THE CENTER FOR “RACE,” CULTURE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
COLLOQUIA SERIES Visual Rhetoric and the Amistad Mutiny Presented by Lisa Merrill, Professor of Writing Studies and Rhetoric, Hofstra University On July 2, 1839, kidnapped and illegally enslaved Africans from Sierra Leone were held captive aboard the Amistad, a slave schooner off the coast of Cuba. Under the unofficial leadership of Joseph Cinque, a 25-year-old rebel (also known by his Mende name, Sengbe Pieh), they broke from their chains and rebelled against their captors. They killed the captain and the cook, both of whom had threatened to ‘eat them.’ The mutineers seized control of the ship, and attempted to sail back to their homeland. Although re-captured by the US, they were defended by former President John Quincy Adams and freed by the US Supreme Court. In this talk, Dr. Merrill will explore the visual rhetoric and how images of the successful Amistad resistance inspired others to rebel against enslavement.
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Roosevelt Hall 203, South Campus For more information, please call 516-463-6585 or email RaceCultureSocialJustice@hofstra.edu
Light refreshments will be served.