STOPPING STONES
Memorials for Racial Healing
Multiracial Healing Through Remembrance
Stopping Stones, created by the Engagement Arts Fund and now a program of Historic New England, is a national place-based public art strategy that recruits local partners to honor the memories of enslaved individuals in the locations where they were held. Local sponsors use Stopping Stones memorials as a concrete tool to bring their stories alive by installing brass and stone micro monuments and supporting multi-vocal installation ceremonies. These ceremonies inform and engage local residents in support of local work for racial healing, reparative justice, and greater equity.
10 Million Enslaved Americans
Their humanity and courageous survival, despite harrowing journeys and a cruel existence, as well as their uncompensated contributions to our culture and economy are woven into the fabric of our nation.
We cannot understand slavery and its continued impact without understanding the lives and stories of those who experienced enslavement.
Stopping Stones Installations
Inspired by the Stolpersteine Memorials
The Stolpersteine Memorials honor victims of the Nazi regime in Europe. Stopping Stones foster nuanced engagement with America’s collective history and current systems that perpetuate racial injustice and inequality, enriching the American narrative by bringing to light the diverse, complex stories of enslaved individuals.
Each memorial serves as a poignant reminder of their contributions, resilience, and humanity as well as a call to action to address the ongoing consequences of discrimination and injustice.
Since our launch in 2020
Stopping Stones has supported local partners to install over 90 memorials in eight states. Stopping Stones are nationally-branded but locally delivered public art installations that drive community engagement to advance reparative change and investments in equity and justice.
Installation ceremonies promote reflection, action, and collaboration and allow local partners engaged in racial healing work to identify other partners and volunteers in their area. Each monument serves as a permanent call to witness this history and advance toward a more equitable future.
Support Us
With your support, we’re poised to expand our reach and impact.
Educational
Increase awareness of the significant contributions made by enslaved Americans and the lasting impact of slavery on contemporary society.
Healing
Facilitate racial healing through communal remembrance and acknowledgment of past and continued injustices.
Action Oriented
Inspire and mobilize community involvement and action towards racial equity and reparative investments.
Our Team
Pat Wilson Pheanious, Program Director
Pat Wilson Pheanious, a Connecticut native and attorney, has served as Commissioner of Social Services and as a State Representative (2018–2021). In 2017, research by the founder of the Witness Stones Project uncovered five generations of her enslaved ancestors, reshaping her life and inspiring her leadership. She became the Project’s founding Board Chair in 2019 and Executive Director in 2024. Pat now leads Stopping Stones’ national effort to engage communities in recovering history and honoring enslaved people, like her own ancestors, who built America and fought for its freedom before securing their own.
Mikayla Harden, Assistant Director and Researcher
Mikayla Harden holds degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Delaware and is currently completing her doctorate at the University of Delaware, where her research focuses on the lives of enslaved Black children in eighteenth-century New York. Before joining Historic New England, she served as a leadership consultant with a Black maternal health organization, where she advanced equity-driven initiatives.
Liz Lightfoot, School and Youth Program Manager
Liz Lightfoot is journalist-turned-educator who has spent her career working for news organizations, schools, and nonprofits. She came to Historic New England from the Witness Stones Project, where, as operations manager, she worked with schools and community groups to restore the history and honor the humanity of enslaved individuals who helped build their communities. At Stopping Stones, she continues to use Witness Stones’ award-winning curriculum to help others engage in deep explorations of historical records with a goal of remembering and celebrating individuals their community had forgotten.