Amistad: Movie Analysis

This tactic was only used to justify the use of slavery in the US and Europe. ¨”Ideas of Africans as inferior, backwards and barbaric can be traced back to those justifying slavery in the 18th century.” (Theguardian.com, David Olusoga) Many other rivaling countries testified at the thought of slavery, but the Europeans and Americans always stated that the Africans were nothing worth fighting for and that they were just as wild as a dog. Even after the “end” of mainstream slavery in the United States, the government created more laws that mainly affected the African Americans of the Nation.

In The Amistad, John Quincy Adam’s Speech defended the Africans and argued that they should be granted their freedom. His words drew many people approve that everyone has their own right. His skillful arguments convinced the court to rule in favor of returning the Africans to their native country. One of John Quincy Adam’s speeches was, “The District Judge, contrary to all the anticipations of the Executive, decided that the thirty-six Negroes brought before the Court were freemen; that they had been kidnapped in Africa; that they did not own Spanish names; that they were not correctly described in the passport, but were new Negroes fully entitled to their liberty.” He stated that those people, who were born in Africa, were free men.

This makes the reader easy to understand the point of the American Revolution or slave trade. The author also mentioned that he thinks that the slavery is the reason what made America a united country. The author also mentions that the slavery helped the constitution of United States get into shape. This book explains that the south people were afraid that north would let go off slavery.

I believe Mr. Equiano was successful at getting his message understood by the people and contributed to the freedom that African’s have in today’s world. His voice was

The 1960-70’s was the height of the Civil Rights Movement. African Americans were dedicated to gaining liberties which only whites could exercise freely, and did this was done through peaceful as well as violent means of protest. Individuals such as Martin Luther King protested by means of preaching peace and utilizing nonviolent actions against whites while others such as Malcolm x and elijah muhammad resorted to not only violence, yet separatism to protest and show their urge to gain civil Liberties. Though, both methods of protest were aimed towards the same goal, only one was to be influential and bring about the change that African Americans desire.

It was evident that the captains perspective of the Africans were negative, in which they viewed them as lesser than them. Gad Heuman and James Walvin state in their 2003 account of The Atlantic Slave Trade that the slaves were “a valuable investment” and that they “died not only from disease and accident, but from rebellion, suicide, and natural disasters”. This showcases the captains guilt from the inhumane treatment of the slaves when they were feeling ill. As time went on, many slaves fell sick due to the spread of diseases in the tightly packed ships. The captains knew of this problem but refused to attend to it, instead filling their ships with more slaves to gain

Slavery became very beneficial for both Portuguese and Spanish colonies. They would utilize the system of encomienda which forced labor from the Indian inhabitants of an area in the new world. This system soon had to me replaced as a result of indigenous peoples dying from Spanish-imported diseases which wiped out many navies. The Portuguese had the solution to this problem. Slaves from Africa who were already immune to many European dieses.

The infliction that slaves suffered. But Mrs. Stowe never mentions why did white owner did this to slaves and continue to do this as a brutal.(PG 14) Baldwin points out that Mrs.Stowe only mentions three other slaves, but leaves out other slaves from that the endured suffering from the plantation. This makes the audience questions what else happened to others and as if she is hiding other things during the time of enslavement (16). In addition, she viewed whites as pure but African American as Blacks were evil (17).

Even in 1890 16 black members of a council apart of the Louisiana General Assembly, came together and passed a law to prevent black and white people from riding together on railroads(A Brief History). Most of the blacks were scared of the whites not knowing who was going to lie to the mobs or police to have them get in trouble. Because of this the blacks would take the jim crow laws and would make parts of it actual laws so they could be seperated. Even in a trial to end the lynching blacks went and voted to be lynched so they wouldn't have to live in this life on the edge not knowing what could happen(Ku Klux Klan History) With over the 3,400 lynchings at least 300 of those lynchings were whites only. The KKK (the second version of the klan) would go after whites if they were defending the blacks or even if they aren't following their religion to a perfect replica(Lynching

Martin Luther King Jr. also believed in civil disobedience which helped him united the majority of African Americans to protest with him in nonviolent ways leading to great change in american societies. But not all disobedience is effective for example, before MLK many Africans wanted to make a change but their anger clouded their judgment leading to deadly riots and protests

Following the example of the French, Spanish, Dutch, and Portaguese, the English began shipping slaves from Africa to Virginia and Maryland in 1660. The English asserted their dominance over the Africans by capturing them in large numbers, "tight-packing" them onto ships, and forcing them to work until they died. Although they did not intentionally murder a large number of Africans like they did Native Americans, they did view the Africans as property and treated them without any regard for their lives. An example of this horrendous treatment is the selection process the Africans went through before even boarding the ship. When discussing the physical inspection the slaves had to endure Nash writes, "it was also part of the psychological assault meant to strip away self-respect and self-identity" (Nash 123) he reveals that every form of dehumanizing the Africans was planned out and executed.

When the boat reached the Barbados, the white men examined them and told them they would be put to work. When it was time to sell the slaves, the buyers rushed and picked the ones they liked best. The slaves got separated making it the last time they may ever see each other

The fact that African Americans made a successful rebellion against the white slave owners that dominated every aspect of their lives, encouraged other African Americans to participate in similar acts of resistance. Some African American slaves decided to runaway to Florida because they heard of the rebellion and that they were seeking freedom in Spanish Florida. A lot of slaves attempted to runaway even though they knew the consequence would likely be death. Others began to resist their masters without taking the chances of running away and risking their lives.

John Quincy Adams succeeded in his quest to save the lives of the Africans and they were able to return to their homeland. Without Adams, the Africans may not have been able to return home. They could have been sent to Cuba and been slaves or they could have been stuck in America, but with the help of John Quincy, they were given freedom and

The purpose of the Underground Railroad was to free slaves from the ownership of slave owners, and did just that. Over 100,000 thousand slaves were freed from slave owners, and they managed to live their own lives. While slaves escaping did bring about anti-black sentiment from the Southern States most clearly seen in the Fugitive Slave Act, it brought support for abolition because white people could see that all the slaves were just as human as the rest of them. This may not have changed their beliefs of inferiority, but it did change their beliefs that African Americans deserved such cruel treatment. After the awareness of the slaves’ capabilities and the living in communities with slaves, white people in the North that still supported slavery changed their stance after seeing first hand that black people, not just the few free blacks, were similar to everyone else.