News and Features
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Statement on History and Social Studies Education in Connecticut
The Witness Stones Project is proud to join Connecticut historians, social studies professionals, and teachers in supporting the Connecticut Council for the Social Studies’ Statement on History and Social Studies Education in Connecticut. The Connecticut Council‘s mission is to advocate and build capacity for high-quality social studies by providing leadership, services, and support to educators.…
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WSP’s Executive Director Receives a Beacon Award
Shore Publishing’s Beacon Awards recognize a few of the outstanding individuals who selflessly step up to help fulfill the Shoreline community’s promise as a place of opportunity, well-being, and safety for all. The Witness Stones Project Executive Director’s commendation noted: A retired teacher, [Dennis Culliton] continues to work on the Witness Stones Project, listening humbly…
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Seventh Graders Are Engaged in Several Projects around Black History and Heroes
From the Foote School News published September 17, 2020 Humanities teachers Sheila Lavey and Skye Lee made an exciting connection with the Witness Stones Project. Modeled after the Stolperstein in Europe—stone cubes with the names and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination—the Witness Stones Project places similar cubes at norther locations where individuals were enslaved. Seventh graders…
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New England’s Abolitionist History At Odds With Racist Realities
Witness Stones Project Co-Chair Pat Wilson Pheanious was a guest on a Vermont Public Radio radio series produced by the New England News Collaborative and America Amplified. The focus of the episode was New England’s direct involvement and complicity in slavery and white supremacy. We invite you to listen to the program here: Racism in New England.
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Witness Stones Project Completion Allows Town to Honor Local Enslaved Woman
By Jesse Williams on ZIP06.COM on August 19, 2020. GUILFORD MADISON —Though the pandemic prevented a large community ceremony, Madison saw the installation of its first Witness Stone in front of the First Congregational Church earlier this month, with students from The Country School (TCS) completing the year-long research project into the life of Lettuce…
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Witness Stones and Teaching Teachers Hard History
By Witness Stones Project Founder and Executive Director Dennis Culliton. Published by The Atlantic Black Box Project on August 6, 2020. For all of the educators reading this post: Have you ever questioned the fact that you can teach in front of dozens of students every day and never be nervous, but when get…
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Witness Stones & Hard History
On August 3, 2020 Witness Stones Project Co-Chair and Connecticut Representative Patricia Wilson Pheanious and Witness Stones Project Founder and Executive Director Dennis Culliton took part in a Connecticut Association of Independent Schools Workshop on Teaching Hard History. We invite you to watch their address here: The Connecticut Association of Independent Schools is a voluntary…
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Lettuce Bailey Memorial Ceremony
We invite you to watch the installation of the Witness Stone to remember and honor Lettuce Bailey. The ceremony was hosted by The Country School of Madison.
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Searching for Slavery in the Northwest Corner of Connecticut
By Rhonan Mokriski on The Atlantic Black Box Project on August 1, 2020 I teach at an independent school in the sleepy Connecticut town of Salisbury (pop 3,598 in 2018). I have been living here for 24 years. My lens has been largely focused on world history – particularly China – so beyond the normal…
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“Look at the Whole Story”: CT Educators Rethink Lessons on Racism, Slavery
By Meghan Friedmann in the New Haven Register on July 31, 2020 A team of educators hopes to empower teachers to educate their students about racism and slavery in southern New England – and to do so correctly. A nationally-renowned scholar, two Connecticut teachers and a state representative, all of whom advocate for a reconfiguration…