Event
West Hartford to Celebrate Juneteenth on Sunday
By Fox61 on June 19, 2022
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — West Hartford will be hosting its third annual Juneteenth CommUNITY Celebration on Sunday, June 19 at Blue Back Square.
At 12:30 p.m., at Blue Back Square, the Witness Stones Project will dedicate 14 new Witness Stones. This project seeks to restore the history and honor the humanity and contributions of enslaved individuals, who in part, built our community. Continue reading.
Juneteenth Commemoration to Feature Jazz Quartet, Poets at Florence Griswold in Old Lyme
By Emilia Otte in the Connecticut Examiner on June 17,
OLD LYME — The town will be ushering in Juneteenth with a mixture of jazz and poetry led by a well-known jazz quartet and four Connecticut poets who will be reading verses in commemoration of slaves who lived in Old Lyme.
The event is a partnership with the Old Lyme Witness Stones Project. The project is modeled after Berlin’s Stolpersteine, or “Stumbling Stones” — individual plaques that appear throughout the city to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. In Old Lyme, the organization has installed 30 brass plaques in different areas of the town as a way of honoring the lives of the enslaved people who once lived in the town. Continue reading.
WSP Affiliate Historic Deerfield to Celebrate Juneteenth Through Song
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.
Juneteenth Witness Stones Celebration at the Florence Griswold Museum Features Jazz Quartet & Poets
OLD LYME – The Witness Stones Poets will join the Nat Reeves Quartet in a Juneteenth celebration of jazz and poetry on the lawn of the Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St. in Old Lyme, Connecticut, on Saturday afternoon, June 18, at 2 p.m.
The acclaimed Connecticut poets – Marilyn Nelson, Kate Rushin, Rhonda Ward and Antoinette Brim-Bell – will read a verse cycle written in collaboration with the Old Lyme Witness Stones Partnership. The poems commemorate 14 African-descended persons once enslaved in Old Lyme.
The internationally-renowned bassist and bandleader Nat Reeves will offer a musical tribute to those once held in bondage in the community.
Juneteenth is a federal holiday that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. The celebration takes place outdoors from 2 to 4 p.m., rain or shine. Limited seating is offered. Lawn chairs or blankets for additional outdoor seating are recommended.
Admission is free.
The event has received generous support from the Side Door Jazz Club and the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts, which also receives support from the federal ARPA program.
The Old Lyme Witness Stones Partnership’s goal is to expand the understanding of local history and honor the humanity and the contributions of those formerly enslaved in the community.
The partnership’s founding members include the Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library, the Florence Griswold Museum, Lyme-Old Lyme Schools, and the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme.
Community partners include the Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center, St. Ann’s Episcopal Church, Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau, and the Old Lyme Historical Society.
The Partnership has received generous support from a Health Improvement Collaborative of Southeastern Connecticut (HIC) Partnership Grant for Racial Equity.
Witness Stones Old Lyme is an affiliate of The Witness Stones Project, an organization that seeks to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities.
For further information, visit https://www.witnessstonesoldlyme.org.
Juneteenth Celebration of Jazz & Poetry in Old Lyme, June 18
In the Middletown Press on June 14, 2022
OLD LYME – The Witness Stones Poets will join the Nat Reeves Quartet in a Juneteenth celebration of jazz and poetry on the lawn of the Florence Griswold Museum 2 p.m., June 18, 96 Lyme St.
The poems commemorate 14 African-descended persons once enslaved in Old Lyme, according to a new release.
The acclaimed Connecticut poets – Marilyn Nelson, Kate Rushin, Rhonda Ward and Antoinette Brim-Bell — will read a verse cycle written in collaboration with the Old Lyme Witness Stones Partnership, according to the release.
The internationally renowned bassist and bandleader Nat Reeves will offer a musical tribute to those once held in bondage in the community.
Juneteenth is a federal holiday that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. The celebration takes place outdoors from 2 to 4 p.m. and offers limited seating. Lawn chairs or blankets for additional outdoor seating are recommended. Admission is free.
The event has received support from the Side Door Jazz Club and the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts, which also receives support from the federal ARPA program.
Lives Of Enslaved Couple Honored on Juneteenth At Pardee-Morris House
Ellyn Santiago for Patch.com on June 6, 2022
NEW HAVEN, CT —Stepna Primus, a “husband and farmer,” was enslaved by Amos Morris, Issac Forbes, and Enos Heminway, at the Morris house in New Haven. In 1796, Primus was emancipated. Also enslaved at the Morris House was his wife, Pink, “mother, wife and landowner,” who was emancipated in 1800. The lives of these two enslaved peoples have been memorialized with Witness Stones at what is now called the Pardee-Morris House. Continue reading.
