There has been an ebb and flow of popular interest in the Amistad case. The public’s interest has been motivated by various reasons. At the time of the first trial, when the Africans were being held in the New Haven jail, they were treated as a tourist attraction. “The jailer charged ‘one New York shilling’ (about 12 cents) for a look at the captives. The Africans also attracted scientific interest. A phrenologist examined the captives and took ‘life masks’ which were later put on public display.”
14
Phrenology is the antiquated “study of the conformation of the skull based on the belief that it is indicative of mental faculties and character”.
15
In 1840, John Warner Barber published a pamphlet of the case, A History of the Amistad Captives. Included in this were several engravings. One engraving, “Death of Captain Ferrer, The Capture of the Amistad” shows the violent death of the Captain at the hands of the Africans. Wax figures of the Africans went on tour. The figures spent several weeks in Peale’s Museum in New York City.
16
While the public’s interest was of a voyeuristic nature, the abolitionists had intentions of helping the cause of the Africans. Their efforts included an event at the Broadway Tabernacle in New York City that displayed the African’s accomplishments.
17
Interior of a Slave Ship from John Warner Barber’s
A History of the Amistad Captives
, 1840, New Haven Museum and Historical Society
18
Death of Captain Ferrer, The Capture of the Amistad from John Warner Barber’s
A History of the Amistad
Captives
, 1840, New Haven Museum and Historical Society
19
In opposition to the circus-like atmosphere that surrounded the captives, was the portrait of
Cinque
by Nathaniel Jocelyn. The portrait, painted in 1840, was the first depiction of an African as more than just a slave. Cinque is portrayed in a classical white toga, holding a staff. This pose was usually reserved for “heroic white figures.”
20
Because of the content of the painting, the Artist Fund Society of Philadelphia refused to exhibit the portrait in its annual exhibition. They claimed that ‘to display it might prove injurious both to the proprietors and the institution.’ Outraged, Jocelyn resigned his membership in the Society.”
21
Cinque
by Nathaniel Jocelyn, circa 1840
New Haven Museum and Historical Society
22
After the Africans returned to Sierra Leone, interest in the case declined. It was not until the twentieth century that we see another depiction of the Amistad case in New Haven. New Haven became home to several murals funded by the Federal Arts Project during the 1930s. George Dudley Seymour wrote to the project director in 1933 asking that the Amistad event, which was significant in New Haven’s history, be the subject of a mural. Instead of referencing the historical debate between slavery and abolitionism, or the legal debate that sent the case to the Supreme Court, Theodore Sizer chose to depict the African captives on the New Haven Green performing for the crowds.
23
Nineteen eighty-nine was the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Amistad incident. It was for this celebration that the city chose to commemorate the case in a markedly different way than it had in the past. The New Haven Museum and Historical Society prepared an exhibition of images and objects from its collection as well as from the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut. The exhibit, titled, Free men: the Amistad revolt and the American Anti-Slavery Movement, spent five months at the New Haven Museum and five months at the Wadsworth Atheneum. At the closing of the exhibition, the objects and images that belonged to the New Haven Museum became part of their permanent exhibit,
Cinque Lives Here
.
In 1989, The Amistad Committee, Inc. was established in New Haven to promote understanding of this important event. The committee commissioned sculptor Ed Hamilton to create a bronze sculpture depicting the event. The fourteen-foot sculpture, The Amistad Memorial, stands in front of New Haven City Hall, former site of the jail where the captives were held. The memorial has three sides, each depicting Cinque in a different pose, one in traditional African clothes, one in western clothes in the courtroom, and one after he won his freedom. The statue was dedicated in 1992, again bringing a renewed interest in the case. The artist came to New Haven and spoke to many students in New Haven schools.
Amistad Memorial, in front of New Haven City Hall
The May 1999 release of the Steven Spielberg movie “Amistad” created national and international interest in the case. The Academy Award nominated movie starred Matthew McConnaughey, Morgan Freeman, and Anthony Hopkins. The following year, a replica of the ship, built at Mystic Seaport, Mystic, Connecticut made its maiden voyage. It is an almost exact replica of the schooner, with additional room for an engine and a bathroom. The boat has made its home in New Haven harbor as well as making voyages to Sierra Leone. Visitors can tour the boat or take part in a sail.