Witness Stones Project Inc.

Restore History, Educate, and Honor Humanity

You are here: Home / News

News

Witness Stones Project Announces New Partnership in Manchester

· ·

The Witness Stones Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities, today announced a new affiliation with Manchester High School. The Connecticut high school The schools will be using the Project’s curriculum and landscape markers to expand their teaching of the history of slavery in Connecticut.

Manchester High School is a school community committed to:

  • Living their core values of respect, responsibility, integrity, kindness and perseverance
  • Ensuring a high quality education for all
  • Continuously improving practices to maximize learning for all
  • Fostering positive partnerships among students, parents, families, school personnel and the community
  • Maintaining a safe and inclusive school where equity is the norm and excellence is the goal

Witness Stones Project Announces New Partnership in Westport

· ·

The Witness Stones Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities, today announced a new affiliation with the United Church in Westport. The church will be using the Project’s curriculum and landscape markers to expand their teaching of the history of slavery in Connecticut.

 

Witness Stones Project Announces New Partnership in Wilton

· ·

The Witness Stones Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities, today announced a new affiliation with  the Wilton Congregational Church. The church will be using the Project’s curriculum and landscape markers to expand their teaching of the history of slavery in Connecticut.

 

Witness Stones Project Announce New Partnership in Branford

· ·

The Witness Stones Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities, today announced a new affiliation with Branford Public Schools and the Branford Historical Society. The schools and society will be using the Project’s curriculum and landscape markers to expand their teaching of the history of slavery in Connecticut.

The mission of Branford Public Schools is to support the students of Branford through efficient and effective allocation of resources and by providing a spectrum of top-quality ancillary services necessary to sustain a contemporary program of public education.

The mission of the Branford Historical Society is to discover and preserve the​ history of Branford, Connecticut, by the acquisition and preservation of artifacts, documents, and records of Branford provenance, ​and to actively promote Branford’s history to the community.

Witness Stones Project to Partner with the Hempsted Houses

· ·

The Witness Stones Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities, today announced a new affiliation with Hempsted Houses. The Connecticut Landmarks house in New London, Connecticut, will be using the Project’s curriculum and landscape markers to expand their teaching of the history of slavery in Connecticut.

The mission of Connecticut Landmarks is to use historic properties to inspire an understanding of our complex past.

Witness Stones Project to Partner with the Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden

· ·

The Witness Stones Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities, today announced a new affiliation with Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden. The Connecticut Landmarks house in Bethlehem, Connecticut, will be using the Project’s curriculum and landscape markers to expand their teaching of the history of slavery in Connecticut.

The mission of Connecticut Landmarks is to use historic properties to inspire an understanding of our complex past.

Clint Smith Discusses the Witness Stones Project

· ·

Atlantic writer and best-selling author Clint Smith joined Michel Martin to discuss his cover story on what America can learn from German efforts to memorialize the Holocaust.

A group of teachers and students in Connecticut began the Witness Stones Project…. Ultimately it is those small, neighborhood-, community-, and city-based initiatives that make the most impact and have the most potential to change minds, to change hearts, to change our understanding of ourselves. –Clint Smith, best-selling author of How the Word Is Passed

Praise from Clint Smith

· ·

Photo credit: Carletta Girma

We are honored to have our work recognized by Clint Smith in The Atlantic. In an interview with Atlantic editor Isabel Fattal, the best-selling author of How the Word Is Passed said:

There are examples of communities in the U.S. that are not waiting for the government to tell them that they should build a memorial or they should create sites of public memory. I think one of the most compelling is a group in Connecticut that’s doing a Witness Stones Project, based on the stumbling-stones project in Germany. Middle- and high-school students are placing stones to mark the spaces where enslaved people lived, worked, and worshipped.

We invite you to read the full article here.

 

What America Can Learn About Atonement

· ·

We are honored to have our work recognized by Clint Smith.

Some in the U.S. have undertaken efforts reminiscent of those in Germany. In Connecticut, a group of educators started the Witness Stones Project, modeled after the Stolpersteine in Germany. The group works with schoolchildren in five Northeast states to help them more intimately understand the history of slavery in their town….

None of these projects, whether in the U.S. or Germany, can ever be commensurate with the history they are tasked with remembering. It is impossible for any memorial to slavery to capture its full horror, or for any memorial to the Holocaust to express the full humanity of the victims. No stone in the ground can make up for a life. No museum can bring back millions of people. It cannot be done, and yet we must try to honor those lives, and to account for this history, as best we can. It is the very act of attempting to remember that becomes the most powerful memorial of all.

We invite you to read the full article here.

 

Connect with Us