The Amistad Revolt

This 1995 documentary by Karyl Evans and Jeremy Brecher, is the compelling, dramatic story of the most significant event against slavery prior to the Civil War. 53 Africans, captured in what is now Sierra Leone, took over the schooner La Amistad in Cuban waters. Thwarted in their plans to return home, they found themselves jailed in New Haven, Connecticut, facing charges of murder and piracy. The video portrays the campaign that sparked the Abolitionist movement, raised the consciousness of the country to the evils of slavery, and emerged victorious after the former President John Quincy Adams argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court. This film was boradcast on CPTV and was the winner of American Bar Association’s
national Silver Gavel Award as well as 2 Emmy Award nominations.