| 16th century | Transatlantic slave trade begins along the Upper Guinea Coast. |
| 1787 | “Province of Freedom,” near today’s Freetown, first settled by “Black Poor” liberated slaves living in England. |
| 1792 | Freetown established by second wave of liberated slaves from the Americas. |
| 1808 | Sierra Leone declared a British Crown Colony. |
| 1808–17 | Major Atlantic powers sign treaties to abolish transatlantic slave trade. |
| 1808–60 | British naval patrols enforcing treaties settle Africans liberated from illegal slaving vessels in Freetown regardless of their origin. |
| Apr. 1839 | Slave ship Teçora sets sail from Lomboko carrying Sengbe Pieh and other Amistad rebels to Cuba. Slave factories around Lomboko were sending about 2,000 Africans per year to the Americas at this time. |
| June 28, 1839 | Carrying Sengbe Pieh and other Amistad rebels, La Amistad departs Havana for Puerto Principe. |
| July 1, 1839 | Amistad rebellion, followed by two months at sea. |
| Aug. 26, 1839 | Lt. Gedney and crew of USS Washington take command of the Amistad. |
| Sept. 1839–Sept. 1849 | Amistad-focused District and Circuit Court trials. |
| Mar. 9, 1841 | Supreme Court rules in favor of the Amistad rebels. |
| Nov. 1841–Jan. 1842 | The Gentleman returns the surviving Amistads and members of the American Missionary Society to Sierra Leone. |
| 1898 | Bai Bureh leads war in opposition to British efforts to assert colonial control of areas outside Freetown. |
| 1920s–1950s | Period marked by increasing anticolonial nationalist demands for political independence. |
| Apr. 27, 1961 | Sierra Leone gains political independence from British colonial rule. Milton Margai named first prime minister. |
| 1978 | Siaka Stevens declares one-party rule. Period marked by global economic crises, political misrule, and increasing culture of corruption, which lead to a long period of economic decline. |
| 1985 | Stevens’s handpicked successor Joseph Saidu Momoh elected president; Momoh welcomes International Monetary Fund reforms; economy continues to erode. |
| 1988 | Charlie Haffner debuts Amistad Kata-Kata in Freetown at the British Council auditorium. |
| Mar. 23, 1991 | The Revolutionary United Front/Sierra Leone (RUF/SL) launches first armed attacks in southern Sierra Leone, initiating a decade-long war. |
| Apr. 29, 1992 | Military coup topples Momoh’s government; widespread optimism that military government will bring a quick end to the war. |
| 1993 | Grassroots art movement makes Amistad revolt leader Sengbe Pieh a central icon in public murals designed to foster national pride in opposition to RUF/SL. |
| 1993 | Yulisa Amadu Maddy debuts The Amistad Revolt at the University of Iowa. |
| 1994 | Raymond de’Souza George debuts The Broken Handcuff in Freetown at the British Council auditorium. |
| Jan. 18, 2002 | The war is declared over and disarmament complete. |
Sengbe Pieh
A Ballad
BY CHARLIE HAFFNER
Sengbe Pieh
Yu yeri bot slavery,
Yu yeri bot Sengbe Pieh,
Yu yeri bot Amistad, Amistad Kata-Kata,
Sengbe Pieh nar Sa Lone man,
E born nar Pujehun,
E mama nar Mende, e papa nar Mende,
Way e twenty-six years, 1839,
Nar Im dem kaych am, den sell am to slavery,
King Mana Shaka nar im been sell am,
De Vai king of Pujehun,
Siaka Stevens im granpapa,
Dem pull dem nar Sierra Leone,
In en im compin dem,
Den ship dem go Cuba, Havana de capital,
Nay day dem buy dem,
For ker dem go Principe,
49 Sierra Leoneans, 3 titi en 1 borbor,
Dem ire wan ship, nar in name Amistad,
For ship dem from Havana to Puerto Principe,
Amistad O, Amistad O
Nar so de ship name,
A.M.I.S.T.A.D.—Amistad.
Sengbe Pieh lead in kompin dem,
49 Sierra Leoneans, 3 titi en 1 borbor,
Den attack de Amistad, den ib Kata-Kata,
Den kill de captain, den kill de cook,
Den tie-tie den owner,
Den mass-mass den troat,
Sengbe order de owner dem,
For sail back to Africa,
Back to Sierra Leone,
De land of the rising sun,
Back to Sierra Leone,
Back to Sierra Leone,
Den order de Amistad,
Back to Sierra Leone.
As fate would have it,
Man proposes, God disposes,
Den slam nar United States,
Nar dey dem kaych dem, de Amerikan Navy,
Dem put dem nar kot, insaye United States,
Dem charge dem with murder,
Dem charge dem with piracy,
Dem call dem cannibals, dem call dem savages,
As fate would have it,
Man proposes, God disposes,
De Amistad win dem case,
Out of den 49, 3 titi and 1 borbor,
11 been done rest in peace,
Papa God been done take den lif,
So Sengbe Pieh e en e kompin dem,
38 Sierra Leoneans, 3 titi and 1 borbor,
Wit 5 missionaries, Amerikin missionaries,
Slam insaye Govment Waf, 1842.
Back to Sierra Leone,
Back to Sierra Leone,
Back to Sierra Leone,
De land of the rising sun.
Wetin Ah want for tell una,
Fellow
