Freedom schooner Amistad docks in Poughkeepsie, NY, October 12-14 and 19-20, 2006.

Thanks in large part to the efforts of two Vassar faculty members, Rebecca Edwards, chair of the History Department, and Ismail Rashid, chair of the Program in Africana Studies, the Freedom Schooner Amistad will dock at Waryas Park in Poughkeepsie as part of its Hudson Valley Freedom Tour on October 12-14 and 19-20. The Amistad is a reconstruction of a schooner whose West African captives mutinied and seized the ship in 1839. Their intention was to turn the ship around and sail back to Africa, but they were captured and taken into U.S. custody off the coast of long Island. Their legal battle to win their freedom was the focus of Steven Spielberg's Amistad.

Reconstructed and launched in 2000 by Amistad America, Inc., a non-profit organization, the Amistad sails up and down the Eastern seaboard, on the Great lakes, to the Gulf Coast, and to the Caribbean, offering educational and cultural programs to promote racial equality and social justice. The Amistad will be open for free public tours, with storytelling, lectures, discussion groups, music, and other activities offered dockside and at nearby locations. On Friday, October 13, from 8:30 to 11:00am, Vassar students are invited to tour the schooner; a shuttle bus leaving from Main Building will be operating continuously during that time, taking students to Waryas Park for the half-hour tour.

Vassar is the principal sponsor of the educational component of the Amistad's visit, with support from the offices of the president, dean of the faculty, field work, and religious and spiritual life; the ALANA Center; the History Department; the programs in Africana studies, American culture, and women's studies; and several student organizations, including the VSA, Poder Latino/a, the History Majors Committee, and the Africana Studies Majors Committee.

For more information, visit http://www.hudsonrivervalley.org/antislavery, or call the Amistad Poughkeepsie Information Hotline at 845-705-8487, or email amistadpok@gmail.com.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations or information on accessibility should contact Campus Activities Office at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

This article was posted on Thursday, October 12th, 2006.