Honoring Amistad: Weekend Of Film, Music, Exhibit, Waterfront Programs

NEW HAVEN, CT —The public is invited to a special community weekend coinciding with the New Haven Museum’s re-conceived exhibition “Amistad Retold” and the docking of the Amistad Freedom Schooner, a reconstruction of the historical vessel, at Long Wharf in New Haven.

A free outdoor screening of the 1997 film "Amistad" by Steven Spielberg (rated R), is set for July 19 at 7:30 p.m., at the Canal Boathouse at Long Wharf. There will be a brief introduction exploring its critical reception, with the Amistad Freedom Schooner a commanding visual backdrop.

Visitors may visit the schooner and New Haven's iconic 'Food Truck Paradise' on Long Wharf between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Bring your picnics and chairs to the deck. It's free, but people should register here

Weather updates will be posted on the New Haven Museum website and its Facebook page here.

Saturday musical performance by Nia Arts and Quoron Walker, Amistad tours

This NHM collaboration with the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, and Discovering Amistad—co-sponsored by the Amistad Committee, the Office of New Haven Affairs, and the Black & Brown Soul Cyclist—will continue on Saturday, July 20, with a musical performance by Nia Arts and Quoron Walker at 10 a.m., at the New Haven Museum, 114 Whitney Ave., followed by free, hourly tours of the “Amistad: Retold” exhibition till 5 p.m.

“Amistad: Retold” highlights the experiences of the people who led the Amistad Revolt and their collective actions to determine their own lives and focuses on New Haven as the site of their incarceration and abolitionist organizing leading to the landmark Supreme Court decision.

At noon on Saturday, a musical performance by Michael Mills, master drummer/percussionist accompanied by drummers of “Rhythms from the Heart” at the Long Wharf Dock will launch an open house of the Amistad Freedom Schooner till 5:00 p.m. Admission will be free of charge. Discovering Amistad staff members will be onsite to discuss the significance of the Amistad Rebellion of 1839, how the ship model was built, and how it is used today.

About Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition

The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies was founded in 1998 at Yale University. The Gilder Lehrman Center was the first institution in the world wholly devoted to scholarship, public education, and outreach about the global problem of slavery across all borders and all time. In a world that needs this work now more than ever, we invite you to join us in sustaining our mission to foster an improved academic and public understanding of the role of slavery, its destruction, and its legacies in the functioning of the modern world. For more information visit https://glc.yale.edu/

About Discovering Amistad

The mission of Discovering Amistad is to connect people of all ages with the Amistad story, motivating them to act and work to change systems that perpetuate racism, to ensure human rights for all. Using Connecticut's State Flagship (or what we like to call our "floating classroom") we spread the history and backgrounds of the Amistad Africans, their heroic rebellion, and connect it all to the injustices still faced around our country and the world today. For more information visit https://www.discoveringamistad.org/.

About the New Haven Museum

The New Haven Museum has been collecting, preserving and interpreting the history and heritage of Greater New Haven since its inception as the New Haven Colony Historical Society in 1862. Located in downtown New Haven at 114 Whitney Avenue, the Museum brings more than 375 years of New Haven history to life through its collections, exhibitions, programs and outreach. As a Blue Star Museum, the New Haven Museum offers the nation’s active-duty military personnel and their families, including National Guard and Reserve, free admission all year. For more information visit http://newhavenmuseum.org or @NewHavenMuseum or call 203-562-4183.