Theodore Joadson was an African-American abolitionist printer, businessman, and ex-slave. Along with Lewis Tappan, he sought to free the Africans who were imprisoned during the Amistad trial of 1839, and, with the help of lawyer Roger Sherman Baldwin, they won the case.
Biography[]
Theodore Joadson was born into a family of black slaves, but he was later freed, and went on to become an abolitionist and businessman. Joadson worked for The Emancipator, an abolitionist printing company based in New Haven, Connecticut, and, through his abolitionist ally Lewis Tappan, he also became a businessman, becoming wealthy due to his ownership of the Forten Shipping Service. In 1839, Joadson and Tappan hired lawyer Roger Sherman Baldwin to help them with their goal of freeing the African captives from the Amistad, and, in the ensuing trial, Baldwin successfully convinced Judge Jeremy Coglin that the slaves had been illegally imported to Cuba, therefore ensuring that they were freed.