¹     Sengbe lived in West Africa. He was a rice farmer. His home was in a town called Mani. In Mani there was a powerful king. The king's son was mean and greedy. One January he took Sengbe from his home and sold him for lots of money.
 
²     A Spanish trader bought Sengbe. He wanted to bring Sengbe to Cuba. The trader had plans to make Sengbe work on a huge farm called a plantation. Sengbe did not want to do this work. He did not want to be a slave.
 
³     Sengbe became sad. He missed his family. The traders did not treat Sengbe kindly. They did not give him enough food to eat. The men hit him. They also put chains on Sengbe's legs. He could not move. The traders did not like African names. They changed Sengbe's name. His new name was Jose Cinque.
 
⁴     The traders sailed to Cuba. Sengbe was put on a new ship called La Amistad. There were 52 Africans with him. No one wanted to be a slave. They made plans to take over the ship.
 
⁵     The Africans found a way to take the chains off their legs. They fought with the traders. They wanted to go home. The Africans were very brave.

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