History in Film: Amistad

History in Film: Amistad

Next week in class we will begin showing the movie Amistad, the 1998 feature film by Steven Spielberg about the revolt on the Spanish slave ship that brought about an important court case once the ship turned up in American waters. There are many things one can think about in this film. What I would like to begin with is that the whole episode turns on the fact of the closing of the international slave trade in 1808, first by Britain and then by the United States. This in effect made the question not one of the legitimacy of slavery or of the actions of the rebels, but rather a narrower one that had existed since the beginnings of the Atlantic slave trade: whether the particular slaves in question were legitimate slaves.

Slavery, however, cruel, was a matter of law; and slave regimes required systems of laws to keep them in place. The Amistad case provides a very intriguing look at the relationship between slavery, domestic politics, international law, and diplomacy. It involved the United States (north and south), Britain, and Spain. I hope you will enjoy the film.

We will not in fact be showing the first twenty minutes: all you need to know there is that the African slaves on the Spanish slave ship off Cuba have rebelled but have now been captured off of Long Island Sound. The slave rebels have been taken to Connecticut, where their fate is to be determined.

Amistad (1997) HD trailer


The film is long and we will be viewing it in two parts. The first part will be shown in recitations between Wednesday, Nov. 24 (the day before Thanksgiving) for the Friday group and Wednesday, December 1. We will be showing the remainder of the film in class on Wednesday, December 1. (It will run past the end of class time that day, but we will run in until the end. If you have to leave at 3:15, know that you will not be responsible for the end of the film, although it is of course the climax to the film.) But please do come to classes on time.

Amistad 1997 Steven Spielberg


For any of you unable to attend recitation, we will be showing the first part again immediately BEFORE class on the 1st – during campus lifetime at 12:50 in the lecture room. I have also placed the library’s copy of the videocassette on 4-hour reserve if you need to view it on your own. It is also widely available in libraries and video stores.

As we will be watching the film in class on December 1, the second in-class exam will be postponed until Monday, December 6.