Witness Stones Project, Inc.

Restoring History & Honoring Humanity

In The Media

The MLK Mural Part I: Bristow and Freedom

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West Hartford’s MLK39 Racial Equity Mural. Photo credit: Ronni Newton (we-ha.com file photo)

By Witness Stones West Hartford Co-Chair Dr. Tracey Wilson in We-Ha.com on February 14, 2022

Journalist Yamiche Alcindor, speaking at the University of Hartford on Feb. 8, 2022, said that “Freedom is never won, it is always earned. … Each generation must fight for it to build the beloved community.”

The 2,200 square foot Martin Luther King mural painted in June 2021 helps us to keep the concept and reality of freedom alive in this community, in this generation. It reminds us that we stand on the shoulders of those who defined and redefined freedom in the past. Continue reading.

Greenwich’s “Forgotten” Enslaved Population: Witness Stones Project Seeks to Tell Their Stories

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Grave stones of former Bush-Holley House enslaved laborers Hester Mead, left, and her mother Candice Bush are at Union Cemetery in Greenwich, Conn. Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. Hester was born in 1807 and freed in 1828, while her mother Candice was born in 1780 and freed in 1825.

by Robert Marchant on February 12, 2022 in the Greenwich Time

GREENWICH — Few markers of slavery exist in southern Connecticut, reminders of a time when men and women were bought and sold like property or livestock.

Two of them stand at Union Cemetery in Greenwich — the headstones of Hester Mead and her mother Candice Bush, both born into slavery at the Bush homestead in Cos Cob, now the site of the Greenwich Historical Society. Continue reading.

A Black History Trail for Wallingford

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Powder Horn of Dick Freedom courtesy of the Nehemiah Royce House.

By Lorraine Connelly in My Record Journal on February 11, 2022

Wallingford has many trails — a wine trail, a Trail of Terror, numerous walking trails, and the historic George Washington Trail to name a few. According to our town’s website, Gen. George Washington made two trips through town, one in 1775 to gather provisions for his troops and the other in 1789 as president. His route to Durham, known as the George Washington Trail, runs from the center of town through East Wallingford. Cement markers can be found along the trail.

In conjunction with the 350+2 Jubilee Celebration this June, Wallingford’s Descendants’ Committee is restoring and adding two new locations to the GW Trail — one in front of the Water Division on South Cherry Street, and another on North Branford Road south of the Water Division’s gate to the Ulbrich Reservoir dam. “The Wallingford Public Works Department will be installing them in the spring,” notes Bob Beaumont, chairman of the Descendants’ Committee. There will be a total of 14 commemorative plaques when the project is completed.

Along with honoring the lives of Wallingford’s descendants, the Wallingford Historic Preservation Trust will honor our Black colonial ancestors — who are related to us by their long historical roots in this town. Many of these ancestors have been forgotten and not commemorated formally. Continue reading.

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