Joseph Cinquéz, Leader Amistad Slave Revolt
James Sheffield's portrait of Joseph Cinqué is sympathetic and informal. Joseph Cinqué (1814 - 1879) was a West African man of the Mende people who led a revolt of many Africans on the Spanish slave ship, La Amistad. After the ship was taken into custody by the United States Revenue Cutter Service, Cinqué and his fellow Africans were eventually tried for killing officers on the ship, in a case known as United States v. The Amistad. The case reached the Supreme Court, where Cinqué and his fellow Africans were found to have rightfully defended themselves from being enslaved through the illegal Atlantic slave trade and were released. Americans helped raise money for their return to Africa. Cinqué and the other Africans reached their homeland in 1842. In Sierra Leone, Cinqué was faced with civil war. He and his company maintained contact with the local mission for a while, but Cinqué left to trade along the coast. Little is known of his later life. Commissioned by the publisher of the New York Sun, the print was described and advertised for sale in the account of the capture of the Amistad, published in that newspaper's August 31, 1839 issue.
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Photo credit: © Science History Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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