Off the East Coast of the United States, 53 enslaved Africans successfully mutinied. The ship, the Amistad, was then stopped by the USS Washington, which was transporting the blacks to Montauk Point, on the eastern tip of Long Island (where a plaque still stands commemorating the event). They were then taken to Connecticut for trial. Thanks to their lawyer, sympathizers, abolitionists, and the passionate and competent participation of former President John Quincy Adams in the Supreme Court appeal, the defendants won their freedom and the right to return to Africa if they so desired. The case was portrayed by Steven Spielberg in “Anistad,” part of the film trilogy: Anistad, The Color Purple, and Lincoln, about the emancipation of blacks in America.
