'Emotional and moving.' Replica Amistad to lay anchor on Vineyard

Heather McCarron, Cape Cod Times
·3 min read

On July 1, 1839, as the Cuban top-sail schooner La Amistad was sailing toward a Caribbean port with a hold full of 53 enslaved Mende people, some of the captives managed to escape their shackles and proceeded to take over the ship.

It was the beginning of a journey that would take the African men, women and children, who'd been abducted that February from what is now Sierra Leone, to New London, Connecticut and through a two-year legal process that ended with the Supreme Court ordering them to be freed, with 35 survivors able to return home.

In just a few days, a replica of the Amistad — which has become a symbol of hope, determination, and emancipation — will lay anchor in Vineyard Haven. The ship's Vineyard visit is all part of its 2023 Voyage for Freedom tour, which launched from the Mystic Seaport Museum in late April and will continue into mid-October with various ports of call in Connecticut. Martha's Vineyard is the ship's only Massachusetts stop.

The Amistad
The Amistad

Besides Vineyard Haven, the Amistad will also put in at Edgartown. Its visit, June 15-21, will coincide with Juneteenth, the June 19 holiday that commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States. For many, that will make the chance to tour the ship extra meaningful.

Barbara Burgo, co-founder of and curator at the Cape Cod Cape Verdean Museum and Cultural Center in East Falmouth, said the replica Amistad is significant for its role in educating people about the original Amistad's story and, by extension, Black Americans' pursuit of liberty, justice and equality.

She visited the replica Amistad in the past, and it left a lasting impression.

"As a Cape Verdean woman, it was emotional and moving to see her," she said.

The ship's existence as an educational tool, coupled with the fact that it's coming to the Vineyard during Juneteenth, carries a lot of meaning.

"There's still a long way to go," Burgo said, but "it's nice to see these things finally coming into fruition. We've waited a long time for this recognition."

A welcome reception for the Amistad is planned on June 16, 5-8 p.m., at 144 Beach Road, Vineyard Haven. Free public open house tours of the ship will take place there June 17 and 18, 12-4 p.m. The Amistad will then sail to Edgartown. On June 19, there will be a gospel brunch and open house, 10 a.m.-12 p.m., at 1 Dock St.

Launched from Mystic, Connecticut in 2000, the Amistad has been operated since 2015 by the nonprofit Discovering Amistad as a "floating classroom" and exhibit. Its mission is "to advance racial and social justice today."

The organization describes its reproduction Amistad "a story with a ship" rather than a ship with a story.

A stop in Norwich Amistad - the story with a ship - welcomed in Norwich as part of 2023 Voyage for Freedom

“It’s about keeping the story alive, and what lessons we can learn from the story,” Executive Director Paula Mann-Agnew told the Times' sister paper, The Bulletin, during the ship's stop in Norwich, Connecticut in April. “It’s also helping students understand, as Sengbe Pieh (the leader of the Amistad uprising) is the hero in this story, they can be heroes in the story of their own lives, if they tap into their leadership ability.”

After its Vineyard stop, the remainder of the Amistad's Voyage for Freedom tour will include the following stops, all in Connecticut:

  • New London: June 23-July 18

  • Mystic Seaport Museum: July 19-31

  • New Haven: Aug. 2-21, and Aug. 29-Sept. 5

  • Bridgeport: Aug. 21-29, and Sept. 16-28

  • Norwalk: Sept. 5-16

  • Middletown: Sept. 28-Oct. 14

  • Mystic Seaport Museum: Oct. 18 onward

For more information, visit www.discoveringamistad.org

Heather McCarron writes about climate change, environment, energy, science and the natural world. Reach her at hmccarron@capecodonline.com, or follow her on Twitter @HMcCarron_CCT

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Amistad replica comes to Martha's Vineyard for Juneteenth weekend