Amistad Africans Accused of Murder, Piracy

　　The charges against the Amistad Africans were serious. They were accused of being murderers and pirates. If they were found guilty, they could be enslaved for the rest of their lives or put to death.

　　But the abolitionists claimed the Amistad Africans were something entirely different. They said the Africans were captives who had been kidnapped illegally. The Africans should not be punished, the abolitionists said, but returned to Africa.

　　Historian Howard Jones says the abolitionists looked forward to presenting the case in court. They also hoped Sengbe Pieh and the others could help with their communication problems. They wanted the Amistad Africans to tell Americans what life in Africa was like.

　　But more important than that, what it was like on the dread African slave trade, that Middle Passage, those thousands of miles of crossing the ocean to the new world. And then by extension throw a dark light on what slavery was like itself.

　　Whether Americans started to listen to the abolitionists, and what happened to the Amistad Africans, will be our story next week.

　　Im Steve Ember, inviting you to join us next time for The Making of a Nation American history from Learning English.

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