John Amos' Unlikely, Oceanic Passion

(Soundbite of show "Good Times")

FARAI CHIDEYA, host:

Remember that show "Good Times" and the serious hardworking father, James Evans, who didn't hesitate to take off his belt and hand out spankings. That was actor John Amos. The Golden Gloves boxer and ex-pro football player has had a long career on the large and small screens. One of his biggest roles was as Kunta Kinte on the TV miniseries "Roots" in 1977.

Now, Amos is working on a new film that looks at slavery in a different way. He's shooting a documentary about a group of rival gang members. He's taking this month on an international sea voyage that retraces the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. He's got his own Halley's Comet Foundation and is working with Amistad America, an organization that uses a replica of the famous Amistad slave trading ship to educate the public about the Middle Passage.

Joining me now to talk about his work is John Amos. Welcome.

Mr. JOHN AMOS (Actor): Well, thank you for having me on your show.

CHIDEYA: So tell me a little bit more about this project. When do you set sail? Who you are going to have onboard and where are you going to stop?

Mr. AMOS: Number one, this will be a collaborative co-production between Amistad America and my company, or rather my non-profit, which is the Halley's Comet Foundation. The voyage will ensue from New Haven, Connecticut. And the specificities as to when will actually launch.

CHIDEYA: Well, you know, I just have to ask you this.

Mr. AMOS: Yeah.

CHIDEYA: Do you sail? Is this something that's new for you or is this something…

Mr. AMOS: Oh, it's not new for me. On the contrary, I have - my foundation -The Halley's Comet Foundation is - our mission statement was, initially, when I formed the foundation and acquired non-profit status some six and a half, seven years ago was to introduce young people, young men and women to, not just to sail and experience, but also to make them aware of career opportunities that might exist in the maritime industry.

CHIDEYA: Well, that's fascinating. I have a great uncle who was a merchant marine and they're certainly - it's a fascinating field. It's certainly not something that you're going to find a lot of people who are gang members doing. Why did you choose to focus on gang members to go on this very important journey?

Mr. AMOS: Well, the truth of it is - the gang member aspect of it is sort of an addendum. While my focus, as a former social worker, was to try and to get as many kids who are at risk involved in our program. Initially, what we want set up to deal with adjudicated youth, that is kids who have - young people who have been put through the system, who was already been incarcerated and that type of thing.

But - and Amistad, quite frankly, was not set up for, specifically, for that purpose, but I said this would be an incredible opportunity to get young people involved who are in that situation because the impact on them working as a team together of going through an experience of going to sea, preparing the vessel, learning how to sail, learning meteorology, learning how to read the ocean and realizing what the importance of the preservation of the oceans are to them and their generation and the generations to come. It's just too great an opportunity to miss out on.

CHIDEYA: So John, you have the situations where you have the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the U.K.

Mr. AMOS: Yes.

CHIDEYA: When you think about the Middle Passage, there was no comfort on the lower decks for the people who were about to be enslaved. There was no freedom of movement. There was no adequate food. There was no medical care of any serious sort.

Mr. AMOS: True.

CHIDEYA: So when you think about the young people that you're going to be taking on this trip, they're going to be living a very different experience. What are you going to try to tell them about the experience of the actual Middle Passage while they are manning the ship?

Mr. AMOS: Well, they'll become aware of the numbers involved, which historians still are in a conflict over and some sociologists, those who study such things. The actual numbers of people that were abducted and enslaved, and remembering that these were men, women and children. That these were in fact the ancestors of a great many African-Americans, and particularly those from the inner cities.

So I'm hoping that they'll gain a greater appreciation. We are not going for reenactment of slavery itself. The mission statement of Amistad would be as a healing agent, to show people what had happened to a race of people, and how they still overcame incredible, incredible odds and incredible suppression, to rise in the point that we have risen to today as a race of people.

CHIDEYA: How did you decide - I have to go back to the sailing thing. Sailing is often considered a sport or a pursuit of the elite and of - the white elites specifically. How did you come to this?

Mr. AMOS: When I was a child, I grew up in a single-parent household like most kids, but I used to go take my mom down to Branch Brook Park in New Jersey, and I would rent a rowboat for about six to seven hour, and I'd row her on the lake and I always had an affinity for the ocean and for sailing. As I became older, I learned how to sail on a little catamaran, and as - my dad and I got to know each other as I - when I was a young adult, he had left.

I realized that the affinity that I had for sailing and for fishing and for the ocean were something genetic because my father - John Amos Sr., who's now deceased - was a fisherman. He was former military and he had a 24-foot sea ray outboard boat. Ultimately, I bought a boat and when I bought the boat, I realized, the look of it, it looks like a pirate ship and was so attractive from the standpoint of capturing kids' imagination. That as a former social worker, I couldn't help but envision a boat as being the tool to attract the attention and the participation of young people in a structured sailing program.

CHIDEYA: When you think about all the different things you've done. Kunta Kinte was an iconic character. James Evans of "Good Times" was also an iconic character. And for a lot of people watching "Good Times" was a way of seeing a reflection of a life that was similar to theirs. Obviously, you ended up leaving the show. A lot of folks missed you. Do you think that there is a way that you now continue to reflect people's aspirations and people's need to see a future for themselves no matter what background they come from.

Mr. AMOS: Well, I'd like to think Captain Bill Pinkney from the Amistad Project is a greater reflection of that image of aspirations and people dreaming about, doing the impossible, they may think I've done as an actor. And I say that because he's the only African-American who have circumnavigated the world solo. That is, he's the only African-American on the record, and maybe one of seven or eight, no more than 10 human beings who have sailed around the world alone.

Now, the significant aspect of that is, not only did he sail around the world alone, but he was able to communicate with thousands of school children who took parts of a virtual passage with him via satellite (unintelligible). So on this vessel, or rather on this passage that we're proposing with the Amistad, Captain Pinkney will be able to continue the legacy that he started of, by - we'll have a live feed on Amistad. And, literally, thousands of school children around the world, maybe millions around the world will be able to take this passage on the Amistad. And of course there will be college students on board who will bring their perspectives. There'll be students of, literally, every ethnicity available.

CHIDEYA: That is fantastic. John Amos, I wish you the best on your voyage. Thank you.

Mr. AMOS: Well, I thank you so much for the opportunity to share this with you.

CHIDEYA: Actor John Amos of the Halley's Comet Foundation is creator of the forthcoming documentary on the Amistad America Project.

(Soundbite of music)

CHIDEYA: That's our show for today. Thanks for sharing your time with us.

To listen to the show or subscribe to our podcast, visit npr.org/news¬es. To join the conversation, visit our blog News & Views. Just check out the link at the top of our Web page, and boy, do we have some hot conversations going on. NEWS & NOTES was created by NPR News and the African-American Public Radio Consortium. Tomorrow - why some students will be protesting graduation at one of the best universities in America.

CHIDEYA: I'm Farai Chideya. This is NEWS & NOTES.

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