Slavery North invites you to celebrate Black History Month with a critical consideration of the artistic, performance, and visual representations that emerged from the Amistad Rebellion, presented by our own Advisory Board member Prof. Lisa Merrill.
Lecture: Representing the Amistad Rebellion: In Art, on Stage, and to Spectators at the New Haven Jail
Speaker: Dr. Lisa Merrill, Prof. of Writing Studies and Rhetoric, Hofstra University, Long Island, NYC
Moderator: Dr. Charmaine A. Nelson, Provost Professor of Art History & Founding Director Slavery North, UMass Amherst
Date/Time: Tuesday, February 18, 1:00 PM to 2:15 PM Eastern Time
Location: Campus Center, 1 Campus Center Way, Room 804-08 (8th Floor), UMass Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA, 01003
Open to the public via Zoom: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/93704812606
Meeting ID: 937 0481 2606
Lecture Abstract: On July 2, 1839, kidnapped and illegally enslaved Africans from Sierra Leone were captive aboard the slave ship Amistad. Under the unofficial leadership of a rebel whose name the English-speaking press reported as Joseph Cinque, they broke out of their chains and rebelled against their captors, killing two crewmembers –the captain, and the cook—who had threatened to ‘eat them.’ The mutineers seized control of the ship and attempted to sail back to their homeland. Although re-captured by the US, they were ultimately defended by former President John Quincy Adams and freed by the U.S. Supreme Court. In this talk performance historian Professor Lisa Merrill will explore how artistic depictions of the Amistad Rebellion on stage, in paintings, prints, panoramas, minstrel songs and life-sized wax figures of the resistance of those Amistad captives, and the witnessing of the actual rebels in prison and on trial functioned rhetorically as ‘performances’ that ultimately led to their victory and served to inspire others to rebel against enslavement.
Hofstra University
Bio: Lisa Merrill is a Professor of Writing Studies and Rhetoric at Hofstra University and an Advisory Board member of the Slavery North Initiative. Professor Merrill’s research and publications are in the fields of performance studies, critical race and cultural studies, and women’s history. Her numerous award-winning publications and invited lectures include: the Eccles Centre Visiting Professorship in North American Studies at the British Library for “Performing Race and Reading Antebellum American Bodies” (2010-11); the Oscar Brockett Essay Prize for her essay “Most Fitting Companions: Making Mixed Race Bodies Visible in Antebellum Public Spaces” (2015) and recent lectures on race and representation at University of Ghana, Accra (2023), Universidad Federal Do Estado Do Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, (2023), International Society for Theatre Research, Reykjavík, Iceland, (2022), MESA Multi Ethnic Studies Association, Larnaka, Cyprus, (2022), Tate Modern Museum, London, England (2022) and the International Museum for the Study of Slavery, Liverpool, England, (2017).
For more information, please contact Emily Davidson (Director of Research and Engagement, Slavery North): [email protected]
