East Hampton Town Board Designates Aug. 26 as Amistad Day

The East Hampton Town Board designated Aug. 26 as Amistad Day to commemorate the arrival of the schooner named Amistad at Culloden Point in Montauk in August of 1839.

The enslaved individuals on board Amistad fought back against their captors and attempted to sail back towards Africa, but the Spanish plantation owners in command of the ship secretly turned it back around and sailed up the eastern American coast before being seized at Culloden Point by the USS Washington. After the enslaved Africans were arrested on American soil, their legal case proceeded to develop into an important Supreme Court decision.

“Africans on board had been illegally enslaved and demonstrated extraordinary courage and skill by rising up against their captors, navigating the vessel east in a profound quest for liberty,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez read at the Aug. 21 town board meeting. “Their arrival in Montauk marked a pivotal moment in the journey toward freedom, culminating in a landmark Supreme Court case that affirmed their humanity and set a powerful precedent for human rights.”

The designation comes a year after a replica of Amistad appeared last year in Montauk as part of Amistad Week. Both endeavors relate to efforts to recognize the importance of its place in history.