Black Odyssey: The Case of the Slave Ship Amistad

By Mary Cable

Book Overview

In August of 1839, what appeared to be a listless "pirate ship", unidentified by any flag, was spotted off the North Atlantic coast of the United States. On board were thirty barely clad black men, all of whom wore cutlasses, and two white men -- Spanish slave owners with an incredible story to tell. A month earlier, the Amistad, as the ship was known, had set sail from Havana with a valuable cargo of slaves and $40,000 worth of gold doubloons -- and in a matter of days the captain and the cook were dead, and the ship was in the control of the slaves.Thus began "the Amistad affair", which, reports Mary Cable, "was to bedevil the diplomatic relations of the United States, Spain and England for a generation; intensify bitterness over the question of slavery; and at one of its most dramatic points, lead an ex-President (John Quincy Adams) to go before the Supreme Court and castigate the administration" in an eloquent plea for the slaves' freedom. In her fascinating and carefully researched account, Cable takes us right to the heart of these complex matters, dramatically replaying an amazing series of events that converged to form a uniquely exciting and challenging chapter in American history.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670172820
• ISBN13: 9780670172825
• Release Date: June 1971
• Publisher: Viking Adult
• Length: 183 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An excellent book

I found this book to be very interesting and fairly approachable for someone who is not overly knowledgeable about this period. Some parts were a little dry; but how else is a discussion of the legal procedures pertaining to the legal issues surrounding ownership of the mutinous slaves, salvage rights and legal jurisdiction, etc.? Have to disagree with the previous reviewer: the whole missionary aspect of the story is quite relevant, as it shows in the end how the Amistad slaves were manipulated and exploited, how essentially the goodwill of their abolitionist supporters was conditional.

The Case of the Slave Ship Amistad

This book is great!It's very detailed and is very entertaining,it feels like puts you on the Amistad itself and you are watching everything happen, like a movie.I liked the slave ship because it was true in some ways Africans were captured and brought to places around the world. If you read this book you'll know how it must have been for them with a new land and they maybe even lost some family members.