News and Features
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Witness Stones Project to Partner with the Farmington’s First Church of Christ, Congregational, and the Stanley-Whitman House to Recover the History of the Enslaved
The Witness Stones Project, a nonprofit educational initiative whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities, today announced a new partnership with the First Church of Christ, Congregational, and the Stanley-Whitman House, both in Farmington, Connecticut. The church and the museum will be…
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Connecticut Church Creates Interfaith Collaboration to Learn the State’s Slave History
By St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church on Episcopal News Service on June 22, 2023 During the COVID-19 pandemic, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Wilton, Connecticut, began to explore the church’s complicity with racism since its founding in 1802. At its 2020 annual convention, The Episcopal Church in Connecticut adopted a resolution “to direct each Parish, Worshipping Community, and Intentional Episcopal…
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Congregants at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church Reflect on the Witness Stones Project
“The story of the African-American people is the story of the settlement and growth of American itself, a universal tale that all people should experience.” —Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Beginning in October 2021, St. Matthew’s (through our Social Justice & Racial Healing group) began to explore how we might engage with The Witness Stones Project…
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The Last Woman Enslaved in Woodstock, Connecticut
By Christopher C. Child on Vitabrevis.americanancestors.org on June 19, 2023 I read two stories of interest in a recent issue of The Woodstock Villager, a local newspaper from my grandfather’s Connecticut hometown. The first story (on page A3) concerned a Witness Stone for Cuff Fellows (1762-1848), who spent half of his life enslaved in Woodstock. The marker was…
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Gen. Wooster Was Killed When the British Burned Danbury in 1777; Now Students Learn about an Enslaved Man Who Died As Well
By Kendra Baker in News-Times on June 18, 2023 DANBURY — The life Ned, an enslaved man killed in 1777 when British soldiers burned down Danbury, has been memorialized as part of a student-led research project. A stone commemorating Ned was placed at the Wooster School campus on May 30, following weeks of research by the…
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West Hartford Pays Homage to Those Enslaved in Witness Stones Installation Ceremony
By Bridget Bronsdon in We-Ha.com on June 18, 2023 Through a deeply local perspective, West Hartford local leaders and students had the chance to come together in the days before Juneteenth to hold a Witness Stones Installation Ceremony – commemorating and paying tribute to local slave history. The Witness Stones Project aims to “restore the history and…
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‘Witness Stones Old Lyme’ Hosts ‘Juneteenth’ Celebration of Jazz, Poetry at ‘The Side Door’, Saturday
In LymeLine.com on June 14, 2023 OLD LYME – On Saturday, June 17, in honor of Juneteenth—a federal holiday that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans—Witness Stones Old Lyme will present a celebration of Jazz and Poetry on the lawn of The Side Door at the Old Lyme Inn. The celebration takes place from 2 to 4 p.m. Admission…
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West Hartford to Hold Annual Juneteenth Celebration and Witness Stones Dedication
By Ronnie Newton on We-Ha.com on June 12, 2023 It was the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, but West Hartford held a small-scale Juneteenth celebration in June 202o. This Saturday, June 17, 2023, the town will officially hold its third annual celebration and the event will be bigger and better than ever, said…
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Installation Ceremony Honoring John C. Wally
The community in Wilton gathered on June 10, 2023, to remember and honor John C. Wally. We invite you to click on the image before to read the full program.
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Killingly at 300
By Margaret Weaver in the Putnam Villager on June 9th, 2023 I had the privilege and pleasure of attending a Witness Stone dedication by several Killingly High School classes at the Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse in Brooklyn on May 31st. The enslaved individual whom they researched was Dick Putnam. Student Julia Jarvis gave an excellent summary…