1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,239 Speaker 1: Hey, history enthusiasts, you get not one, but two events 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:05,960 Speaker 1: in history today. Heads up that you also might hear 3 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:10,039 Speaker 1: two different hosts, Me and Tracy V. Wilson. With that said, 4 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:17,280 Speaker 1: on with the show, Welcome to this day in History class. 5 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:21,360 Speaker 1: It's July two today. In eighteen thirty nine, the enslaved 6 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:26,160 Speaker 1: people aboard the Amistade staged a rebellion. When this happened, 7 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:29,920 Speaker 1: even though these were enslaved people aboard the Amistade, the 8 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 1: Transatlantic slave trade was largely abolished. It had been outlawed 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:36,880 Speaker 1: in the United States and in Great Britain in eighteen 10 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:40,200 Speaker 1: oh seven, and then several other European nations had also 11 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: banned it in the eighteen teens, but slavery itself was 12 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: still legal in a lot of the places that had 13 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 1: been importing enslaved labor from Africa and then the slave traders. 14 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,240 Speaker 1: A lot of them were still working even though this 15 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: was illegal, and as one example, the port of Lumboco, 16 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: which was controlled by Pedro Blanco of Spain, was still 17 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: an active slave port. This was on the coast of 18 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: what's now Sierra Leone, and in early eighteen thirty nine, 19 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:11,040 Speaker 1: more than five hundred Africans maybe even closer to six 20 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:15,759 Speaker 1: hundred were transported from the interior of Sierra Leone and 21 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: were sent to Cuba aboard a slave ship called the 22 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: Ta Cora from the port of Lombo Coat. After this 23 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 1: ship arrived in Cuba, Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montes purchased 24 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: fifty three of the people who were aboard, including four children, 25 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:33,319 Speaker 1: and their intent was for these people was to send 26 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 1: them by ship aboard the Amistade to other plantations that 27 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:40,720 Speaker 1: they had. The treatment of these people aboard the Amistade 28 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 1: was just appalling. There was often not enough food or water. 29 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: Beatings were common. The cook tormented them constantly, basically threatening 30 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: them with the horrors that were awaiting them once they 31 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: got off the ship. Eventually, an enslaved man named singby 32 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: p A who is sometimes called by the Spanish name 33 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: Sink a letter rebellion before dawn on July two, while 34 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 1: they were still at sea, he got the other people 35 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 1: who were enslaved with him to figure out how to 36 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:12,520 Speaker 1: release themselves from their shackles and the ship's hold. This 37 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: was kind of a feat. They were in the ship's hold. 38 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: There wasn't a below decks. Really, there was just the 39 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:21,480 Speaker 1: upper deck and the cargo hold they were shackled down there. 40 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:26,519 Speaker 1: They represented at least nine different ethnic groups from parts 41 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: of what's now Sierra Leone. They didn't necessarily all even 42 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:32,799 Speaker 1: speak the same language very well, but they all worked 43 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 1: together in spite of all this to free themselves from 44 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,079 Speaker 1: their shackles, then to kill the cook that had been 45 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,520 Speaker 1: tormenting them in his sleep, and also to take on 46 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,800 Speaker 1: the captain of the ship. The crew were not able 47 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: to grab their firearms because things happened so quickly. The 48 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: enslaved people armed themselves with cane knives that they had 49 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: found in the hold with them, and they were basically 50 00:02:57,320 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: able to take over the whole ship. A couple of 51 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,359 Speaker 1: the crew abandoned ship and and made their way away 52 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: in a lifeboat, and they captured Ruiz and Montez, the 53 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 1: two men that had at least in theory purchased them. 54 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: And then they ran into a problem. They had taken 55 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 1: over the ship. They had succeeded in their rebellion. But 56 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 1: these are people who were mostly from the interior of 57 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: the country. They didn't live on the coast, they didn't 58 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: have experience with boats and ships. They didn't really know 59 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:29,920 Speaker 1: how to navigate in this part of the world. They 60 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: were on the opposite side of the planet from where 61 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: they had been living, so they had to still rely 62 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: on the two men who had purchased them. What they 63 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: told them to do was to take them back to Africa, 64 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: so Ruiz and Montez at first acted like they were 65 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 1: doing this, but then they turned the ship to the 66 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: north too instead, hopefully in their minds, find somebody who 67 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: would help them. What wound up happening instead was that 68 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: they made their way all the way up the most 69 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: of North America, all the way to New York to 70 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: the southern tip of Long Island, and that is where 71 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: a US Navy vessel spotted them on August. Weeks after 72 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: that mutiny had happened. At this point, some of the 73 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:17,120 Speaker 1: Africans aboard had died of exposure or thirst. The conditions 74 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: were still not good. They did not have a lot 75 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: of resources, but Ruiz and Montes were allowed to go, 76 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 1: and the surviving Africans were imprisoned and charged with murder 77 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: in the deaths of the captain and the cook. Those 78 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:32,440 Speaker 1: murder charges were later dropped, but they still had to 79 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: face trial in Hartford, Connecticut. Because there were multiple different 80 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: entities all claiming to own these people. Eventually, a court 81 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: in Hartford found in favor of the Africans, saying that 82 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: they number one had the right to defend themselves and 83 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: number two that they had been brought to Cuba illegally 84 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: so that they were free. But the administration of President 85 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 1: Martin van Buren appealed that decision. It wound up being 86 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:01,799 Speaker 1: former President John Quincy Adam who defended the Africans before 87 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:05,480 Speaker 1: the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upheld that lower courts 88 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 1: ruling this legal process had gone on for more than 89 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:11,280 Speaker 1: a year and a half, and that was on top 90 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: of the weeks and weeks they had spent at sea 91 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 1: both before and after the mutiny. But this legal victory 92 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: didn't have any provisions for them to get home. There 93 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: was no repatriation built into it, and the Navy was 94 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:26,720 Speaker 1: given salvage rights for the Honestade, so they couldn't even 95 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:28,599 Speaker 1: just sell the ship to pay for their way back. 96 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:32,679 Speaker 1: Abolitionists wound up raising money for them to get back home, 97 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 1: and the thirty five surviving Africans boarded a ship bound 98 00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: back for Africa on November forty one. They had several 99 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,680 Speaker 1: missionaries along with them. These missionaries. Once they all arrived 100 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:48,479 Speaker 1: in Africa, began doing their missionary work, and their letters 101 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,599 Speaker 1: back to the United States for years included little updates 102 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: about people who had been aboard the Honestade. They were 103 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 1: referred to as one of the Honestads and these letters. 104 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: According to the descendants of sing Bay p A, he 105 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,200 Speaker 1: returned home to find that his wife and two of 106 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:07,240 Speaker 1: his daughters were missing. It's possible that they were victims 107 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:10,840 Speaker 1: of the same slave trade that he had been. After 108 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,719 Speaker 1: a fruitless search for them, according to his family records, 109 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 1: he returned home to live near a surviving son and 110 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:21,480 Speaker 1: later on his other descendants. Thanks to Eve's Jeff Cote 111 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: for her research work on today's episode and Tari Harrison, 112 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: who edits and produces all of these episodes, you can 113 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: learn more about the Amistad Rebellion in the Stuff You 114 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:34,919 Speaker 1: Miss in History Class episode from April sleven, and you 115 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 1: can subscribe to This Day in History Class on Apple podcasts, 116 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,679 Speaker 1: Google podcasts, and whatever else you get your podcasts. Tune 117 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:45,039 Speaker 1: in tomorrow for an ancient discovery, at least one that 118 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:56,160 Speaker 1: we think is ancient. Hi, there, Welcome to This Day 119 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:59,359 Speaker 1: in History Class, where we sift through the artifacts of 120 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:09,560 Speaker 1: history seven days a week. The day was July second, nineteen. 121 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: Patrice and Marie La Mumba was born in on A, 122 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:18,920 Speaker 1: lu Kasai province in the Belgian Congo. La Mumba went 123 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,960 Speaker 1: on to become the first Prime Minister of the Democratic 124 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:26,720 Speaker 1: Republic of the Congo. He was assassinated in nineteen sixty one, 125 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 1: but he is remembered as a Pan Africanist leader and 126 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:34,520 Speaker 1: freedom fighter. La Mumba was one of four sons born 127 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: to poor farmers when Congo was under Belgian rule. He 128 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: was a member of the Tetela ethnic group. As a child, 129 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: he began going to missionary schools, which spent little time 130 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 1: instructing black children in book study in more time preparing 131 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:54,600 Speaker 1: them for manual labor. Regardless, teachers gave him books to read, 132 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: and after he finished primary school, he went on to 133 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 1: secondary school the oh He had always been eager in 134 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:05,400 Speaker 1: his quest for knowledge. He left secondary school at age eighteen. 135 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 1: At this time, the Belgian Congo was at war and 136 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 1: La Mumba was stuck between Catholic and Protestant missionaries, who 137 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 1: both aligned with Belgian colonial authorities. He decided to find 138 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 1: employment elsewhere relocating to places like Kalima, Ubund and Kisangani, 139 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: then called Stanleyville. La Mumba became active in groups of 140 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:33,200 Speaker 1: Abu Luay Africans who have been educated in westernized mission schools, 141 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:38,079 Speaker 1: who gathered to debate issues and exchange knowledge. La Mumba 142 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 1: learned to fluently speak several languages, including Swahili, French and Lingala. 143 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,680 Speaker 1: He started to write essays and poems, many of which 144 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: were anti colonialists, for Congolese journals. In nineteen forty seven, 145 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,440 Speaker 1: he went to postal school and got a job as 146 00:08:55,480 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: a postal worker in Kinshasa, then called Leopoldville. He soon 147 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:04,240 Speaker 1: became an accountant in the post office in Kisangani, and 148 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty one he married fifteen year old pauline 149 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 1: O Bangu. La Mumba helped organize a postal workers union, 150 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:16,439 Speaker 1: founded a group of African intellectuals and liberal Europeans whose 151 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: goal was to improve race relations, continued writing for the 152 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:23,559 Speaker 1: Congolese press and joined a local branch of a Belgian 153 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:27,560 Speaker 1: liberal party. In nineteen fifty six, he was a part 154 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:31,080 Speaker 1: of a delegation of Congolese people visiting Belgium to discuss 155 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:35,240 Speaker 1: political reform, but when he returned to Congo, he was 156 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: arrested for embezzlement from the post office. Though he said 157 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:41,960 Speaker 1: he was innocent and had borrowed the money, he ended 158 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:46,120 Speaker 1: up serving about a year in prison. Once he was released, 159 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:49,360 Speaker 1: he became the sales director of a brewery in Conshassa 160 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:52,839 Speaker 1: and helped found the Congolese National Movement for m n 161 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 1: C in nineteen fifty eight. The m n C was 162 00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 1: a political group that opposed Belgian control, called for Congo's 163 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: resources to benefit the Congolese first, and demanded independence. Ghana 164 00:10:06,559 --> 00:10:09,920 Speaker 1: had recently gained its independence from Britain, and in December 165 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:13,000 Speaker 1: of nineteen fifty eight, La Mumba attended the first All 166 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:17,400 Speaker 1: African People's Conference in across Ghana organized by Kuama and Kruma. 167 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:21,679 Speaker 1: La Mumba became more radical as he recognized the oppression 168 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:25,760 Speaker 1: of Belgian colonial rule, and his militant nationalism, drive for 169 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:30,440 Speaker 1: progress and leadership made him a target for authorities. The 170 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: m n C split into two organizations in nineteen fifty nine, 171 00:10:34,679 --> 00:10:37,720 Speaker 1: as La Mumba took a radical stance against colonial rule, 172 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:41,079 Speaker 1: with La Mumba side appropriately known as m n C. 173 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:45,160 Speaker 1: La Mumba after riots broke out and people were killed 174 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 1: in Kisangani after he gave a speech at an m 175 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:52,160 Speaker 1: NC conference, Lamumbo was arrested on the charge of inciting 176 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:56,080 Speaker 1: anti colonial riots, but he was soon released from prison 177 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:59,839 Speaker 1: to attend a round table conference in Brussels convened to 178 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:03,800 Speaker 1: discussed the future of the Congo. Belgium granted the Congo 179 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:09,280 Speaker 1: independence slated for June thirtieth, nineteen sixty. In the national 180 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:12,720 Speaker 1: elections in May, the m n C came out ahead, 181 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:16,640 Speaker 1: winning thirty three seats out of one thirty seven. La 182 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:20,480 Speaker 1: Mumba became the Belgian Congo's first prime minister, with rival 183 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:25,600 Speaker 1: Joseph Kasa Vubu as the president. On June thirtieth independence Day, 184 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:30,080 Speaker 1: La Mumba surprised people with a speech that denounced Belgian domination, 185 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:34,480 Speaker 1: emphasized the suffering of Congolese people under colonial rule, and 186 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:39,360 Speaker 1: called for Congolese unification. This was just after the Belgian 187 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:42,960 Speaker 1: king had given a speech supporting colonialism and telling Congo 188 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: to step into the future cautiously. After independence, the Congo 189 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:50,679 Speaker 1: fell into disorder when La Mumba called in help from 190 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:55,199 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union. Belgians and Americans accused him of being communist. 191 00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:00,120 Speaker 1: Army commander Joseph Mobutu arrested La Mumba and Kasavubu and 192 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:03,959 Speaker 1: took power a c I. A scientist was sent to 193 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:08,600 Speaker 1: poison him, but that never happened. Though La Mumba managed 194 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: to escape, he was recaptured and sent to Katanga, a 195 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:14,760 Speaker 1: province that has succeeded from Congo in the wake of 196 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:19,720 Speaker 1: independence and was under Belgian control. La Mumba was tortured 197 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 1: and then assassinated in Katanga on January sevent nineteen sixty one. 198 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:29,080 Speaker 1: Many people today view him as a martyr for anti 199 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:34,200 Speaker 1: imperialism and Pan Africanism. I'm Eve Jeffco and hopefully you 200 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 201 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 1: We love it if you left us a comment on Twitter, 202 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: Instagram or Facebook. At t d i h C podcast, 203 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:54,079 Speaker 1: we'll see you here in the same place tomorrow. For 204 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:56,320 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, vis the I Heart 205 00:12:56,360 --> 00:12:58,920 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 206 00:12:58,920 --> 00:12:59,600 Speaker 1: favorite shows.