"maxfoo" wrote in message
...
In the movie 'Amistad' President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) has a
scene
where he is showing an 'african violet' to a native african. Did Adams
really
have african violets and if so is there anyway of finding out the
varieties that
were available at that time? I'm thinking it was just a hollywood fantasy.

African violets are native to eastern Africa, mostly Tanzania and Kenya.
Most slaves came from western Africa, namely, around Guinea, Ivory Coast,
and Sierra Leone. So the native African probably has never seen an African
violet until that point.

So i think the rest of that scene was probably Hollywood fantasy.

-S