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- African American Connecticut Explored
First book for a general readership to present an overview of the African American experience in Connecticut
Winner of the Connecticut League of Historic Organization Award of Merit (2015)
The numerous essays by many of the state's leading historians in African American Connecticut Explored document an array of subjects beginning from the earliest years of the state's colonization around 1630 and continuing well into the 20th century. The voice of Connecticut's African Americans rings clear through topics such as the Black Governors of Connecticut, nationally prominent black abolitionists like the reverends Amos Beman and James Pennington, the African American community's response to the Amistad trial, the letters of Joseph O. Cross of the 29th Regiment of Colored Volunteers in the Civil War, and the Civil Rights work of baseball great Jackie Robinson (a twenty-year resident of Stamford), to name a few. Insightful introductions to each section explore broader issues faced by the state's African American residents as they struggled for full rights as citizens. This book represents the collaborative effort of Connecticut Explored and the Amistad Center for Art & Culture, with support from the State Historic Preservation Office and Connecticut's Freedom Trail. It will be a valuable guide for anyone interested in this fascinating area of Connecticut's history.
Contributors include Billie M. Anthony, Christopher Baker, Whitney Bayers, Barbara Beeching, Andra Chantim, Stacey K. Close, Jessica Colebrook, Christopher Collier, Hildegard Cummings, Barbara Donahue, Mary M. Donohue, Nancy Finlay, Jessica A. Gresko, Katherine J. Harris, Charles (Ben) Hawley, Peter Hinks, Graham Russell Gao Hodges, Eileen Hurst, Dawn Byron Hutchins, Carolyn B. Ivanoff, Joan Jacobs, Mark H. Jones, Joel Lang, Melonae' McLean, Wm. Frank Mitchell, Hilary Moss, Cora Murray, Elizabeth J. Normen, Elisabeth Petry, Cynthia Reik, Ann Y. Smith, John Wood Sweet, Charles A. Teale Sr., Barbara M. Tucker, Tamara Verrett, Liz Warner, David O. White, and Yohuru Williams.
Publisher's Statement
Preface
Historiographical Notes, by Katherine Harris
Introduction, by Elizabeth J. Normen and Olivia White
PART 1: Settlement to 1789
Freedom and Slavery, by Katherine J. Harris
Venture Smith, from Slavery to Freedom, by John Wood Sweet
Caesar and Lois Peters, by Peter Hinks
Fortune's Story, by Ann Y. Smith
Revolutionary War Service, Path to Freedom, by David O. White
In Remembrance of Their Kings of Guinea: The Black Governors and the Negro Election, 1749 to 1780, by Katherine Harris
Ancient Burying Ground: Monument to Black Governors, by Billie M. Anthony
PART 2: 1789 to Civil War
The Rise of Communities and the Continued Quest for Freedom for All, by Katherine Harris
Colonization and Abolition in Connecticut, by Katherine J. Harris
Black Governors, 1780 to 1856, by Katherine J. Harris
James Mars, by Wm. Frank Mitchell
Black Abolitionists Speak, by Cora Murray and Whitney Bayers
From Talcott to Main Street: Hartford's First African American Church, by Tamara Verrett
Fortresses of Faith, Agents of Change: AME and AME Zion Churches in Connecticut, by Mary M. Donohue and Whitney Bayers
William Lanson: Businessman, Contractor, and Activist, by Katherine Harris
The Ruggles, Norwich, and Abolitionism, by Graham Russell Gao Hodges
A Family of Reformers: The Middletown Bemans, by Liz Warner
Rev. James W. C. Pennington: A National and Local Voice for Freedom, by Stacey Close
Coming to the Aid of the Amistad Africans, by Jessica A. Gresko
In Search of an Education, Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries, by Christopher Collier
"Cast Down on Every Side": The Ill-Fated Campaign to Found an "African College" in New Haven, by Hilary Moss
Sarah Harris and the Prudence Crandall School, by Barbara M. Tucker
"No Taxation without Representation," by Katherine Harris
A Walk Along the Underground Railroad, by Barbara Donahue
Augustus Washington: "Portrait of a Young Man," by Nancy Finlay
The Twenty-ninth Regiment Colored Volunteers, by Charles (Ben) Hawley
Fighting for Freedom: Joseph O. Cross, by Elizabeth J. Normen
PART 3: Post Civil War to World War I
Connecticut and the Aftermath of the Civil War, by Stacey Close
Rebecca Primus and Addie Brown, by Barbara J. Beeching
The Fisk Jubilee Singers Tour the North, by Wm. Frank Mitchell
Ebenezer Bassett's Historic Journey, by Carolyn B. Ivanoff, with Mary J. Mycek and Marian K. O'Keefe
Charles Ethan Porter, by Hildegard Cummings
PART 4: Photo Essay
A Veil Lifted, by Wm. Frank Mitchell
PART 5: Between the Wars
Black Southern Migration and the Transformation of Connecticut, 1917–1941. by Stacey Close
Anna Louise James, by Andra Chantim
World War I Homefront: A Short Photo Essay, by Mark H. Jones
Mary Townsend Seymour, by Mark H. Jones
Laboring in the Shade, by Dawn Byron Hutchins
PART 6: World War II to Civil Rights
World War II and the Civil Rights Years, by Stacey Close
"I Wanted to Fly": Connie Nappier, Jr., by Eileen Hurst
Susan Elizabeth Freeman, World War II Officer and Nurse, by Stacey Close
Ellis Ruley, by Joel Lang
"Just Like Georgia Except for the Climate": Black Life at Mid-Century in Ann Petry's The Narrows, by Elisabeth Petry
Marion Anderson's Studio, by Jessica Colebrook
From Fields to Footlights: Gwen Reed, by Christopher Baker
Baseball Legend Jack Robinson's Sacrifices Off the Diamond, by Stacey Close
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Connecticut, and Nonviolent Protest: A Transforming Alliance, by Stacey Close
Black Panthers: Interview with Butch Lewis, by Joan Jacobs
"What Would Dr. King Want You to Do?," by Cynthia Reik
The New Haven Black Panther Trials, by Yohuru Williams
My Dad, Jackie McLean, by Melonae' McLean
My Summers at Camp Courant, by Charles A. Teale, Sr.
PART 7: A Recipe for the Future
My Grandmother's Squash Pie: A Regional Discussion of African American Foodways, by Wm. Frank Mitchell
Conclusion: The Charge of Citizenship for African Americans, by Wm. Frank Mitchell
Contributors
Bibliography
Index
ELIZABETH J. NORMEN is the publisher of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history. She lives in the Hartford, Connecticut area. KATHERINE J. HARRIS is a lecturer at Central Connecticut State University. STACEY K. CLOSE is a professor of history at Eastern Connecticut State University. WM. FRANK MITCHELL is a consulting historian at the Amistad Center for Art & Culture.
"This foundational volume of fifty-four essays written by a wealth of Connecticut scholars has great utility and skillfully pulls together the disjoined history of Blacks in the Nutmeg State...Strengths of the book include the attention it gives to Black women and common folks who impacted the state, the diversity of the authors ranging from professors and curators to reporters, and the profoundly informative articles like those of Katherine J. Harris, Stacey Close, and Yohuru Williams... In all, the book is a much-welcomed addition to the historical treatments by scholars William Dillon Pierson, Robert Austin Warner, and Lorenzo J Greene and sets an example to other state journals and institutions of what necessity ad collaboration can achieve."
~Dann J Broyld, Connecticut History Review
"African American Connecticut Explored is an ambitious and important book that covers the broad arc of Connecticut's African American history from the colonial era through the mid-twentieth century. This is a welcomed addition to early African Americana."
~Erica Armstrong Dunbar, associate professor of black American studies and history, University of Delaware
"This is the first publication that brings the entire arc of Connecticut African American history together in a single volume based on serious scholarship and a comprehensive, social history-oriented perspective. It is a rich compendium of information and insight."
~Jeremy Brecher, former humanities scholar-in-residence at Connecticut Public Broadcasting
"African American Connecticut Explored is an ambitious and important book that covers the broad arc of Connecticut's African American history from the colonial era through the mid-twentieth century. This is a welcomed addition to early African Americana."
~Erica Armstrong Dunbar, associate professor of black American studies and history, University of Delaware