THE AMISTAD REBELLION AND THE LIFE OF SENGBE PIEH
Sengbe Pieh was born in 1814 in the village of Mani in Wes t Africa. He was a member of the Mende tribe. His father was a leader in the village. Sengbe learned from his father so that perhaps he could grow up to be a leader. The Mende people are a large tribe in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Sierra Leone and Liberia are in West Africa. They are both on the Atlantic Ocean. The Mende are an important group of people in West Africa today. Sengbe grew up and got married. He and his wife had three children. He was a rice farmer like most people in his village. He 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 . ABDUCTION While in his 20s, he was captured by four Black strangers as he walked along a well-traveled path. His wife and three chil...