Description
This 50 x 70 cm drawing is referring to the real case of the Amistad slave revolt of 1839. Even though in 1839 slavery was already prohibited by law, the Amistad (Spanish for friendship) left the harbour of Cuba with 53 men, women and children from different West-African countries, who had been enslaved. In a revolt, some of the captives and some crew members were killed and the captives took control of the ship. They ordered the survivors of the Spanish crew members to sail the ship back to Africa with the deep wish to return home to their families, to be free again. However, the Spanish survivors secretly maneuvered the ship north, and after a two-month odyssee on the ocean, La Amistad was finally captured off the coast of Long Island.
