The Amistad a movie by Steven Spielberg By Franklin Benson

 The Amistad was a good movie because it showed what American slaves went through, how the abolitionists helped them become free, but the film has historical fiction, according to my research.

 Geography—Africans were stolen from West Africa, they went to Cuba and were stolen again and taken to America. They crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to Cuba and sailed north to New York and Connecticut.

 History—The movie showed how the slaves were taken from their homes and how they tried to fight back to become free in The Civil War helped to end slavery in the United States in 1865.

 West Africans were captured and became slaves  Fifty three slaves were taken west in the movie  Slaves were taken north from Cuba

 Slaves tried to sail back to Africa  Slaves captured by Spaniards and taken to America  Africans thrown into jail in America  The Africans were confused and enraged

 An abolitionist, Lewis Lappen wanted to help the slaves.  He believed the Africans should be free.

 Many times, the case would get appealed to higher courts.  In the Supreme Court, John Quincy Adams helped the judge understand why the slaves should be free.

 A couple of hours after the judge and jury thought it over, the Africans were set free.  The judge ordered the slaves to be free, but the jury thought otherwise.

 Good movie but, historically inaccurate. Number of slaves John Quincy Adams role Abolitionists role

 According to History.com, there were over one hundred Africans taken from West Africa, Spielberg showed 53 slaves.  In the movie the slaves killed all of the crew members except two of them. But when I looked on history.com they said the Africans killed all the crew members.

The Amistad really helped me understand how Africans were taken from their countries to become slaves in America where they were treated unfairly.  The movie also showed how people such as the abolitionist helped fight for the slaves’ freedom.

 There was a real Amistad Ship that sailed from West Africa to Cuba that was taken over by the Spaniards who took the slaves to Long Island.  John Quincy Adams, the former U.S. President helped defend the Africans in the Amistad case.

Amistad. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Djimon Hounson, Matthew McConaughey, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman, and Nigel Hawthorne. Paramount, VHS. Foner, Eric. “Amistad.” historymatters.com. American Social History Productions. (1998). Web. 18 Nov Foner, Eric and John A. Garraty, Eds. The Reader’s Companion to American History. Houghton Mifflin: New York, Print. Harvey, Fred. “Amistad.” historyplace.com. The History Place. (1997). Web. 18 Nov