Sengbeh Pieh

Sengbeh Pieh was captured illegally by African slave traders in 1839. He was taken to a nearby village in the Gallinas region, around Sierra Leone, before being shipped to Havana, Cuba.

During the voyage, Sengbeh unshackled himself and his fellow Africans. They armed themselves with cane knives, fought the crew, and took over the ship. He ordered the ship’s captain to sail eastward towards Africa but winds drove the ship towards the United States.

In the U.S., Sengbeh and the group were tried for mutiny and the killing of the officers on the ship, in a famous case known as United States v. The Amistad. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where Joseph Cinqué (Sengbeh Pieh) and his fellow Africans were found to have rightfully defended themselves and released in 1841.