Latest / The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering — Fexingo History / The Sengbe Pieh Mende Revolt: Sierra Leone's Liberated Africans
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about the slave trade from the Bight of Benin and the Gold Coast, but today I want to take us to a region that's been a thread through some of our episodes but never the focus: the Mende people of what's now Sierra Leone. They were central to one of the most famous slave revolts — the Amistad — but also have a fascinating story of cultural survival. Luna: The Amistad was the ship where the captives took over and ended up in the US, right? Sengbe Pieh — Joseph Cinqué? Lucas: Exactly. Sengbe Pieh was a Mende man, a rice farmer from the interior of Sierra Leone. In 1839, he and other Mende captives were being transported on the schooner La Amistad from Havana to Puerto Príncipe in Cuba. The ship had been illegally supplied with Africans smuggled from Sierra Leone, despite the slave trade being outlawed. Lucas: Sengbe led a revolt, killing the captain and some crew, and they tried to sail back to Africa but ended up off Long Island. They were captured, and the case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where former President John Quincy Adams argued for their freedom. Luna: And they won, right? They were returned to Sierra Leone. Lucas: Yes, in 1842, thirty-five of the survivors returned to Sierra Leone, along with some American missionaries who founded the Mendi Mission in the Sherbro region. They settled in what's now Bonthe, on Sherbro Island. But the story of the Mende in the slave trade goes back centuries before that. Lucas: The region we call Sierra Leone was a major source of captives from the 16th century onward. The Mende, along with their neighbors the Temne and the Vai, were often victims of wars and raids fueled by European demand. The Mende were particularly valued in the Americas for their expertise in rice cultivation. Luna: Rice — that's such a specific skill. Where did they learn it? Lucas: West Africa, especially from the Senegambia region to the Rice Coast of present-day Sierra Leone and Liberia, had a long history of rice farming. The Mende grew upland rice using sophisticated techniques like swamp rice cultivation and slash-and-burn. When planters in the Carolina Lowcountry needed experienced rice growers, they specifically sought out 'Rice Coast' Africans — including Mende, Baga, Kissi, and others. Lucas: This led to a disproportionate number of Mende being shipped to South Carolina and Georgia. Their knowledge made them high-value captives, but it also meant they were often worked to death in the malaria-ridden swamps. Luna: So they were prized for their skills, but that just made their suffering worse. Lucas: Exactly. And the Mende culture didn't just vanish. In the diaspora, elements of Mende language and customs survived. The Gullah Geechee people of the Sea Islands retain words from Mende — like 'buckra' for white man, which comes from the Mende 'mbakara' meaning 'he who surrounds or rules.' Also, the Mende secret societies, the Poro for men and Sande for women, had counterparts in the New World. Luna: Secret societies — what did they do? Lucas: The Poro and Sande were initiation societies that governed social and political life, education, and the transmission of knowledge. They were often suppressed or went underground during slavery, but some scholars see echoes in the Afro-Caribbean secret societies like the Abakuá in Cuba, which was influenced by the Efik of Calabar, but also in the ring shout and other communal practices. Lucas: But let's get back to the Amistad and its aftermath. After the Supreme Court victory, the returned Africans, along with missionaries, established the Mendi Mission at Bonthe. They faced challenges — disease, tensions with local people, and the ongoing slave trade that still operated on the Gallinas coast, just south of Sierra Leone. Luna: The slave trade was still going on even after the British banned it? Lucas: Yes. The British had abolished the trade in 1807 and established a naval squadron to intercept slave ships, but slavers evaded them by using false flags and bribing officials. The Gallinas coast, controlled by the Vai and Mende chiefs like King Siaka, was a major slave trading hub run by Spanish and Portuguese dealers. The infamous slave barracoon at Lomboko was dismantled only in 1849 by the British navy. Lucas: The Amistad captives were actually freed because they were illegally taken from Africa after the trade ban. Their case highlighted the ongoing illegality. But the irony is that Sierra Leone itself was founded as a colony for freed slaves — the Black Loyalists from America, the Maroons from Jamaica, and later the Liberated Africans rescued by the British navy. Luna: So Sierra Leone became a kind of home for freed Africans from all over. Lucas: Yes, and the Krio people who emerged from that mix developed their own language — Krio — which is an English-based creole with many African influences, including Mende words. The Mende language itself is part of the Mande language family, which includes languages spoken across West Africa from Mali to Senegal. Luna: I've heard the Mende script — it's one of those indigenous African scripts, right? Lucas: Yes! There's a syllabary called Mende Kikakui, invented in the early 20th century by a Mende man named Kisimi Kamara. It's one of several African scripts developed in the colonial period, like Vai and Bassa Vah. It's not widely used today, but it shows the intellectual tradition within Mende culture. Lucas: And that brings us to something really important: the resilience of the Mende identity. Even after centuries of slave raids, colonialism, and civil war in Sierra Leone, the Mende remain one of the largest ethnic groups in the country, with a rich oral tradition, especially in the form of storytelling and the hale, a type of narrative song. Luna: The Mende have this incredible story that spans the slave trade, the Amistad revolt, and their survival today. Lucas: Right. And the Amistad story is particularly powerful because it shows how Africans fought back and used the legal system to win their freedom. Sengbe Pieh becomes a symbol of resistance. When he returned to Sierra Leone, he tried to rebuild his life, but he never regained his former status. Still, his legacy inspired later generations. Lucas: There's a sequel to the Amistad story, too. Some of the returned Africans later became involved in the British anti-slavery patrols along the coast, helping intercept slave ships. So they went from being victims to active liberators. Luna: That's a full circle. So today, when we think of the slave trade, we should remember the Mende not just as victims, but as people with agency. Lucas: Exactly. And next time, I want to explore another African group that resisted fiercely — the Amazigh of North Africa, who were also caught up in the trans-Saharan trade. But that's for another episode. Luna: Can't wait. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. And to our listeners — if you want to dive deeper into the Amistad case, check out the transcripts of the Supreme Court arguments. They're surprisingly readable.