The Impact of the Revolt on La Amistad in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone on the map

Author: Jessica Han

The impact that  the Amistad revolt had on Sierra Leone and the inhabitants was that Amistad returnees were in constant danger of being recaptured and sold back into slavery. In his book titled “The Amistad Revolt : Memory, Slavery, and the Politics of Identity in the United States and Sierra Leone, author Iyunolu Osagie details that slave wars were waged in Africa order to supply the constant demand. On the other hand, abolitionists began to have influence on the Amistad survivors (Osagie, Iyunolu Folayan). As abolitionists began to reach freed men and women in Africa, it also paved the way for Christian missionaries to establish religious communities. These missionaries not only established new converts, but had also established a way for colonialism to flourish. The author notes that, “missionaries were part of the political process of creating and extending the right of European sovereignty over newly discovered lands” (Osagie, 56). The author argues that the Sierra Leone Company, which was responsible for finding new colonies for the British Empire, had later given full responsibility to the British Crown, in order to maximize the colonization process (Osagie, 56). As a result, the British Crown had realized the value of using Christian missionaries, not just to expand the empire, but to also push for the Christianization of Africa. However, the author notes that even though missionaries had attempted to bring more Christian converts, that the majority of people in Sierra Leone kept their indigenous religion (Osagie, 55). The author argued that only a small percentage of people in Sierra Leone had actually changed their religion. Even as the British government began to pour more resources into the Sierra Leone colony, in the hopes of converting more indigenous people, especially the survivors of the La Amistad crew, that action would lead to friction between the two groups. However, as time had passed, many of the survivors began to grow weary of the missionaries intent. As a result, many of the Amistad survivors left the group as they had found information about their families whereabouts (Osagie, 60). Afterwards, only ten adults and the four children were left, and had stayed with the missionaries (Osagie, 61).  Overall, even though the original slave ship crew members eventually moved out of the mission, the actions of the American Missionary Association had actually led to the founding of some religious institutions such as many churches and accredited academic institutions (Osagie, 67).

Osagie, Iyunolu Folayan. 2000. The Amistad Revolt : Memory, Slavery, and the Politics of Identity in

the United States and Sierra Leone. Athens: University of Georgia Press. Accessed May 1, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central