Recognizing history to shape the future.

Stopping Stones is committed to positively and permanently affecting the lives of descendants of enslaved Americans.

Our goal is to help eliminate racism. We bring attention to the history of slavery in local communities in order to advance racial equity.

Commemorative plaque inlaid in cobblestone street and showing the name of a slave

Empowerment through connection

Stopping Stones started as a way to recognize history and connect community. We help our partner organizations engage with the local and broader history of slavery by memorializing the names of enslaved persons in the places they were once held.

We knew we could do more than simply offer remembrance and recognition, so we established our advocacy arm of the Stopping Stones initiative. We provide materials and support to help our partners accurately report the past and shape the future of racial equity, harmony, and respect.

Further, we’re developing a network of community leaders, historians, archivists, educators, spiritual leaders, and policy makers dedicated to achieving concrete results on race-related matters.

Leave a lasting mark for equality

Use Stopping Stones memorials – bearing the names of persons once enslaved in your community – to work toward repairing inequality in education, health, justice, and economics.

Use our guides, templates, and other tools to engage your community in its history of slavery. Highlight how your area’s history of slavery has present-day impacts and how we can work toward overcoming them.

Together, we can work to repair the effects of American slavery. We can move our nation toward racial equity and equal opportunity.

NEW BURLINGTON INSTALLATION & CEREMONY

On September 13th, we are installing two new stones to commemorate the lives of Lavinia Parker and her son Francis, who were enslaved in Burlington, VT from 1835-1841.

How will you impact your community?

Join us and others in our efforts to repair the effects of American slavery. Sign up to learn about what you can do, what others are doing, and read our latest news.

New website coming soon. Share your email address and we’ll notify you when it goes live; it will house materials for download, ways to stay in action, installation locations, and more.