Cinqué

Cinqué was the slave name given to Singbe-Pieh by the Spanish who illegally enslaved him and fifty-one others in 1839. While sailing to Cuba, Singbe-Pieh led a successful mutiny of the slave ship Amistad. But the Africans then had to rely on a Spanish helmsman, who steered the ship to Long Island instead of back to Africa. The Amistad was secured by U.S. authorities, and the slaves were interned in New Haven. While the federal government, fearful of offending the South, wanted to recognize the law of property and return the slaves to their owners, the District Court in New Haven ordered them freed. When the government appealed, ex-president John Quincy Adams defended the Amistad prisoners before the Supreme Court, successfully arguing that the right of habeas corpus prohibited their illegal seizure. Singbe-Pieh and his fellow captives were returned to Africa.