News and Features
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Witness Stones Project Announces New Partnership in Wilton
The Witness Stones Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities, today announced a new affiliation with the Wilton Congregational Church. The church will be using the Project’s curriculum and landscape markers to expand their teaching of the history…
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Witness Stones Project Announce New Partnership in Branford
The Witness Stones Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities, today announced a new affiliation with Branford Public Schools and the Branford Historical Society. The schools and society will be using the Project’s curriculum and landscape markers to…
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Witness Stones Project to Partner with the Hempsted Houses
The Witness Stones Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities, today announced a new affiliation with Hempsted Houses. The Connecticut Landmarks house in New London, Connecticut, will be using the Project’s curriculum and landscape markers to expand their…
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Witness Stones Project to Partner with the Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden & the Woodhall School
The Witness Stones Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities, today announced a new affiliation with Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden. The Connecticut Landmarks house in Bethlehem, Connecticut, will be using the Project’s curriculum and landscape markers to expand…
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Clint Smith Discusses the Witness Stones Project
Atlantic writer and best-selling author Clint Smith joined Michel Martin to discuss his cover story on what America can learn from German efforts to memorialize the Holocaust. A group of teachers and students in Connecticut began the Witness Stones Project…. Ultimately it is those small, neighborhood-, community-, and city-based initiatives that make the most impact…
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Praise from Clint Smith
We are honored to have our work recognized by Clint Smith in The Atlantic. In an interview with Atlantic editor Isabel Fattal, the best-selling author of How the Word Is Passed said: There are examples of communities in the U.S. that are not waiting for the government to tell them that they should build a memorial or they…
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What America Can Learn About Atonement
We are honored to have our work recognized by Clint Smith. Some in the U.S. have undertaken efforts reminiscent of those in Germany. In Connecticut, a group of educators started the Witness Stones Project, modeled after the Stolpersteine in Germany. The group works with schoolchildren in five Northeast states to help them more intimately understand the…
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The Witness Stones Dedication in Essex, Connecticut
On Saturday, October 29, 2022, a community coalition that included St. John’s Episcopal Church, the Essex Historical Society, and Valley Regional High School installed a Witness Stone in honor of Violet, an enslaved woman who successfully ran away from her captor, a wealthy local sea captain, in 1802. They also honored Sawney Freeman, a Black…
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Witness Stone to Share Story of Enslaved Woman Baptized at Connecticut Church
By David Paulsen in the Episcopal News Service on October 13, 2022 An Episcopal church in Connecticut on Oct. 29 will dedicate its first “witness stone,” a small memorial to an enslaved woman who was baptized at the church, as part of a regional nonprofit’s efforts to share the stories of enslaved people in the places they once…
