Why would one feel sad looking at that vessel? The story of the Amistad is one of black and white people working to a common end, freedom. She only represents oppression if thats what you look at. The African people being transported from San Juan on the boat rose up and fought as free men. The white New Englanders that rallied to their cause helped prove they were infact free men, in the eyes of the US Supreme Court. This was a land mark moment in the struggle towards abolition. The Amistad represents freedom not slavery.