Amistad celebration draws 8,000
By Tiffany Vail
December, 2003
Jessica and Mariah Dunn spent just 90 minutes at the MACUCC Amistad Celebration Day before the brisk oceanfront wind prompted their dad to take them to a nearby restaurant for chowder. But the impression the Amistad story made on the 13-year-old girls, two of three triplets in their family, has been much longer lasting.
That impact became clear as soon as they got to the restaurant, when they began imagining themselves as part of the story.
“They talked about what it would be like to be dislocated from their home, thrown on this horrible little boat and threatened with being eaten,” recounted their dad, J.P. Dunn, a member of the Outreach Committee at First Congregational Church in Rockport. “And they kept coming back to the fact that through it all, no one would understand what they were saying.”
Since that day, the Amistad story has come up at the dinner table and at the grocery store. One of the girls talked about it at school, prompting her teacher to send a book home with her about the incident.
“They connected to the story much differently than if I had told them the story, or even if they had seen a movie,” Dunn said. “The trip to Boston was short. The impact on my children and me, bigger than the trip.”
The Dunns were three of an estimated 8,000 members and friends of Massachusetts Conference churches who attended the MACUCC Amistad Celebration Day at the FleetBoston Pavilion on a cold blustery Saturday, October 25th.
After months of talking about the Amistad – in sermons and mission moments, newsletters and emails, movie nights and racial justice forums – participants finally got to come together to see the re-creation Amistad, reflect on what it stands for, celebrate its legacy and dedicate themselves to carrying that legacy forward.
Arriving by bus, automobile, train and even boat for the three separate celebration times, most participants arrived eager to see the Freedom Schooner, and they were willing to wait in lengthy lines to set foot upon the small vessel. While waiting they chatted with others and were entertained by performers playing roles from the Amistad incident.
Participants also had an opportunity to attend the worship event under the tent, which featured storytelling by Amistad Master William Pinkney and Storyteller Valerie Tutson.
“If church was like this, I’d go all the time,” said Abbey Thibeault, 11, of the First Congregational Church in North Attleboro. Thibeault was one of three girls who sat in the front row during one of the services, listening raptly as Tutson took on the role of young Margru – one of three girls who were Amistad captives.
“It was wonderful. I didn’t know there were little kids on the ship,” said her mother, Kelly Thibeault.
Thibeault said even the bus ride to Boston was an exciting event for the church, as it was the first time she remembers members of all ages doing something together.
“We had people from age 4 to 65,” she said. “It was great to have all ages included together.”
The worship celebration also featured uplifting music from the Boston Community Choir, a jazz ensemble featuring Wanetta Jackson, Ivy Tillman and Willie Sordillo, and in the first two services a Conference choir. In the third service, the Concord Youth Gospel Choir left people dancing out of the tent.
“ I loved it all – but especially the music,” said Beverly Moore of the Mattapoisett Congregational Church UCC, as the Concord choir ended the last service. “I’m a music buff, and that was marvelous.”
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