Student version

Amistad Online Worksheet

Write brief answers during viewing, then use scenes for analysis. You do not need to describe graphic violence.

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Before viewing

1. What is the difference between ending the Atlantic slave trade and ending slavery itself?

2. Why might a court need both documents and testimony to decide what happened to a person?

Part A · Resistance and competing claims

3. What does Cinque do during the revolt, and what destination do the Africans want to reach?

4. How do the Africans end up in U.S. custody instead of returning home?

5. Identify two competing claims made about the Africans or the ship. What does each claimant want?

Part B · Building a defense

6. Why does Roger Baldwin investigate whether the Africans were born free in Africa rather than enslaved in Cuba?

7. How does the language barrier affect the Africans’ ability to explain their case?

8. What does James Covey make possible once he can translate?

Part C · Testimony and evidence

9. What does Cinque’s account reveal about how he was taken from his home? You do not need to describe violence.

10. How is the Atlantic voyage on the Tecora different from the voyage on La Amistad?

11. How do the ship records or other documents help the defense challenge the claimed origins of the Africans?

12. What does Cinque’s repeated demand for freedom reveal about his role in the case?

Part D · Politics and the courts

13. What political or diplomatic pressures does the film show influencing President Van Buren’s administration?

14. After a lower court rules for the Africans, why is their freedom still uncertain?

15. How does John Quincy Adams connect the Africans’ case to American ideals of liberty?

16. What does the Supreme Court’s decision mean for the Africans whose freedom is being contested?

After viewing

17. Why would it be incorrect to say that this decision ended slavery in the United States?

18. Choose a scene that contrasts treating people as property with recognizing their humanity. Explain the contrast.

19. How do the Africans’ actions and the work of translators, lawyers, or abolitionists contribute differently to the struggle for freedom?

20. Choose a person, event, or argument in the film to verify. What historical source would help, and what would you look for?

Final written response

How does Amistad portray the struggle to have freedom recognized by law? Write a paragraph with a clear claim, evidence from two scenes, reasoning, and one limitation of using the film to learn history.

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