In 1839, thirty black slaves being transported from Havana to Puerto Príncipe aboard the Amistad took control of the ship and attempted to return to Africa. Instead, the whites sailed north, until the ship was spotted and taken to Connecticut. When President Van Buren attempted to return the slaves to Cuba, the abolitionists, led by John Quincy Adams, took the slaves' case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Originally published: New York : Viking Press, 1971.