SILENT GROUNDS COLLECTIVE · NONPROFIT EDUCATIONAL ARCHIVE
SGC-94 · Research edition September 24, 2026
A photographic history with cited opening dates, collection history and individually credited images. Historic views, later photographs and illustrations are dated separately. This is a selected collection, not an exhaustive inventory.
A contemporary painting depicts La Amistad near Culloden Point on August 26, 1839, with the American vessel Washington. This is a painted historical view, not a photograph.
Image credit and source
Sketch of an Amistad prisoner, drawn as they awaited trial in New Haven.
Image credit and source
A photograph of the modern reconstruction built at Mystic Seaport in 2000. The ship carries the Amistad story into public memory; it is not the original 1839 vessel.
Image credit and source
The Freedom Schooner photographed at Key West, Florida. This later scene is included as the history of the reconstruction, with its location distinguished from New Haven.
Image credit and source
An 1839 print of Sengbe Pieh, also known as Joseph Cinqué. Its original title uses an inaccurate description of his origins; that wording is preserved at the source rather than adopted as the archive’s identification.
Image credit and source
The first page of James Covey’s deposition concerning the Africans held in New Haven jail. His testimony helped make their account understandable within the legal proceedings.
Image credit and sourceThe Amistad story reached New Haven because Africans who had been kidnapped and illegally enslaved resisted. Aboard La Amistad in 1839, Sengbe Pieh and his companions fought to regain their freedom. Their capture by an American vessel brought them into another legal system and another confinement. The portraits and drawings in this collection should be read as images of people struggling for self-determination, not merely as illustrations of a court case. [SGC94-S2]
From September 1839 until August 1840, the survivors were held in the jail on the east side of New Haven Green. They exercised on the Green, while paying spectators visited the jail. Support, curiosity and exploitation occupied the same streets. They were later moved to a warehouse in Westville while the case continued. This was not the Whalley Avenue jail that burned in 1910; that later building had a separate history. [SGC94-S1]
On March 9, 1841, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the Africans’ favor. The legal victory did not undo kidnapping, the Atlantic crossing or the lives lost along the way. Images of the vessel, contemporary portraits and James Covey’s testimony preserve different aspects of that struggle. Historical printed titles sometimes misidentify origins or use language that the archive does not adopt as fact. [SGC94-S2]
New Haven later placed a memorial by sculptor Edward Hamilton at the former jail site, dedicated in 1992. Photographs of the modern Freedom Schooner belong to this later work of remembrance. They show a reconstruction built to carry the story forward, not a surviving photograph of the 1839 ship. [SGC94-S3]
Includes source text where acquired. Source websites require an internet connection. OCR may contain errors; verify names and dates against the scan.
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SGC94-S1 · Historical sources · Source dates described in record
Documents incarceration from September 1839 to August 1840, exercise on the Green and transfer to Westville.
Linked source. Photographs and documents at the publisher retain their individual rights.
Credit: National Park Service: New Haven Green. Cite SGC SGC-94, SGC94-S1, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-24.SGC94-S2 · Historical sources · Source dates described in record
History of the revolt, legal proceedings and the Supreme Court decision of March 9, 1841.
Linked source. Photographs and documents at the publisher retain their individual rights.
Credit: National Park Service: Self-Emancipation. Cite SGC SGC-94, SGC94-S2, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-24.SGC94-S3 · Historical sources · Source dates described in record
Edward Hamilton’s memorial was dedicated September 18, 1992 at the former jail site.
Linked source. Photographs and documents at the publisher retain their individual rights.
Credit: Walk New Haven: Amistad Memorial. Cite SGC SGC-94, SGC94-S3, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-24.PHOTO-1536671 · Illustrations & documents · 1839
A contemporary painting depicts La Amistad near Culloden Point on August 26, 1839, with the American vessel Washington. This is a painted historical view, not a photograph.
Reproduced from the credited source. Source image retained without generative alteration. Hosted by Silent Grounds Collective. SHA-256 of uploaded source: 702aeefa769eaf42868c779a9586678deecaa11d7be4dfaac115fba7a2efd2db.
Credit: Unknown author Unknown author; Public domain; Wikimedia Commons. Cite SGC SGC-94, PHOTO-1536671, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-24.PHOTO-8057763 · Illustrations & documents · between 1839 and 1840
Sketch of an Amistad prisoner, drawn as they awaited trial in New Haven.
Reproduced from the credited source. A resized source derivative is used for display; the original-resolution source remains linked. Hosted by Silent Grounds Collective. SHA-256 of uploaded source: afcbb84262748da94eefa0e1f82ac54c61839ad0d0d13758d711c279899aebe3.
Credit: William H. Townsend; Public domain; Wikimedia Commons. Cite SGC SGC-94, PHOTO-8057763, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-24.PHOTO-2391058 · Photographs · May 2007
A photograph of the modern reconstruction built at Mystic Seaport in 2000. The ship carries the Amistad story into public memory; it is not the original 1839 vessel.
Reproduced from the credited source. A resized source derivative is used for display; the original-resolution source remains linked. Hosted by Silent Grounds Collective. SHA-256 of uploaded source: 9ecc420a8836043c7bf486223d68bccb640780f1109d45e7d13e018eae1e981e.
Credit: Jérémy PIEROT; CC BY-SA 3.0; Wikimedia Commons. Cite SGC SGC-94, PHOTO-2391058, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-24.PHOTO-50834418 · Photographs · January 11, 2003
The Freedom Schooner photographed at Key West, Florida. This later scene is included as the history of the reconstruction, with its location distinguished from New Haven.
Reproduced from the credited source. A resized source derivative is used for display; the original-resolution source remains linked. Hosted by Silent Grounds Collective. SHA-256 of uploaded source: a49288d757a9bc6dfe67b402bccf27656b3fe949d683176bc0dbbae31b0e03bd.
Credit: Florida Memory; Public domain; Wikimedia Commons. Cite SGC SGC-94, PHOTO-50834418, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-24.PHOTO-65896078 · Illustrations & documents · 1839
An 1839 print of Sengbe Pieh, also known as Joseph Cinqué. Its original title uses an inaccurate description of his origins; that wording is preserved at the source rather than adopted as the archive’s identification.
Reproduced from the credited source. Source image retained without generative alteration. Hosted by Silent Grounds Collective. SHA-256 of uploaded source: bdc660d3f85821e2665e791ee594904ffa07aba3e01cf881ec30c4ecf7098545.
Credit: Popular Graphic Arts; Public domain; Wikimedia Commons. Cite SGC SGC-94, PHOTO-65896078, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-24.PHOTO-10448765 · Illustrations & documents · October 4, 1839
The first page of James Covey’s deposition concerning the Africans held in New Haven jail. His testimony helped make their account understandable within the legal proceedings.
Reproduced from the credited source. A resized source derivative is used for display; the original-resolution source remains linked. Hosted by Silent Grounds Collective. SHA-256 of uploaded source: 46d581ccc20c275026e1e6c0b5d30604907eb13c1188ff504da83bf4afcfb99f.
Credit: James Covey, deponent (written in an unknown hand); Public domain; Wikimedia Commons. Cite SGC SGC-94, PHOTO-10448765, source title, page and URL; accessed 2026-09-24..jpg){kind=link}
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