<P> Sierra Leone's politics have been dominated by the Mende, on the one hand, and the Temne and their long - time political allies, the Limba, on the other . The Mende support the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), while the Temnes and Limbas support the All People's Congress party (APC). </P> <P> Regional warfare throughout the 19th century led to the capture and sale of many Mende - speakers into slavery . Most notable were those found aboard the Amistad in 1839 . They eventually won their freedom and were repatriated . This event involved fifty - two free Mende tribesmen, stolen by Portuguese slavers in 1839, who were shipped via the Middle Passage to Havana, Cuba, where they were sold to Cuban sugar plantation owners, José Ruiz and Pedro Montes . </P> <P> After working the plantation, they were placed on the schooner Amistad and shipped to another Cuban plantation . On the way, they escaped their bondage and were led in a rebellion by Sengbe Pieh . They told the crew to return them to Africa . Their efforts to return home were frustrated by the ship's remaining crew, who navigated up to the United States . The ship was intercepted off Long Island, New York, by a U.S. Coastal brig . The Spanish merchants Ruiz and Montez denounced the Mende and asserted that they were their property . The ensuing case, heard in Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut, affirmed that the men were free, and resulted in the return of the thirty - six surviving Mende to their homes . </P> <P> In the Americas, especially the United States, researchers have discovered that elements of African culture had long persistence . In some areas where there were large groups of enslaved Africans, they kept much of their heritage . In the 1930s African - American linguist Lorenzo Dow Turner found a Gullah family in coastal Georgia that had preserved an ancient song in the Mende language ("A waka"), passing it down for 200 years . In the 1990s three modern researchers--Joseph Opala, Cynthia Schmidt, and Tazieff Koroma--located a Mende village in Sierra Leone where the same song is still sung today . The story of this ancient Mende song, and its survival in both Africa and the US, is chronicled in the documentary film The Language You Cry In . </P>

Who did the mende villagers turn to for help in order to return to their homes
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