Witness Stones Project, Inc.

Restoring History & Honoring Humanity

WSP

WSP Affiliate Historic Deerfield to Celebrate Juneteenth Through Song

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Performers at Sunday’s Juneteenth concert will include La’Shelle Allen, Eric Brown, Kathy Bullock, Mat Callahan and Yvonne Moore, Tim Eriksen and the Pioneer Valley Shapenote Singers, and Christella Philippe.

By Chris Larabee in the Greenfield Recorder on June 16, 2022

DEERFIELD — Historic Deerfield is inviting residents to celebrate Juneteenth and learn about local ties to abolition through song on Sunday.

The museum is hosting “Songs of Abolition: A Juneteenth Concert Celebration at Historic Deerfield” to commemorate Juneteenth, which marks the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Americans in Texas were emancipated. The concert will feature 19th-century songs about abolition, early gospel tunes and music from a new documentary titled “Songs of Slavery and Emancipation.” Continue reading.

Connecticut Project Lays Stones to Commemorate Former Enslaved People

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A ceremony part of the Witness Stone Project honored the lives of emancipated slaves Lucy and Lois Tritton at the Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven, Conn. on June 2, 2022. Nicole Funaro / Hearst Connecticut Media.

By Andrew DaRosa in the Connecticut Post on

Gathered at the Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven one early June morning, students and community leaders came together as part of a ceremony to honor the lives of emancipated slaves Lucy and Lois Tritton.

The Trittons were purchased at an auction in 1825 by abolitionist Anthony P. Sanford, who subsequently freed them. The sisters were the last two enslaved individuals to be auctioned in the city of New Haven, according to the Trinity Church.

This event was just one among many hosted by the Witness Stones Project, a Guilford-based organization whose mission it is to “honor the humanity of enslaved individuals.” The organization works with kids from K-12 and crafts projects that have students and teachers analyze primary-source documents and other curriculum to better understand the lives of enslaved individuals in the state. The culmination of each project is the laying of Witness Stone Memorials, which honor the life of a specific enslaved individual relevant to the area where the stone is placed. Continue reading.

Witness Stone Project Remembers Forgotten Connecticut Slaves

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By Amber Diaz on NBC Connecticut on June 15, 2022

The Witness Stones Project is a K-12 educational initiative started in Connecticut. Its mission is to “restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved people who helped build our communities.”

As a former eighth grade history teacher with a passion for the past, Dennis Culliton understands each story of an enslaved person is different, but equally as important as the next. It drove him to start the project, emulated after the Stolpersteine in Germany.

“I saw the power of this unknown history, this hidden history that was there in the archives that was sitting there and whom better than the students to tell that story,” Culliton said. Continue reading.

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