Slave ship
In 1839 the Spanish ship Amistad was sailing off the coast of Cuba in the process of smuggling slaves. By this time slave trading was illegal except in Cuba. Joseph Cinqué, who had been captured as a slave in Sierra Leone, led a revolt that had far reaching consequences. The court case in Connecticut that followed was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States where it was upheld. Cinqué and the surviving Africans returned to Sierra Leone in 1842.