A group of students under the direction of adult teachers studied the Amistad Trial. The students decided to the send the African captives back to the Cuban plantation, contrary to the Supreme Court decision ( the Connecticut Post Article is below)
The law is of course an evolving instrumentality. Once upon a time it was illegal to drink alcohol. The day after the end of prohibition it was legal. One day it was legal to own African captives in Connecticut. The next day following the abolition of slavery in Connecticut it was illegal to own African captives.
One day it was illegal to perform an abortion. The next day it was legal to perform an abortion due to legal decisions.
I have not been able to acquire as of this writing the student transcript of their deliberations and reasonings for reaching a different verdict from the 1841 Amistad decision. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/
projects/ftrials/amistad/AMI_SCT2.HTM
But the case is complex. International relations, commercial trade, competing jurisdictions and presidential politics were all in the mix.
Generations interpret events and understand "reality" differently-No question about it. For the students to reach a different conclusion than the Supreme Court, the proverbial court of last resort, required if not courage, certainly conviction.
Conviction is a good thing, It has also led to the American Civil War, the crusades, genocide , and King Philips War www.pilgrimhall.org/philipwar.htm
Perhaps the students might like to overturn Dredd Scott or Plessy v. Ferguson, or Brown v. Board of Education.
Regardless of whose legal side one might adopt, reading the dissents in especially Supreme Court Cases are especially revealing. Establishing national consensus and national unification is rare- Just ask Abraham Lincoln or George Bush. How did, for example, segregation remain legal until 1954 in spite of a Bill of Rights and a color blind constitution?
But I digress.
Following a year-long voyage to Africa and Europe, the freedom schooner Amistad is scheduled to arrive back in New Haven June 21 with celebration and performances. www.amistadamerica.org/
The Connecticut Supreme Court is celebrating its 200th anniversary on June 6th. As part of the program, Justice Flemming L. Norcott Jr. will discuss the Amistad case and its historic significance.
Education is a precious commodity. As we ponder the legacy of human beings , black gold, human commodities , traded and transported over the seas, to distant shores and throughout North and South America, perhaps education will set us free !
05/20/2008 12:53:42 AM EDT
Students revise Amistad ruling
KATE RAMUNNI
SHELTON — The fate of the dozens of slaves brought over here on the Amistad hung in the balance Monday, and students from Shelton and two neighboring communities spent about two hours debating before deciding they should be sent to Cuba.
The Shelton Intermediate School students took part in "Beyond the Amistad — A Mock Trial," the culmination of months of study on the New Haven-based slave ship. The students took part in the program with students from Fairfield Woods Middle School in Fairfield and two Bridgeport elementary schools — John Winthrop and Thomas Hooker.
"All four schools have worked together," said Shelton Intermediate School social studies teacher Dina Marks, who coordinated Monday's program. "Everyone was involved in the trial." The program was administered through Cooperative Education Services, to which the school district belongs, and paid for with a grant from CES and the state Department of Education's Bureau of Equity and Choice. The program was held at each of the four schools, so all of the students were able to visit each school.
Monday's program included music and dance and culminated with the mock trial, which focused on whether the 39 "Amistads" brought over here from Africa should be returned there or sent to Cuba the original destination
The students decided they should be sent to Cuba where they would be put to work on a plantation.
I thought it was a good experience," said Kelsey Sullivan , 14, an eighth-grader at the school who portrayed a defense lawyer in the trial. "In the real case, they were freed and sent back to their homeland," Kelsey said,"but the verdict here
was that they were the property of Cuba and should be sent to Cuba." Her class has been studying the Amistad case since last October, she said. "The trial was the best part" of the project, she said. "It was nice to see it all come together." Supt. of Schools Robin Willink watched as the children hashed out the issues involved in the case. "I thought they were very realistic and I was impressed with their understanding of how the trial
operated — they were all very engaged," Wilink said.
Beyond the academic value of the program, the children also learned an important lesson on diversity, she said.
she said. "Their involvement with the other kids has been a positive thing,"she said." It was great that the other
schools were involved and they got a chance to get know the students."
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