History of La Amistad resonates as schooner's replica makes voyage to Montauk
A replica pair of shackles rested next to a nail and sugar cane knife on a table aboard the deck of the 129-foot schooner La Amistad.
The items helped tell the story of an uprising nearly two centuries ago that still resonates when 53 illegally enslaved Africans rebelled against their captors. In 1839, the ship ran aground off Montauk's Culloden Point, the location where the modern-day ship sailed Thursday evening.
“What we always say is this is a story with a ship,” said Paula Mann-Agnew, executive director of the nonprofit Discovering Amistad that operates the modern-day, reconstructed ship.
The schooner, considered a floating museum, docked at the East Hampton Town Dock on Star Island to begin a six-day series of free tours and educational seminars as part of its 2024 “Voyage for Freedom.”
The ship and its crew share the story of the men who stood trial for mutiny and eventually won their freedom in a case the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1841. The 1997 Oscar-nominated movie “Amistad," directed by Steven Spielberg, captured that story.
The Eastville Community Historical Society partnered with the Southampton African American Museum and Montauk Historical Society to bring the schooner to Montauk for the first time. The Amistad last docked on the South Fork in Sag Harbor in 2002, two years after the ship launched from New Haven, Connecticut.
“This has been a mission of ours to tell the story of the Amistad,” said Georgette Grier-Key, executive director of the Eastville Community Historical Society. “We wanted to make sure this story is living history.”
Last year, East End historians helped to unveil a blue and yellow state historical marker at Culloden Point to commemorate Amistad’s local connection. This year, they sought to build on that experience by bringing the recreated ship to Montauk.
Mann-Agnew said many in the crew felt emotional as the ship arrived at a location with a deep historical connection.
“We’re making history because this recreation is coming back to the same point where it was almost 200 years ago,” she said aboard the ship Friday, as luxury yachts and commercial fishing vessels passed through Montauk Harbor.
Reeshemah Norfleet imagined the fear felt by the enslaved Africans.
“I felt all these emotions,” said Norfleet, the director of community initiatives for Discovering Amistad. “It just resonated with me. I’m like, I’m here, this is where I’m supposed to be at.”
Andrew Coburn, an educator for Discovering Amistad, said there was no exact blueprint of the original ship, but its design as a Baltimore Clipper gave it a “very distinctive shape.”
The hull of the modern ship is designed to accommodate crew, whereas the original ship, which was "lost to time," Coburn said, was largely open space for cargo. The enslaved men, as well as four children, were kept in shackles below deck.
"One of the things we always like to promote is the fact that it was their resilience and their intelligence that led them to this uprising because they really had to be in together," Mann-Agnew said.
The U.S. Navy seized the original ship off Montauk and brought it and the Africans, who spoke no English, to Connecticut — which then still allowed slavery.
Former President John Quincy Adams represented the Africans in the nation's highest court, presenting the case “as a test of the American republic’s sincerity in the ideals it espoused abroad,” according to a summary by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Historian.
Of the 53 enslaved Africans, only 35 survived long enough to return to Africa.
At 6 p.m. Saturday, an actor portraying a young girl named Margru, who played a key role in the uprising, will perform a dramatic presentation as part of a reception that runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
A family day will be held Sunday with activities geared toward children.
For a full schedule, visit montaukhistoricalsociety.org.
A replica pair of shackles rested next to a nail and sugar cane knife on a table aboard the deck of the 129-foot schooner La Amistad.
The items helped tell the story of an uprising nearly two centuries ago that still resonates when 53 illegally enslaved Africans rebelled against their captors. In 1839, the ship ran aground off Montauk's Culloden Point, the location where the modern-day ship sailed Thursday evening.
“What we always say is this is a story with a ship,” said Paula Mann-Agnew, executive director of the nonprofit Discovering Amistad that operates the modern-day, reconstructed ship.
The schooner, considered a floating museum, docked at the East Hampton Town Dock on Star Island to begin a six-day series of free tours and educational seminars as part of its 2024 “Voyage for Freedom.”
The ship and its crew share the story of the men who stood trial for mutiny and eventually won their freedom in a case the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1841. The 1997 Oscar-nominated movie “Amistad," directed by Steven Spielberg, captured that story.
Eastville Community Historical Society executive director Georgette Grier-Key, left, Southampton African American Museum executive director Brenda Simmons, Discovering Amistad executive director Paula Mann-Agnew and its director of community initiatives, Reeshemah Norfleet, aboard the replica of the Amistad in Montauk on Friday. Credit: Morgan Campbell
The Eastville Community Historical Society partnered with the Southampton African American Museum and Montauk Historical Society to bring the schooner to Montauk for the first time. The Amistad last docked on the South Fork in Sag Harbor in 2002, two years after the ship launched from New Haven, Connecticut.
“This has been a mission of ours to tell the story of the Amistad,” said Georgette Grier-Key, executive director of the Eastville Community Historical Society. “We wanted to make sure this story is living history.”
Last year, East End historians helped to unveil a blue and yellow state historical marker at Culloden Point to commemorate Amistad’s local connection. This year, they sought to build on that experience by bringing the recreated ship to Montauk.
Mann-Agnew said many in the crew felt emotional as the ship arrived at a location with a deep historical connection.
“We’re making history because this recreation is coming back to the same point where it was almost 200 years ago,” she said aboard the ship Friday, as luxury yachts and commercial fishing vessels passed through Montauk Harbor.
Reeshemah Norfleet imagined the fear felt by the enslaved Africans.
“I felt all these emotions,” said Norfleet, the director of community initiatives for Discovering Amistad. “It just resonated with me. I’m like, I’m here, this is where I’m supposed to be at.”
Andrew Coburn, an educator for Discovering Amistad, said there was no exact blueprint of the original ship, but its design as a Baltimore Clipper gave it a “very distinctive shape.”
The hull of the modern ship is designed to accommodate crew, whereas the original ship, which was "lost to time," Coburn said, was largely open space for cargo. The enslaved men, as well as four children, were kept in shackles below deck.
"One of the things we always like to promote is the fact that it was their resilience and their intelligence that led them to this uprising because they really had to be in together," Mann-Agnew said.
The U.S. Navy seized the original ship off Montauk and brought it and the Africans, who spoke no English, to Connecticut — which then still allowed slavery.
Former President John Quincy Adams represented the Africans in the nation's highest court, presenting the case “as a test of the American republic’s sincerity in the ideals it espoused abroad,” according to a summary by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Historian.
Of the 53 enslaved Africans, only 35 survived long enough to return to Africa.
At 6 p.m. Saturday, an actor portraying a young girl named Margru, who played a key role in the uprising, will perform a dramatic presentation as part of a reception that runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
A family day will be held Sunday with activities geared toward children.
For a full schedule, visit montaukhistoricalsociety.org.
Joe Werkmeister covers the towns of Southampton, East Hampton and Shelter Island. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.
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