English 中文网 漫画网 爱新闻iNews 翻译论坛
中国网站品牌栏目(频道)
当前位置: Language Tips > Normal Speed News VOA常速

Slavery Saga Lives On in Connecticut

[ 2012-01-27 11:24]     字号 [] [] []  
免费订阅30天China Daily双语新闻手机报:移动用户编辑短信CD至106580009009

Slavery Saga Lives On in Connecticut

In 1839, African slaves bound for a Cuban sugar plantation escaped their shackles.

They killed the captain and cook aboard the schooner Amistad and ordered their two slavemasters to sail to Africa. Instead, the slavers steered the ship into US waters.

The slaves were recaptured off Long Island and tried for murder in the northeastern state of Connecticut - because it was one of the few northern states that still permitted slavery.

Now, the Custom House Maritime Museum in New London, Connecticut, offers a permanent exhibition on the saga.

It tells the story of the criminal and appellate trials of the mutinous slaves, including their leader, Cinque, a 26-year-old Mende tribesman from what is now Sierra Leone.

The trials became the rallying cry for abolitionists as various courts decided whether they were pirates, murderers or simply property. If property, how could they be guilty of crimes?

Slavery Saga Lives On in Connecticut

The case eventually reached the US Supreme Court, where none other than former president John Quincy Adams took up the slaves' defense.

But the US attorney general argued that the Africans should be sent to Cuba - the Amistad's destination - as the property of Spain.

Almost two years after the 38 slaves aboard the Amistad had been captured, six of seven justices voted to free them.

But they were far from home. Abolitionists raised money for their return to Africa. Cinque made it back to his village in Africa, only to find that his entire family had also been captured and sold to owners and nations unknown.

The Amistad tale has become almost a cottage industry in Connecticut. In addition to the maritime museum exhibit in New London, there are tours of the trial sites and places where the slaves were jailed.

And Mystic Seaport on Long Island Sound has built a replica of the Amistad, aboard which visitors can visualize life on a slave vessel more than 170 years ago.

shackle: 脚镣;手铐;枷锁,桎梏

schooner: (双桅以上的)纵帆船

appellate: 上诉的;受理上诉的

mutinous: 暴动的;反抗的;反叛的

Related Stories:

柬埔寨女禁嫁50岁以上外籍男

发现:埃及金字塔并非奴隶所建

American history: the Civil Rights Movement

New movie and museum exhibits shine new light on Civil War events

(来源:VOA 编辑:陈丹妮)

 
中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883631联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。
 

关注和订阅

人气排行

翻译服务

中国日报网翻译工作室

我们提供:媒体、文化、财经法律等专业领域的中英互译服务
电话:010-84883468
邮件:translate@chinadaily.com.cn