La Amistad (Spanish: Friendship) was a 19th-century two-masted schooner built in Spain and owned by a Spaniard living in Cuba. While transporting African captives from Havana to Puerto Principe, Cuba in July 1839, the Africans took control of the ship. La Amistad was captured off the coast of Long Island by the Revenue Cutter USS Washington. The Africans and La Amistad were interned while court proceedings were undertaken for their disposition. The case, United States v. The Amistad, was finally decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, in the process becoming a symbol in the movement to abolish slavery.
Read more about La Amistad: The Mutiny, The Ship, Later Years, La Amistad in Popular Culture