The Story of the Amistad

Presented by Mia Certic, Executive Director of the Montauk Historical Society.

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In 1839, eight weeks after their dramatic mutiny, 49 trafficked African men aboard the schooner La Amistad dropped anchor off the coast of Montauk, desperate for fresh water and food. Instead, their ship was seized and they were transported to Connecticut as captives. These events would lead to an international diplomatic crisis and a series of momentous legal battles that brought into question basic tenets of American democracy and foreshadowed the Civil War. Mia Certic, executive director of the Montauk Historical Society, will look at this triumph of truth and justice over falsehoods and ignorance, with a special focus on the East End and its connection to this story.