07-02-2025
Exhibit honors Black History Month at the New Haven Museum
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — February is Black History Month: a time to celebrate Black Americans' past, present and future.
The Amistad is the most famous ship rebellion in history and has major ties to New Haven.
'Amistad: Retold' centers on the people who led the Amistad revolt and their ongoing actions to determine their lives,' Joanna Steinberg, the New Haven Museum's director of learning and engagement.
The updated exhibition, now open at the New Haven Museum, tells the story of the 53 West Africans kidnapped from their homeland and led a revolt onboard the La Amistad in 1839.
'It's an important story, especially as we think about Black History Month, because we really want to see the Amistad story as a powerful moment of resistance to oppression,' Steinberg said.
Vibrant colors now greet visitors as they walk through the gallery doors, and a large-scale map shows the rebels' voyage: from capture in Sierra Leone—then Havana, Cuba, to be trafficked for the slave trade—to the northward journey after their revolt.
Eventually caught off Long Island, the rebels were jailed where a statue now stands outside New Haven City Hal/ They spent nearly 19 months here as those local abolitionists worked to free them. '
'New Haven was the site for their imprisonment, but also a center for abolitionist organizing where activists worked closely with Amistad rebels, met with them in the New Haven jail, and organized for their legal defense and to publicize their case for the nation,' Steinberg said.
The exhibit's walls are adorned with paintings and engravings, many of which were made by local artists. These pieces help visitors understand how this story involved the New Haven community.
'The exhibit also focuses on artists New Haven artists who raised awareness on revolt and trials,' Steinberg said. 'And also Black artists, most recently over the last 100 years, who have kept the story alive.'
The updates are in response to feedback from students, teachers and other leaders, and they aim to pass down the history of the most famous ship rebellion in American history to the next generation.
'What we want students to see is to understand the Amistad revolt as one of many and continual resistance to slavery, but also to see the central role of the people who led that revolt who risked their lives to liberate themselves and the importance of social activism.'
Watch News 8's Black History Month special at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 16.
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