Odyssey of the Amistad and enslaved Africans’ trail to freedom gets new retelling through eyes of people who share their heritage

The Farmington Historical Society is launching “The Odyssey of The Amistad: A Trail to Freedom,” a unique, live presentation looking back at Farmington’s connection to the Amistad and the Mende people of modern-day Sierra Leone.

The Mende were captured against their will and brought aboard a ship called “La Amistad,” destined for Cuba, in 1839. The prisoners revolted, took control of the ship and sailed to Long Island, New York. The survivors were recaptured and sent to trial in Connecticut, where a two-year-long appeal for freedom was granted. In March of 1841, the Mende were declared free and moved to Farmington, where they lived and worked for eight months, gaining funds for their return to Africa.

“It was one of the first civil rights cases in the United States, and it took place right here in Connecticut,” said storyteller, actor, speaker and activist Andre Keitt, the education and programming consultant and guide for the tour. “Our citizens really should understand that we played a big part in making sure that the outcome of that story was a positive one.

“We need to make sure that we push that story out there so people know, because a lot of times people didn’t think slavery even happened in Connecticut. Not only did it happen, it was rampant.”

The United States government didn’t provide funds to send the Mende back to Africa, they had to raise their own money, added Keitt.

“The abolitionists in Farmington not only helped them raise money along with Hartford and New Haven and different cities, but Farmington was the place that said we will house them, we will take care of them until they’ve raised all the money,” he said.

Jay Bombara, president of the Farmington Historical Society, said the racial reckoning taking place nationally over the past couple years helped the society realize the organization needed to rethink its original educational tour.

“Quite frankly, a lot of what we’re all observing nationally, as well as to some extent locally, (is) about the concern of making sure that all diverse voices are being heard,” he said. “And a realization … to make sure that we’re focused not just on the story of those that helped them, but the actual people who experienced this traumatic event of being kidnapped in their homeland, went through the Middle Passage, and then they went through the trauma of the experience on the other side of being jailed in New Haven.”

Black Lives Matter protests were going on all across the country as Farmington Historical Society board member Sarah Willett was writing the new program. She said it was just so painful and upsetting, she realized that the society needed to do more and talk about the things that are really uncomfortable to talk about. She was determined to give Black perspectives.

“It’s been very hard, writing this was hard. What was even harder was giving [this] tour to fifth graders, and saying it out loud,” Willett said. “It’s one thing to write it down. It’s a different thing to say these things out loud, and admit that this is true. It [has] felt very uncomfortable. To know that my church, that there were people in Farmington and there were people in my church back then, who believed these things, who believed that there was nothing wrong with slavery or believed in colonization, or thought that that was a good choice, who felt that Black people should be in segregated seating, it’s been very uncomfortable, and rightly so. It needs to be.”

Until the society brought in Keitt and heard from other points of view, Willett said she didn’t think the society was doing the work that needed to be done. Bombara agreed, knowing it was important to give a platform to those who really hadn’t been heard. It is Keitt’s experience as a storyteller and activist that is helping to provide that voice.

“I can speak through empathy, because I am Black myself. So, it is not somebody telling me how Blacks may have felt. It is somebody like me who’s saying, not only do I feel like that in [the] modern-day world, I feel like I may be one of the visitors on the planet or in this state that’s trying to experience and do better in my life. I’m dealing with some of the same circumstances that they had to deal with back then.”

Keitt is determined to give the perspective of people that share the heritage of the Mende.

“Some of what happened to them, on a smaller scale, has happened to somebody like me. I think my whole revisiting Farmington to retell the story is almost like the journey that the Amistad Mende went on, as they ended up in Farmington, but they eventually did get back home. I was in Farmington. I wasn’t able to tell that story, but fate has made it so that I [could] come back. … I believe that this was my destiny to tell this story, and I think it’s best told through the eyes and purview of a person who shares that heritage.”

The tours, which start this weekend, will take place from 10-11:30 a.m. most Fridays and Saturdays from June through October. All tours meet at the First Church of Christ, Congregational at 75 Main Street, Farmington. Tours cost $15.00 per adult and $8 per child with discounts available for senior groups and school groups. Tickets can be purchased here.