The Amistad: The Atlantic Slave Trade

After watching the Amistad movie, I had a better understanding about what happened in 1839 on the Amistad ship. The movie described the story of the slaves’ rebellion on the Amistad ship while sailing from Cuba to America. Then, they were imprisoned in Connecticut and their case became a heated subject at that time. Spielberg, the movie director, did an amazing job showing the horrors of the Atlantic Slave Trade. In my opinion, the Amistad movie is historically accurate due to its true illustration about the brutal treatment to the slaves on the ship, the elegant speech and argument of John Quincy Adams in the Supreme Court while defending the Africans of the Amistad, and President Martin Van Buren’s attitude towards slavery and the abolitionists.
The Amistad movie correctly portrayed the brutal and inhumane treatment that the slaves faced on the ship while crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Sierra Leone to Cuba. Cinque, who was the leader of the slaves’ rebellion on the Amistad, described how they were stuffed and chained at the bottom of the ship while screaming and crying. They were whipped and thrown overboard. The scene that described how the slaves were given their food in their hands and there was a woman that took food from the face of another woman and ate it, indicated that food was not adequate . This had been confirmed in the text book when Olaudah Equiano, one of the slaves, described his horrifying experience in the Atlantic Slave Trade, which was a common experience to millions of other slaves during the Middle Passage from West Africa to America. Equiano described how they were crowded together in extremely unhealthy circumstances. He explained that there was no ventilation and the mortality rate was high due to diseases caused by filthiness. Equiano said, “The shrieks of the women and the groans of the dying rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable.” I believe the horrible treatment was truthfully depicted when Larry Gragg in his article described the types of torture that slaves faced on any slave ship that were similar to the torture happened in the movie, like whipping, throwing overboard, and insufficient food and water . This proved to me that the brutal treatment of the slaves shown in the Amistad movie was portrayed accurately. John Quincy Adams’s elegant argument in the Supreme Court while defending the Africans of the Amistad was depicted accurately in the movie. John Quincy Adams, who was a former president, criticized President Van Buren’s misuse of the executive power. He wanted freedom for the Africans of the Amistad because they were born free in their country and they were not slaves born in Cuba. Because of Adams’s sophisticated and emotional argument, the Court was convinced to free the Africans and return them back to their country . Adams’s argument had been confirmed when the article “John Quincy Adams: defending the Amistad slaves” indicated that Adams criticized the slavery and wanted freedom for the Africans during his argument in the Supreme Court. In addition, the article illustrated that Adams, during his argument, pointed to a copy of the Declaration of Independence, which hang on the wall of the Court and emphasized its principles and rights including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and said, “No man has a right to life or liberty, if he has an enemy able to take them from him.” Also, the article stated that the court freed the Africans and thirty five men returned to Sierra Leone. This made me believe that John Quincy Adams’s argument in the movie was accurate. President Martin Van Buren’s approach towards slavery and abolitionists was illustrated accurately in the Amistad movie.
He did not support abolitionists and the antislavery sentiments. This was shown in the scene when Van Buren was riding his carriage during his reelection campaign and mentioned that he did not care about the slaves in the Amistad case . During the Amistad trial, President Van Buren was prone towards returning slaves to Cuba instead of freeing them. He was afraid of the resentment of the South where people were against abolitionists and antislavery petitions. After the district court ruled that Africans of the Amistad ship were not slaves and ordered that they be freed, President Van Buren ordered an appeal which had been confirmed by the class handout . The President’s attitude towards abolitionists and slavery were factually shown in the text book. James Roark described, during President Van Buren’s election he said that he was “a northern man with southern Principles.” He meant that although he is from the north where people favored the Abolitionists, he was with the southern proslavery Democrats. During his presidency, he expressed his southern sympathies by seizing the “gag rule” that was against antislavery petitions and passed by the congress in 1836. He repeatedly said, “Abolitionists were fanatics.” He rejected the issue of abolition as an
inappropriate. Although the Amistad movie was probably one of the longest movies that I have watched, it was very interesting and emotional.
The genre of this movie is drama. The famous director, Spielberg, did an amazing job to grab the attention of the audience using the sound track. The scenes in the movie clearly portrayed the lives of the slaves during that era. The acting was amazing and the facial expressions of the actors grabbed my attention. The skill of the famous actors, such as Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins, was clearly evident in the movie. I believe that this movie is historically accurate as proved by the text book, scholarly journals, and the class
handout.