amistad essay

7/27/2019 Amistad Essay

1/5

Dr. Davies-Morris, HUM 135 Honors, Fall 2013

Amistad / Middle Passage reflection: Consider two or more of these points in a brief essay (2

pages, typed, double-spaced, 1 margins, 10/12-point type). You must also make at least two

connections to Robert Hayden's poem, using relevant quotes to illustrate your points.

How does theAmistadtrial, in John Quincy Adamss words, pave the way for the last

battle of the American revolution?

What cultural parallels or contrasts are made between the American-European and

African worlds? What scenes stand out for you in the film, and why? Discuss at least two

illustrations.

Consider what the circumstances of the African rebels say in relation to America at the

time. How can their defenders argue for their freedom in the context of a world that

considers them less than human, or at least too uncivilized to make their own decisions?

Also, as Baldwin attempts, how would you explain to an outsider the court system, withall its complexities (appeals, counter-appeals).

In all cases, consider how the story might connect with the ideals of the new republic (as

laid out in the American State Papers)?

Finally, read the Eric Foner essay at this link for some observations about the films

inaccuracies.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/ d/74
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/74http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/74


2/5


The Amistad Case in Fact and Film

by Eric Foner

Historian Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, examines the

issues surrounding the historical film Amistad. In this essay he explores the problems faced by

the producers of Amistad and the shortcomings of both the film and its accompanying study

guide in their attempt to portray history. More importantly, Foner raises questions not only

about the accuracy of details and lack of historic context, but also about the messages behind

Hollywoods portrayal of history as entertainment. (Posted March 1998)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Compared with most Hollywood megafilms, Amistad must be considered a step forward: its

about slavery, not exploding volcanoes or rampaging raptors. But given that Steven Spielberg is

the director, Anthony Hopkins and Morgan Freeman the stars, and a reported $75 million was

spent on production, it can only be judged a disappointment. It does contain a few visually

compelling moments, such as the scene on a slave ship that viscerally conveys the horrors of theMiddle Passage. Overall, however, as a movie Amistad is simply a bore. As history, this account

of a Cuban slave ship seized in 1839 by its African captives, and their legal travail that ended in

the U. S. Supreme Court, also leaves much to be desired.

Amistads problems go far deeper than such anachronisms as President Martin Van Buren

campaigning for reelection on a whistle-stop train tour (in 1840, candidates did not campaign),

or people constantly talking about the coming Civil War, which lay twenty years in the future.

Despite the filmmakers orgy of self-congratulation for rescuing black heroes from oblivion, the

main characters of Amistad are white, not black.

The plot pivots on lawyer Roger Baldwins dawning realization that the case he is defending

involves human beings, not just property rights, and on the transformation of John Quincy

Adams, who initially refuses to assist the captives but eventually persuades the Supreme Court to


3/5


order their return to Africa. As in Glory, an earlier film about black Civil War soldiers,

Amistad's black characters are essentially foils for white self-discovery and moral growth.

This problem is compounded by having the Africans speak Mende, a West African language,with English subtitles. A courageous decision by Hollywood standards, this device backfired

along the way when someone realized that Americans do not like subtitled movies, as foreign

filmmakers have known for decades. In the end, most of the Mende dialogue ended up on the

cutting- room floor. Apart from the intrepid Cinque, the Africans' leader, we never learn how the

captives responded to their ordeal. It would have been far better to have the Africans speak

English (the film, after all, is historical fiction), rather than rendering them virtually mute.

Most seriously, Amistad presents a highly misleading account of the cases historical

significance, in the process sugarcoating the relationship between the American judiciary and

slavery. The film gives the distinct impression that the Supreme Court was convinced by Adams'

plea to repudiate slavery in favor of the natural rights of man, thus taking a major step on the

road to abolition.

In fact, the Amistad case revolved around the Atlantic slave trade by 1840 outlawed by

international

treaty and had nothing whatever to do with slavery as an domestic institution. Incongruous as

it may seem, it was perfectly possible in the nineteenth century to condemn the importation of

slaves from Africa while simultaneously defending slavery and the flourishing slave trade within

the United States.

In October 1841, in an uncanny parallel to events on the Amistad, American slaves being

transported from Virginia to Louisiana on the Creole seized control of the ship, killing some

crew members and directing the mate to sail to the Bahamas. For fifteen years, American

Secretaries of State unsuccessfully badgered British authorities to return the slaves as both

murderers and the recognized property of American citizens. This was far more typical of thegovernments stance toward slavery than the Amistad affair.

Rather than being receptive to abolitionist sentiment, the courts were among the main defenders

of slavery. A majority of the Amistad justices, after all, were still on the Supreme Court in 1857

when, in the Dred Scott decision, it prohibited Congress from barring slavery from the Western


4/5


territories and proclaimed that blacks in the United States had no rights which a white man is

bound to respect.

The films historical problems are compounded by the study guide now being distributed toschools, which encourages educators to use Amistad to teach about slavery. The guide erases

the distinction between fact and fiction, urging students, for example, to study black abolitionism

through the films invented character, Theodore Joadson, rather than real historical figures.

And it fallaciously proclaims the case a turning-point in the struggle to end slavery in the

United States.

Most galling, however, is the assumption that a subject does not exist until it is discovered by

Hollywood. The guide ends with a quote from Debbie Allen, Amistad's producer, castigating

historians for suppressing the real history of African-Americans and slavery. Historians may

be guilty of many sins, but ignoring slavery is not one of them. For the past forty years, no

subject has received more scholarly attention. All American history textbooks today contain

extensive treatments of slavery, almost always emphasizing the systems brutality and the

heroism of those who survived the very things Amistad's promoters claim have been

suppressed.

If the authors of the study guide really want to promote an understanding of slavery, they should

direct students not to this highly flawed film, but to the local library. There they will discoverseveral shelves of books on slavery and slave resistance, from academic tomes to works for

children. Maybe, in this era of budget cuts, some of that $75 million could have more profitably

been spent on our public libraries.

Click here for a list of Amistad-related web-sites


5/5


Amistad(dir. Steven Spielberg, Dreamworks SKG, 1997) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118607/

CAST:

Nigel Hawthorne ... President Martin Van Buren

David Paymer ... Secretary Forsyth

Arliss Howard ... John C. Calhoun

Pete Postlethwaite ... Holabird (DA)

Jeremy Northam ... Judge Coglin (2nd judge, Roman Catholic)

Morgan Freeman ... Theodore Joadson (abolitionist)

Stellan Skarsgrd ... Tappan (abolitionist)

Anthony Hopkins ... John Quincy Adams

Matthew McConaughey ... Baldwin (defense attorney)

Chiwetel Ejiofor ... Ensign Covey (translator)

Peter Firth ... Captain Fitzgerald (Royal Navy)

Djimon Hounsou ... Cinque

Razaaq Adoti ... Yamba

Abu Bakaar Fofanah ... Fala

Derrick N. Ashong ... Buakei

Anna Paquin ... Queen Isabella II of Spain

Tomas Milian ... Calderon (Spanish ambassador)

Geno Silva ... Ruiz (slave trader)

John Ortiz ... Montes (slave trader)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118607/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118607/

amistad essay

Documents