Sengbe Pieh was a simple rice farmer from Sierra Leone. However, in 1839, he was captured and sold into slavery in Cuba.
Determined to get back home to his family, he hatched a plan. He learned how to escape the chains binding himself and the other captives he was chained to.
All he needed then was opportunity.
It arrived when one enslaver got caught slipping. He planned to sell the captives to another crew who intended to ship them up the coast of Cuba. This gave the captives time to plan.
In the middle of the night Pieh freed his compatriots and rebelled. After killing their enslavers, they took over the ship and redirected it back to Africa.
Or so they thought. Unfortunately the ship–the Amistad–was seized by the U.S. where the Africans were recaptured.
However, Pieh argued their case. They were illegally enslaved, because by the time the ship arrived, international slave trade had been abolished. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court.
The court ruled in their favor and they were freed. Pieh returned to Sierra Leone.
His story reminds us to never settle, to fight back, and that freedom is ALWAYS within our grasp.