This chapter focuses on the African resistance. After some Africans were apprehended, at least 10% of them rebelled – usually en masse and en transit to their final destination. In this chapter, the ship's design as well as its carriage is explained. Slave mutiny/mutinies is/are defined. A handful of significant slave mutinies are discussed such as Amistad and the Meermin as well as the outcomes of said mutinies. These examples are acknowledged, and they are discussed in order to show that many Africans fought for their freedom even after they were captured. In other words, there was a resistance that points to the fact that these Africans knew they were captured, knew this was not African slavery (i.e., indentureship), and knew that they did not want to be any White man's slave. Finally, solutions and recommendations will be discussed followed by a conclusion.
This is what it sounds like,
When we ride on our enemies.
– 2 Pac – When We Ride on Our Enemies (1996)
This is America (skrrt, skrrt, woo) Don't catch you slippin' now (ayy) Look how I'm livin' now Police be trippin' now (woo).
-(Childish Gambino, 2018)
It is power, not justice, which keeps rearranging the map …. – James Baldwin1
TopIntroduction
Many years ago, I went to the movie theater with one I knew to be my father, Leon Raymond Simmons, Jr. and one I knew to be my brother, Justin Ramon Simmons in 1997. We went to see the movie Amistad. Amistad tells of a slave mutiny that was eventually successful after a mountain of litigation in NY and Connecticut (Hughes & Meltzer, 1956; Jones, 1998; Kinnon & Collier, 1997; National Park Service, 2017). I learned that in this particular slave ship, a free Black African known as Joseph Cinque had been captured due to a warring tribe (Hughes & Meltzer, 1956; Jones, 1998; Kinnon & Collier, 1997; National Park Service, 2017). He was taken with other Africans (Hughes & Meltzer, 1956) (~53) in 1839 from Sierra Leone (i.e., Mendeland) (Daley, 2015; Dunne, 2013; Hughes & Meltzer, 1956; Jones, 1998; Kinnon & Collier, 1997; National Park Service, 2017; Woods, 2020). He had been born in 1814, captured at the age of 26 and was to die in 1879 (Jones, 1998) at the age of 55.
On the way to Porto Principe, Cuba, he broke free and set free some other captives who then overcame their imprisoners (Hughes & Meltzer, 1956; 1998; National Park Service, 2017; Woods, 2020). After killing the captain, they requested for the schooner to be brought back to Africa, but Ruiz and Montez brought them to Montauk Point in Long Island (Hughes & Meltzer, 1956; Jones, 1998; National Park Service, 2017) by zig-zagging in the wrong direction for approximately 63 days (Hughes & Meltzer, 1956). Cinque or Pieh escaped, but the slaves were captured and arrested by private citizens; and they were formally charged with murder and piracy and determined to be property of the men who had originally captured them (Hughes & Meltzer, 1956; Jones, 1998; Kinnon & Collier, 1997; National Park Service, 2017).