A bold and powerful two-minute soliloquy for cello opens this dramatic work, portraying the courageous Joseph Cinqué who escaped his captors’ shackles to lead the historic Amistad mutiny. This uprising at sea led to the US Supreme Court’s 1841 ruling that enslaved Africans had the legal right to defend their freedom. Hailstork’s musical portrayal is profoundly inspired by this heroic rebellion, and the composer has written that the opening section was inspired by chants on board the ship (and knocking on wood), while the remainder of the work is a celebration after the 1841 trial.