News and Features
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Honoring the Forgotten
By Jim Altman on Fox61 News OLD LYME, Conn. — The Witness Stones Project, a non-profit initiative that honors enslaved people that worked and lived in Connecticut centuries ago has now made its mark in Old Lyme. Outside the Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library, a ceremony took place to recognize 14 Witness Stones that are…
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Witness Stones Dedicated to 14 Enslaved in Old Lyme
By Cate Hewitt in CTExaminer on June 4, 2021 OLD LYME — Cato, Lewis Lewia, Humphrey, Caeser, Jack Howard, Jenny Freeman, Luce, Crusa, Nancy Freeman, Temperance Still, Jane, Pompey Freeman, Samuel Freeman, and Arabella — 14 African Americans who were once enslaved along what is now Lyme St. Until recently, their history had been almost entirely unknown…
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Old Lyme Installs Witness Stones
From NBC News Connecticut on June 4, 2021 Stones honoring the lives of formerly enslaved people now line Lyme Street in Old Lyme. The fourteen plaques are called “witness stones” and are designed to help people learn about and honor the enslaved people who lived in town. “To help people understand the true history of…
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Witness Stones Unearth New Haven’s History Of Enslavement
By Lucy Gellman on Arts Council Greater New Haven on June 4, 2021 Sixth grader Kymani Chapman held a heavy cube steady in both hands, the letters on its face glinting. A name caught in the light: Stepna Primus, once enslaved by Amos Morris, Isaac Forbes and Enos Hemmingway in New Haven. Chapman steadied himself, feet spread…
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Student Poetry from Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School Students
Seventh-grade students from the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School wrote poems to tell the life stories of Jenny Freeman and Lewis Lewia. Jenny Freeman By Ilona Binch Sun shining through the windows. Children running through the halls. There were joyful voices in the air Even though nothing was right at all. I was knitting socks and…
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New Generation of Historians Reveals Untold Stories in Old Lyme
By Elizabeth Regan in The Day on June 4, 2021 Old Lyme — Though they are the town’s youngest historians, they are among the first to reveal centuries-old stories of the people enslaved on Lyme Street. Seventh graders at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School this year pieced together the stories of Jenny Freeman and Lewis Lewia, two of the…
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Witness Stones Old Lyme to Hold Installation Ceremony
OLD LYME – The Old Lyme Witness Stones Partnership will hold an installation ceremony Friday, June 4, from 10 to 11:15 a.m. celebrating the town’s newly installed Witness Stones—historical plaques commemorating the lives of 14 individuals, who were once enslaved on Lyme Street. Continue reading.
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The Story of Elizabeth Freeman
Students at Witness Stone affiliate the Salisbury School have been uncovering the history of slavery in Northwest Connecticut. Here they present the life of Elizabeth Freeman.
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Students from Killingly High School Remember Cuffee
On June 3, 2021, students from Killingly High School gathered the community at the Westfield Congregational Church to remember the life of Cuffee and to share some of what they have discovered about the history of slavery and the enslaved in their town.
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The Witness Stones Project in Killingly
From the Killingly Villager by Margaret Weaver on June 4, 2021 Yesterday, June 3, I had the privilege of attending the dedication, in front of Westfield Congregational Church in Danielson, of a “Witness Stone” for Cuffee, a slave whom Mary Danielson purchased in February 1728/9. “What is a Witness Stone?” you ask. The following is…