Over 150 documented mutinies occurred aboard slave ships between 1699 and 1845; only once, in the case of the Amistad, did slaves successfully return to Africa. Using that remarkable and anomalous incident as a focus, this program takes an in-depth look at the slave trade. Scholars point out how Europe’s unprecedented demands for human chattel subsumed a well-established slave trade between African kingdoms, a ruthless industry summed up by one African ruler as "powder, ball, and brandy for men, women, and children." The program weaves the developments of the Amistad case—argued and won in the U.S. Supreme Court by former President John Quincy Adams—into the overall fabric of slavery in America. A Discovery Channel Production. (52 minutes)