On June 28, 1839, the Spanish ship Amistad left a port in Havana, Cuba, with 53 Africans who had been kidnapped from their homeland. They were being sent to another part of Cuba for a lifetime of slavery. Before the ship reached its destination, the Africans seized control and forced the Spanish owners to sail towards Africa, using the sun as a guide. However, at night the owners sailed northward, hoping to come ashore in a Southern slave state in America. Instead, the ship entered the waters of Long Island Sound where the U.S. Navy took it into custody.

The Africans were eventually placed in jail in New Haven while their fate became a major legal case that took two years to resolve. Although the primary issue was whether these Africans were to be considered slaves or free, the long process led the public's attention to focus on the rights of African Americans in the United States, and on moral, social, religious, diplomatic, and political questions. Former President John Quincy Adams successfully defended the Africans before the U. S. Supreme Court, and in February 1841 they were declared free.

In March 1841 the Africans of the Amistad were sent to Farmington to live while funds were raised privately for their return to an area that is now Sierra Leone in Africa. In November the 35 surviving Africans sailed towards their homeland as free individuals. Along with them were five missionaries who were sent under the auspices of the newly formed Union Missionary Society, a forerunner of the American Missionary Association. The group reached Sierra Leone in January 1842.

NEW HAVEN
Amistad Memorial, 165 Church Street - was dedicated in 1992 and pays tribute to Joseph Cinque and the other Africans who escaped slavery in 1839 by commandeering the Spanish ship Amistad. The memorial was created by Ed Hamilton, and stands where the New Haven Jail was located at the time the African captives were housed there.

The United Church on the Green, 323 Temple Street - This building was originally known as the North Church (Congregational), which merged with the Third Church (Congregational) in 1884 to create the United Church. Several members of the two earlier congregations were abolitionists who also assisted New Haven’s free black community. They included Roger Sherman Baldwin, Nathaniel and Simeon Jocelyn, and the Reverend Samuel Dutton. Baldwin, a lawyer, was active in the defense of the Amistad Africans and is commemorated by a plaque inside the church. The church is included in the New Haven Green National Historic Landmark District.

New Haven Colony Historical Society, 114 Whitney Avenue - is a Colonial Revival-style building that contains many New Haven artifacts, including a portrait of Joseph Cinque, the leader of the Africans who revolted on the Amistad.

Yale University, Divinity School, Battell Chapel, Elm and College Streets - represents the role that Yale Divinity School faculty and students played in assisting the Amistad Africans, and offers an exhibition of relevant materials maintained by Yale.

Long Wharf, Long Wharf Drive - was part of New Haven's port system before the steamship changed the way goods were brought into the United States. Plans call for a life-size working replica of the Amistad to be docked here. The ship will offer exhibitions and programs on African American history, and will sail to other ports to participate in events.

HARTFORD
Old State House, 800 Main Street - when it was Connecticut's Capitol, hosted one of several trials that involved the fate of the Africans of the Amistad. The building is a National Historic Landmark and open to the public.

FARMINGTON
The Farmington Historical Society offers guided tours of those sites associated with the Amistad case and shows a videotape of the Amistad story.

First Church of Christ, Congregational, Main Street - supported the Amistad case through its members who provided clothing, housing, education, and Christian teaching to the Africans while they lived in Farmington awaiting funds to return to Africa. The church is a National Historic Landmark.

Union Hall, Church Street - is now the Art Guild; its upper floor was rented to both abolitionists and anti-abolitionist groups for meetings. It was originally located at the present site of the Porter Memorial on Main Street and is now owned by the First Church of Christ Congregational Church.

Reverend Noah Porter House, 116 Main Street - belonged to the minister of the Congregational Church and provided a home for one of the three African children in the Amistad group. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized here. It is a private residence and not open to the public.

Austin F. Williams House/Carriage House, 127 Main Street - was the location of the primary home for the Amistad Africans during their stay in Farmington. Austin F. Williams, a leading abolitionist in town, had a building constructed as a residence for the Africans. Shortly after this he built his own home, and later converted the first structure to a carriage house. The property is privately owned and not open to the public.

Riverside Cemetery, Garden Street - is where Foone, one of the Africans, is buried. He drowned while swimming in Pitkin Basin. Beyond the Indian obelisk was the Farmington Canal and an open meadow where the Africans raised crops.

Canal House and Pitkin Basin, 128 Garden Street - is the location where Foone lost his life. It was also here that the Africans embarked to other towns to give exhibitions and raise money for their return to Africa.

Samuel Deming Store, 2 Mill Lane - provided second-floor quarters for the Africans on their arrival in Farmington, but the space was later set up as a school where they attended classes for five hours a day, six days a week. Although the property is privately owned, it is operated as Your Village Store.

Barney House, 11 Mountain Spring Road - was built in 1832 by John Treadwell Norton who was a major supporter of the Amistad Africans. Once operated by the University of Connecticut as a conference center, and as a bed and breakfast, the property is now privately owned and not open to the public.