In The Media

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

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.

 

On October 6, 2022, the Witness Stones Project was honored by Connecticut Explored as a Game Changer initiative that advances the way we study, interpret, and disseminate Connecticut history.

By Susan Dunne in the Hartford Courant on August 17, 2022

Connecticut Explored, the nonprofit history magazine, wants to tell stories mainstream history left out, the stories from communities that have been unheard, suppressed or oppressed. The nonprofit has named 20 “Game Changers,” modern-day historians whose methods and subjects go where traditional historians have not gone before.

“We’re a history magazine. We want to tell the whole story of Connecticut history. We are motivated to include people who have not been included before and to represent the diversity of our state geographically an in terms of people and institutions,” said Dr. Kathy Hermes, the magazine’s executive director and publisher.

“They’re doing new things and by virtue of doing new things they’re getting the history that will be the future of the historical enterprise in Connecticut.”

Each “Game Changer” — people, organizations, projects, a book — will be highlighted in free public programs in the coming months. Each will get a feature in the magazine. A gala in October will celebrate their contributions to local lore. Continue reading.

 

In the Greenwich Sentinel on August 10, 2022

Since 2019 the Greenwich Historical Society has collaborated with The Witness Stones Project on this initiative that seeks to teach school-aged children about the enslaved persons who lived in their hometowns. Students and teachers from Sacred Heart Greenwich and Greenwich Academy work in conjunction with the Historical Society in researching the daily lives of those enslaved at the Bush-Holley House. The annual placement ceremony is the culmination of their work over many months.

On May 25, two new Witness Stone memorials were placed in honor of Jack, eldest son of Candice and brother of Hester, and Cull Jr. youngest son of Cull Bush Sr. and Patience. A total of six stones have been placed at the site in a garden below an attic where it is believed most of the enslaved people lived. The remaining nine individuals who worked at this historic home will be honored in future years as the initiative expands to other schools in town.

For more information, visit https://greenwichhistory.org/witness-stones/