Witness Stones Project, Inc.

Restoring History & Honoring Humanity

Participating Towns

Witness Stones Project Joins Northeast Slavery Records Collaborative

· ·

 

The Witness Stones Project is proud to join the Atlantic Black Box Project, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Monmouth University as an organizational member of the Northeast Slavery Records Collaborative.

The Northeast Slavery Records Collaborative (NSRC) develops and maintains an online searchable compilation of records, called the Northeast Slavery Records Index (NESRI). The NESRI identifies records of enslavement, including records that identify individual enslaved persons and enslavers, for the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey.

NESRI will index census records, slave trade transactions, cemetery records, birth certifications, manumissions, ship inventories, newspaper accounts, private narratives, legal documents and many other sources. The goal is to deepen the understanding of slavery in the participating states by bringing together information that until now has been largely disconnected and difficult to access. This allows for searches that combine records from all indexed sources based on parameters such as the name of an owner, a place name, and date ranges.

Witness Stones Project Receives Funding in Hebron

· ·

In the Journal Enquirer on August 23, 2021

HEBRON — Eleven projects have received funding from the Hebron Greater Together Community fund through the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

The Friends of the Office of State Archaeology received $4,400 for a multidisciplinary project at the Cesar Peters home site with RHAM Middle and High School students, along with projects at the state archaeologist office, Hebron Historical Society, and the Witness Stones Project. Continue reading.

Witness Stones Project Announces New Collaboration in Norwich, Connecticut

· ·

The Witness Stones Project today announced a new affiliation with the Leffingwell House Museum and the Norwich Free Academy. Students at the coeducational independent school will be using the Project’s curriculum and landscape markers to expand their understanding of the history of slavery in colonial Connecticut.

Students will examine primary source documents, such property, church, and vital records; wills and probate inventories; and census data, in order to understand the reality of slavery and to restore the memory of those individuals who were enslaved. They will learn how to document and describe the dehumanization and paternalism of slavery; the economic and legal framework that supported slavery; and, the agency, resistance, and contributions of the enslaved to our local and national history. Finally, these students will be inviting their communities to witness as they install memorial stones for individuals who were enslaved in their town.

The Leffingwell House Museum’s mission is the education and promotion of the history of Norwich.

The Norwich Free Academy is committed to providing a safe, nurturing and rigorous academic environment in which all students gain the knowledge and develop the skills to become resourceful members of their local, national, and world communities.

Connect with Us