References to La Amistad

La Amistad Replica at Mystic Seaport in 2010


Author: Shanna Campbell

2 September 1839: The play The Long, Low Black Schooner opened in NYC, playing to a full house. This play was based on the revolt.

1962: Robert Hayden published a poem titled "Middle Passage." In this poem, he retold the story of the revolt on La Amistad, gave background on the slave trade, and retold the trial.

1988: Robert Skimm's novel Gray Victory is published. In the book, the South won the American Civil War, and an abolitionist group attempting to infiltrate Richmond, Virginia calls itself "Amistad."

1997: Steven Spielberg's film Amistad comes out, based on the events aboard and surrounding La Amistad.

1998-2000: Artisans at Mystic Seaport, Mystic, Connecticut build a replica of La Amistad.

1999: Whitney Huston's hit single "My Love Is Your Love" references the "chains of Amistad."

January 2011: Random House published Ardency, a collection of poems written by Kevin Young, which discuss the revolt on La Amistad.

In New Haven, Connecticut, the Amistad Memorial is located in front of the New Haven City Hall and County Courthouse.

There is also the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana. 

A collection of portraits of the survivors of La Amistad, drawn by William H. Townsend during the trial, are kept in Yale University's collection.

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