Currently Master of the 129-foot re-creation of Freedom Schooner Amistad, Bill Pinkney has turned his love of the sea into a successful career as an adventurer, author, and lecturer.

Now in his 60s, Captain Pinkney left his job as a marketing representative for Revlon to sail 27,000 miles around the world solo in a 22-month-long voyage in 1992. An established yacht racer, he was first motivated to make the trip as a way of encouraging his two young grandchildren to understand the importance of education and to learn such values as personal responsibility, perseverance, and commitment.

Captain Pinkney is the first African American to solo-circumnavigate the earth by sail via Cape Horn, and only the fourth American in history to do so. He followed that feat by conceiving and leading the Middle Passage Voyage in 1998, a sailing project that took students and teachers — via the Internet — through the middle passage slave route to South America and West Africa. The voyage was seen in 160 schools nationwide and was the subject of the multiple award-winning documentary “The Incredible Voyage of Bill Pinkney.” A PBS special ab out his voyage aired nationally in April 2000.

Captain Pinkney is the author of the first-grade reading text, Captain Bill Pinkney’s Journey (SRA-McGraw/Hill) that appears in over 5,000 schools. He has been recognized by President George Bush Sr., the Lord Mayor of Hobart (Tasmania, Australia), the Premier and President of Bermuda, and U.S. Senators Ted Kennedy (MA), Simon (IL), and John F. Kerry (MA). Accounts of his feats were read into the Congressional Record in 1992.

An eight-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, Captain Pinkney was Chicago Yacht Club’s Yachtsman of the Year in 1992, Chicago Magazine’s Chicagoan of the Year in 1999, and has been awarded the Illinois Governor’s Distinguished Achievement Award. Becker College (MA) and Southern Connecticut University have awarded him Honorary Doctorate degrees. He is a member of the New York Yacht Club.

The Amistad Project/Amistad America, Inc.
Amistad America, Inc., is a national non-profit educational organization. Its mission is to promote reconciliation and harmony among races through ownership and operation of Freedom Schooner Amistad. Amistad visits ports nationally and internationally as an ambassador for friendship and good will. She serves as an icon and catalyst for teaching the historic lessons of perseverance, cooperation, leadership, and justice inherent in the Amistad Incident of 1839. She also is a floating classroom and monument to the millions of souls that were broken or lost as a result of the transatlantic slave trade. The vessel offers an important message for all Americans about our collective history and future.

The home port for Freedom Schooner Amistad is Long Wharf Pier in New Haven, Conn. “Amistad” is the Spanish word for friendship. Freedom Schooner Amistad is a re-creation (not a replica) of the 19th century schooner L’Amistad. Amistad America, Inc., is located at 199 Crown St., New Haven, Conn. 06510-2701, and can be reached at 203-495-1839 or 866-AMISTAD, by e-mail at info@amistadamerica.org, or via the Internet at www.amistadamerica.org.