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Article: Debbie Allen explains why 'Amistad' movie is important to all Americans.(Cover Story)
- Article from:
- Jet
- Article date:
- December 22, 1997
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Johnson Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In Amistad, Debbie Allen's first effort at producing a film, she has brought the powerful, true story of a 1839 slave revolt aboard a Spanish ship to the big screen. And she feels the project is so important that all Americans can learn from it.
American history books have paid virtually no attention to the case of the 53 Africans who killed their captors near Cuba and had their case tried before the U.S. Supreme Court while the country and the world watched. And Ms. Allen wants to change that. "This story is about all of us!" she said.
Former U.S. President John Quincy Adams, then a congressman, represented the Africans before the Supreme Court.
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