Ka Le of the Amistad Writes John Quincy Adams

BEFORE READING

Background

In the mid-1800s, the story of the Amistad brought strong national and international attention to the issue of slavery in America. In 1839, the Amistad, a slave ship, was being used to transport a group of slaves from Cuba to a Caribbean plantation to work. Many of the ship's captives were Mendi tribesmen and women who had been kidnapped and taken to Cuba to be sold as slaves. Once they were in Cuba, two Spaniards, José Ruiz and Pedro Montes, bought them and chained them into the cramped, dark hold of the Amistad.

On the journey to the Caribbean, a Mendi tribesman named Joseph Cinqué freed himself and his fellow captives. The enraged Mendis took over the slave ship, killed the captain and cook, then forced Ruiz and Montes to steer the ship back toward Africa. The Spaniards tricked them by steering a zigzagging course into U.S. waters, where the ship was finally seized by the U.S.S. Washington off the coast of Long Island, New York.

The slaves were placed in jail until a court could decide their fate. A group of American abolitionists formed to Amistad Committee to defend them and their right to return to Africa. Spanish officials demanded the return of their "property." The lower American courts ruled that the slaves had been captured illegally in Africa and should be returned to their homeland. According to their rulings, a congressional act of 1819 made it the responsibility of the president of the United States to return the slaves. President Martin Van Buren, however, wished to return the slaves to the Spanish in accord with Pinckney's Treaty of 1795. Finally the case reached the United States Supreme Court, where former President John Quincy Adams joined the Amistad group's defense team. The group won the case and thirty-five of the surviving captives were returned to Africa in November of 1841.

In the following selection, a Mendi named Ka Le writes a letter to John Quincy Adams to help the former president understand the views of the Mendis before he defends them before the court.

About the Author

Ka Le was a Mendi tribesman born in Africa. Around early 1839 he was kidnapped with a large group of fellow tribesmen and forcefully imprisoned on a Portuguese slave ship bound for Cuba. In Cuba, he was sold into slavery in July 1839 and was imprisoned on the slave ship Amistad for transport to a Caribbean slave plantation. On board, he took part in a successful mutiny, but was later captured and imprisoned once more-this time in the United States. He and his fellow captives endured lengthy court battles to determine whether they were in fact people or the property of their Spanish "owners." Ka Le and his fellow captives finally regained their freedom and returned to their homeland in November 1841.

1.    language—the use by human beings of voice sounds, and        often written symbols representing these sounds, in        combinations and patterns to express and communicate        thoughts and feelings.

2.    soul—the spiritual nature of human beings, regarded as        immortal, separable from the body at death, and        susceptible to happiness or misery in a future state.

3.    ship—a vessel of considerable size for deep-water        navigation.

4.    punish—to subject to a penalty for an offense, a sin, or a        fault.

5.   rudder—a vertically hinged plate of metal, fiberglass, or        wood mounted at the stern of a vessel for directing its        course.

6.    Missionary—one sent on a mission, esp. to do religious or        charitable work in a territory or foreign country.

7.    tidings—a piece of information or news.

8.    worship—the reverent love and devotion accorded a deity,        an idol, or a sacred object.

9.    bless—to invoke divine favor upon.

10. dolt—dull, stupid person.

DURING READING

Use the STUDY GUIDE below as a way to work through the selection and improve your comprehension of the essay.

AFTER READING

Answer the Questions to Consider questions in the book as a way to develop your understanding of the selection.

1. From the text of the letter, what can you infer were the arguments made to return the Mendis to slavery?

2. What is Ka Le's position?

3. Which of Ka Le's points seems to you to be most persuasive?

4. What defense do you think would be made for the people of the Amistad today?

Bibliography

Slavery in America

Edward Ball.Slaves in the Family (1999). The carefully researched story of a South Carolina family's plantation life and slave trading in early America, including personal interviews with their slaves' descendants.

Lerone Bennett, Jr. The Shaping of Black America (1975). A well-known historian describes black history from the arrival of the first Africans in 1619 through the Civil Rights movement.

Ira Berlin et al, eds. Free at Last: A Documentary History of Slavery, Freedom, and the Civil War (1992). An acclaimed volume of letters and other documents about emancipation, drawn from the 20-year Freedman and Southern Society Project.

John W. Blassingame. The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South (1979). A highly regarded history of the community life of Southern slaves.

Michael L. Conniff and Thomas J. Davis. Africans in the Americas: A History of the Black Diaspora (1994). A survey of African antiquity, the slave trade, slavery in the Americas, and contributions of Africans to American cultures since the end of slavery.

Malcolm Cowley and Daniel P. Mannix. Black Cargoes: A History of the Atlantic Slave Trade (1981). A thorough and readable history of the slave trade in the Atlantic.

Olaudah Equiano. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789, 1966). A talented ex-slave's influential 18th century autobiography describes his African childhood and relates his experiences as a slave and a free man in America and Europe.

John Hope Franklin. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans (1988). A famed historian's survey of African American history, from African origins through the Civil Rights struggle.

Alex Haley. Roots (1976). An African-American writer's celebrated story of his search for his family history, which ultimately led him to his ancestors' home village in Gambia.

Belinda Hurmence, ed. Before Freedom: When I Just Can Remember (1989). Accounts of the lives and living conditions of 27 ex-slaves.

Charles Johnson, Patricia Smith, and the WGBH Series Research Team. Africans in America: America's Journey through Slavery (1998).A fascinating account of slavery in America, the result of a 10-year WGBH research project involving scholars all over the world.

Kenneth M. Stampp. The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Antebellum South (1956). A prize-winning study of slavery in the South and the living conditions of slaves.