so he trick the amistad africans. eventually they saw that lacking food and water, they were not going to be able to make a long voyage, and so it was asked by montez, do you want me to take you to a free country? and they said, what free country is this? that free country is the united states. well, we're talking about one of the leading slave societies in the world in 1839. not exactly a free country. but to make along story short, the africans actually sailed the vessel all the way up to the norway end of long island. where they were taken by a u.s. navy ship, carried to new london, connecticut, and thrown in jail. charged with murder and piracy. now, as soon as word got out that these africans had come ashore, abolitionists from up and down the eastern coast flocked to the jail to try to assist them, thinking this cause might help them to advance their struggle against the institution of slavery. well, a long legal battle took place, for 19 months the amistad africans were in jail. they did receive support from no

including the one that freed the 36 captives come african captives on board the slave ship ms -- amistadfor those of you that so the film. to make it important whole this case was come his argument put a whole new complexion on the legal complexion on the slave trade. it made it illegal because in his argument it was that these africans were free men who had been kidnapped and simply rose up in self-defense to kill their kidnappers. so now the slave trade was no longer a slave trade, it was a kidnapping ring and therefore illegal. it makes slavery illegal but it made the slave trade illegal and was the first step in the movement towards emancipation. people began rallying around him as the southerners and the house of representatives tried to shut him up as he pleaded for emancipation. that aroused northerners, quakers at first and then others that realized john quincy adams was a devout christian and said this goes against all of the fundamentals of christianity. patrick henry said the same thing. soon you have this evolution movement that began to grow and grow. they tried to silence j

and they removed legally the amistad africans and the abolitionist removed them from the household of the jailer and they then began to be close to the africans themselves. the question wasn't they also go back to sierra leone? yesterday. all three little girls actually remained with the nation for many years, and margru actually came back to the united states. i do believe the first black female graduate of oberlin college. then went back to sierra leone as a missionary. most of the adult men were able to find their families. actually, did what they wanted to do when they went back. they wanted to go back to their lives. it is a tragic counterpoint, because when he got back to his village, searching for his wife and three children, be discovered that the village had been completely destroyed. the warfare that continued after his own enslavement. so it was true that the larger reality of the war and slave trade was beyond his ability to control come into the did win one great victory, he lost his family. >> i had a question about the missionaries. you talk about how missionaries teach