- Also called:
- Sengbe Pieh
- Born:
- c. 1814, Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate
- Died:
- ?
- Role In:
- Amistad mutiny
Joseph Cinqué
-
Who was Joseph Cinqué?
Joseph Cinqu\u00e9, also known as Sengbe Pieh, was born in Sierra Leone around 1814. He is known for leading a revolt on the slave ship Amistad in 1839. Cinqu\u00e9, along with other Africans, had been kidnapped and illegally sold into slavery.
The captives killed the ship's captain and cook during the revolt. They ordered the surviving crew to sail them back to Africa, but the ship instead ended up off the coast of Long Island, New York, where the U.S. Navy seized it. Cinqu\u00e9 and the other mutineers were jailed in Connecticut and tried in court. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually freed them in 1841, and they returned to Sierra Leone in 1842.
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Where was Joseph Cinqué from?
Joseph Cinqué, also known as Sengbe Pieh, was born around 1814 in the Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate. He was a member of the Mende people in the western part of Africa.
In his twenties, he was captured and sold into slavery, later renamed Joseph Cinqué by slave traders. Cinqué is known for leading a revolt on the slave ship Amistad in 1839. He was later involved in a legal battle in the United States, which led to the U.S. Supreme Court granting him and the other captives their freedom.
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What major event is Joseph Cinqué known for?
Joseph Cinqu\u00e9, also known as Sengbe Pieh, is known for leading a revolt on the slave ship Amistad in 1839. He and 52 other slaves had been abducted from Africa and were being transported from Havana to Puerto Príncipe, Cuba. Cinqu\u00e9 freed himself and the other captives, and they killed the ship's captain and cook. They ordered the surviving crew to sail them back to Africa, but the ship was seized off Long Island, New York. The Africans were charged with mutiny and murder but were later freed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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How did Joseph Cinqué lead the revolt on the slave ship Amistad?
Joseph Cinqu\u00e9, a Sierra Leonean enslaved African, led a revolt on the slave ship Amistad in 1839. The cook's warning that they would be killed prompted Cinqu\u00e9 to convince his fellow captives to fight for their freedom.
Cinqu\u00e9 used a nail to free himself and others from their iron collars. Armed with sugarcane knives, the rebels killed the ship’s captain and the cook. Cinqu\u00e9 ordered the surviving slave traders to sail back to Africa, but they steered the ship towards the United States instead. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually freed the rebels.
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Why is Joseph Cinqué remembered as an important figure in the fight against slavery?
Joseph Cinqu\u00e9 is remembered as an important figure in the fight against slavery for leading a revolt on the slave ship Amistad in 1839.
Cinqu\u00e9, born Sengbe Pieh in Sierra Leone, was kidnapped and illegally sold into slavery. He led the enslaved Africans in a revolt, killing the captain and cook, in their fight for freedom. The ship was seized off Long Island, New York, and the Africans faced trial in the United States.
The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately freed the rebels, affirming their right to escape their captors. The case drew public sympathy and strengthened the abolition movement, with the committee that defended the Amistad rebels later becoming the American Missionary Association.
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Joseph Cinqué (born c. 1814, Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate—died ?) was an enslaved African who led a revolt on the Amistad coastal slave ship in 1839. He was later taken into custody in the United States but was freed by a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. The revolt came to be known as the Amistad mutiny.
Cinqué is believed to have been born Sengbe Pieh in the Mende region of western Africa, likely sometime between 1811 and 1814. While in his 20s, he was captured by four Black strangers as he walked along a well-traveled path. His wife and three children were unaware of what had happened and feared that he might have been eaten by animals. He later thought the captors might have been members of a rival tribe or debt collectors. After being forced to walk for days to reach the coast, he boarded the Portuguese slave ship Teçora along with hundreds of other prisoners. Unsanitary conditions and lack of food caused many to die during the two-month voyage to Cuba.
Because it was illegal to import enslaved people into Cuba, the captives were smuggled in during the night. Slavery itself was still legal there, so efforts were made to pass off the new arrivals as Cuban-born enslaved people. Sengbe Pieh was given the Spanish Christian name Joseph Cinqué (sometimes written as Cinque or Cinquez) and soon found himself bound for Puerto Principe (later Camagüey), Cuba, aboard the Amistad.
The Spaniards who bought Cinqué planned to sell him and other captives to plantation owners. However, the cook on board led Cinqué to believe that the prisoners would soon be killed and eaten. Cinqué convinced his fellow prisoners that they had nothing to lose by trying to free themselves. On a stormy night, Cinqué used a nail he had been hiding to free himself and others from their iron collars. Armed with sugarcane knives found on board, they killed the ship’s captain and the cook.
Cinqué ordered the surviving injured slave traders to sail to Africa, but the crew managed to zigzag northward on the Atlantic Ocean instead. After about two months, the vessel reached U.S. waters near Long Island, New York. While Cinqué and others went ashore to gather supplies, crew members of the USS Washington went on board the Amistad. The Africans were charged with murder and mutiny, and they were transported to New Haven, Connecticut, to await trial.
The Spaniards claimed that the Africans had already been enslaved in Cuba at the time of purchase and were therefore legal property without rights. Two men who knew the Mende language were brought in to help translate and allow the captives to tell their side of the story in court. When Cinqué took the stand, he proved to be an eloquent speaker. In January 1840 the U.S. district court ruled that the Africans had mutinied only to gain back their due freedom after being illegally kidnapped and sold. The judge ordered them to be returned to Africa, which went against the wishes of U.S. Pres. Martin Van Buren. The case went to the Supreme Court, where former president John Quincy Adams represented the Africans. The original verdict was upheld in March 1841.
Cinqué and the others, accompanied by a translator and five missionaries, reached their homeland in early 1842. Details of his life following the return remain sketchy, and he is thought to have died sometime between 1852 and 1879.
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