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Kate McMahon, Historian of Global Slavery, Smithsonian Institution

Rare portraits reveal the humanity of the slaves who revolted on the Amistad

John Warner Barber's 'Death of Capt. Ferrer,' 1839. Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

On the night of July 1, 1839, 53 enslaved Africans revolted aboard the slaving schooner La Amistad – Spanish for “Friendship” – while they were being shipped to a plantation in Puerto Príncipe, Cuba.

Kidnapped and trafficked from modern-day Sierra Leone to Havana on a larger vessel, they had been transferred to the smaller La Amistad to reach Puerto Príncipe.

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