Amistad on the Hudson repost

Reposted from the Poughkeepsie Journal October 13th 2006

Amistad on the Hudson
Replica of slave schooner spreads message of freedom
By John W. Barry
Poughkeepsie Journal

A 136-ton, 129-foot-long schooner, made infamous by a slave rebellion and famous by Hollywood, docked at Waryas Park in Poughkeepsie on Thursday and embarked on a mission of racial harmony.
The Amistad, a replica of the 19th-century ship on which 53 slaves rebelled off the coast of Cuba in 1838, will remain in Poughkeepsie through Saturday, sail to Kingston and return to Poughkeepsie on Oct. 19.
Theater, music, a symposium and other events are scheduled throughout Poughkeepsie in conjunction with the visit of the Amistad, which was profiled by director Steven Spielberg in a 1997 film.
All events are free, including tours of the boat.
Under a gray sky and against a soundtrack of traffic humming on the Mid-Hudson Bridge, the Amistad docked in Poughkeepsie about 7:30 a.m. A welcoming ceremony was held in Waryas Park about 90 minutes later, followed by a ribbon cutting and tour of the boat led by Capt. Emeritus William Pinkney.
Among those on the first tour were Poughkeepsie Mayor Nancy Cozean, Poughkeepsie Area Chamber of Commerce President and Chief Executive Officer Charles North and Rebecca Edwards, co-founder of the Mid-Hudson Anti-Slavery Project, which arranged the Amistad visit.
Moments before welcoming the group on board, Pinkney spoke about the ship's aura.
"This is a representation of what the human spirit will not be — shut down, locked up or chained away," he said. "We'll do whatever it takes to see freedom."
Story is narrated
Once everyone had boarded, a passionate Pinkney told the story of the ship.
The Amistad rebellion was launched with a nail used to open a shackle. On board were 53 West Africans, originally from Sierra Leone, who had been kidnapped and brought to Cuba on another ship and were transferred to the Amistad. Following the rebellion, the ship traveled for 56 days and ended up off Montauk, Long Island, before it was captured by the U.S. Navy.
The slaves who had rebelled were arrested and charged with piracy and murder, but their cause galvanized the abolitionist movement and prompted former President John Quincy Adams to offer legal representation. The case wound its way to a successful defense before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Amenia native Smith Thompson was a member of the U.S. Supreme Court bench that decided the Amistad case. In 1841, the court upheld the slaves' right to freedom and ordered their release. Thompson died two years later, on Dec. 18, 1843, and is buried in Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery.
Exhibits on board the ship and in Waryas Park built on the sense of living history the Amistad offers. The city's special visitor also forces Dutchess County — home long ago to farms with slaves and the Underground Railroad — to confront its own history.
"It's important to know and remember the history of the United States," said City of Poughkeepsie Councilwoman Gwen Johnson, D-7th Ward, who took the first tour of the Amistad with her 8-year-old daughter, Dominique. "This is an important reminder."
History recreated
The reconstructed Amistad can be traced to 1976, when Operation Sail was held in New York Harbor as part of the American Bicentennial celebration. Warren Marr II, the editor of Crisis, the magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, chartered a vessel to represent the Amistad.
Two decades later, the modern-day Amistad, about 10 feet longer than the original because of U.S. Coast Guard requirements, was built. More than 500,000 people have toured the boat since it was launched and, next year, it will set a transatlantic course for England, Portugal and Sierra Leone.
"This is an incredible story," said Donald George, a native of Sierra Leone and former Amistad crew member who lives in Connecticut and was in Poughkeepsie Thursday. "Society needs it. It's a tool for change."
With a mast 92 feet high and two 136-horsepower diesel engines, the Amistad is a majestic machine. But step on board and it rocks gently, like a cradle.
Over the course of hours Thursday, Pinkney fielded inquiries about the construction and history of the boat from curious onlookers perched on the dock. Visitors who ventured on board learned about a sleek sailing ship and their nation's dark history.
Brooke Van Ackooy, 5, of Hyde Park, toured the Amistad with her mother, Maureen. Brooke liked the sails, her mother enjoyed the history.
"I like to teach her about diversity and overcoming being enslaved," Maureen Van Ackooy said. "I feel this was an important piece of history."