New Haven was home to one of the important early events in the burgeoning anti-slavery movement when, in 1839, the trial of mutineering <answer>Mende</answer> tribesmen being transported as slaves on the Spanish slaveship Amistad was held in New Haven's United States District Court. There is a statue of Joseph Cinqué, the informal leader of the slaves, beside City Hall. See "Museums" below for more information. Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech on slavery in New Haven in 1860, shortly before he secured the Republican nomination for President.
What tribesman were being transported  as slaves on a ship by the Spanish?
Mende