AMISTAD TO ANCHOR IN KINGSTON, NY

Photos courtesy of Discovering Amistad

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kirsty Gaukel, Press & Marketing Manager, [email protected]

Hudson River Maritime Museum will host replica of historic ship that teaches about enslaved Africans' Fight for Freedom

KINGSTON, N.Y. (July 10, 2024) – Hudson River Maritime Museum announced today that it will host the Amistad Saturday, August 3-Wednesday, August 7, 2024 at their Kingston Waterfront campus. The 129-foot schooner is a replica of the 19th century ship, La Amistad, which became widely known for the 1839 uprising of enslaved captives from Sierra Leone who overthrew the crew and commandeered the ship into waters off the coast of New York. Tours of the ship and other public programming will be offered while they are anchored at the Kingston Waterfront. Tickets and more information can be found at www.hrmm.org/amistad
Throughout Amistad’s stay, August 3-7, guided tours of the ship led by a member of the Discovering Amistad’s staff will be offered at 10:00am, 11:00am, 12:00 noon and 1:00pm. Self-guided tours will also be available 2:00-5:00 pm daily. Tickets for guided and self-guided tours of the ship can be purchased in advance by visiting www.hrmm.org/amistad. Admission to the Museum will be offered at the reduced rate for all Amistad ticket holders; $5 for adults/seniors and free for children under 12 years of age.

On Wednesday, August 7, HRMM will host a Community Open Day at the Museum’s campus supported by Hudson Valley Credit Union. Alongside Pay-What-You-Can self-guided tours from 10am through 8pm, plus live music and entertainment from local artists in the Homeport Barn, 3:00pm-7:00pm.  Learn about the Amistad uprising and enjoy live music and entertainment. On this flexibly-priced day, the schooner is open for self-exploration from 10am through 8pm, with entry every 30 minutes. A reservation is still required; please reserve for each member of your party for the amount that works for your budget. (You can select different amounts for different members of your party; e.g., you may book one person at $10 and three people at $0.)

The Schooner Amistad, operated by the nonprofit Discovering Amistad, embraces the “vision” of freedom the original ship embodied as it serves as a floating classroom to educate people about the history of enslavement and discrimination. The Amistad serves to connect people of all ages with the Amistad story, motivating them to act and work to change systems that perpetuate racism, to ensure human rights for all. Discovering Amistad was founded on the premise that every human life is a story, and that every story deserves to be told.

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PROGRAMS AVAILABLE
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GUIDED TOURS
Saturday, August 4-Tuesday, August 6
10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, and 5:30pm
Led by the Discovering Amistad staff, this is an hour-long tour of the Amistad, a replica of the historic schooner commandeered by African captives as they fought for freedom in the 1839 Amistad Uprising.
During this 1-hour program, the knowledgeable educators of the organization Discovering Amistad introduce guests to the ship and the story of the Amistad Rebellion, from West Africa to Cuba and the United States. Participants will see how the 53 kidnapped Africans were able to plan and launch a successful rebellion against their illegal enslavement. The relevance of New York and Connecticut history and legacy is highlighted.
​$15 Adults
$5 Children under 12 years old


SELF-GUIDED DECK TOURS
​Saturday, August 3-Wednesday, August 7
2pm, 2:30pm 3pm, 3:30pm, 4pm,  4:30pm, and 5pm

Explore the ship and interact with artifacts onboard at your own leisure. In this option, you will be able to walk aboard the deck of the schooner and interact with living history at your own pace. Discovering Amistad's staff members greet visitors and remain available to discuss how and why the re-creation was built, differences with the original, and the ship’s purpose today. Participants will learn about the Amistad story from its beginnings in West Africa, the Middle Passage, rebellion on the ship, and the court trials in the United States.

$10 Adults
$5 Children under 12 years old

Community Open Day
sponsored by ​Hudson Valley Credit Union
Wednesday, August 7
10:00AM-8:00PM
On Wednesday. August 7, HRMM and Discovering Amistad will host a Community Open Day.  Learn about the Amistad uprising and enjoy pay what you can ship tours, live music and entertainment. Ship tours on Community Day are pay-what-you-can with self-guided tours running every half hour from 10am through 8pm. On this flexibly-priced day, the schooner is open for self-exploration from 10am through 8pm, with entry every 30 minutes. A reservation is still required; please reserve for each member of your party for the amount that works for your budget. (You can select different amounts for different members of your party; e.g., you may book one person at $10 and three people at $0.)

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ABOUT AMISTAD

Amistad is what is known as top-sail schooner, or a Baltimore Clipper – a recreation of what historians believe to be the best representation of what La Amistad would have looked like on the outside in 1839. 

The impetus for the building of Amistad came from Warren Q. Marr II, former editor of the NAACP's 'The Crisis' magazine. Marr's inspiration for the recreation emerged during Operation Sail 1976, a tall ship festival held that year in New York Harbor. Participating in that event was a representation of La Amistad; it was actually an old Western Union vessel with its name temporarily hidden under signs proclaiming her Amistad. 

Marr wanted the story of the African captives' fight for freedom on the seas, in a New Haven court and in a landmark United States Supreme Court case, to be told. Marr's goal was to design the re-created vessel as a floating exhibit and classroom, assemble a crew, and sail her from port to port teaching the history of The Amistad Incident of 1839. Marr believed the Amistad story could foster unity among people of diverse backgrounds and help improve race relations.

In the late 90s, Mystic Seaport embraced the Amistad project because it contains many elements consistent with the Museum's mission "to create a broad, public understanding of the relationship of America and the sea." Amistad became the first and largest vessel ever constructed at Mystic Seaport, where shipyard staff coordinated construction with students from vocational schools in Connecticut and with volunteers.

Discovering Amistad picks up the mantle of Warren Marr with our mission of championing the important issues of racial and social justice framed, literally and metaphorically, by the Amistad story.