each other. Community and Educational leaders will be invited to attend and to participate in future collaborations.