In The Media

Social studies leaders Steve Armstrong and Tony Roy connect with educators and advocates from across the state on their Social Studies ConneCTion podcast. Witness Stones Project founder and Executive Director joined them for a fascinating discussion on how school districts across Connecticut embark on a journey into our state’s dark past. Dennis’s work in the Witness Stones Project not only commemorates the lives of those who endured enslavement but works to honor those of the past and help students and educators appreciate localized history coming to life. We invite you to listen to the episode here.

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.