Witness Stones Project Inc.

Restore History, Educate, and Honor Humanity

Witness Stones

Praise from Clint Smith

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Photo credit: Carletta Girma

We are honored to have our work recognized by Clint Smith in The Atlantic. In an interview with Atlantic editor Isabel Fattal, the best-selling author of How the Word Is Passed said:

There are examples of communities in the U.S. that are not waiting for the government to tell them that they should build a memorial or they should create sites of public memory. I think one of the most compelling is a group in Connecticut that’s doing a Witness Stones Project, based on the stumbling-stones project in Germany. Middle- and high-school students are placing stones to mark the spaces where enslaved people lived, worked, and worshipped.

We invite you to read the full article here.

 

Witness Stones Project Honored As a Gamechanger

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Connecticut Explored has recently named the Witness Stones Project as one of its
20 Game Changer Honorees that advance the way we study, interpret, and disseminate history. Over the past five years, we have worked with more than 6,600 students in 45 communities to help restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities.

We thank Connecticut Explored for this honor and our community for your continued support!

 

Wooster School Students Honor Enslaved Danbury Man Freed after Fighting in Revolutionary War

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By Kendra Baker in the News-Times on June 13, 2022

DANBURY — Outside the Long Ridge United Methodist Church lays a stone recognizing a former resident and veteran named Nimrod Benedict, whose life and story has become the focus of an extensive local history project at Wooster School.

The stone honoring the late Danbury resident was placed during a May 31 ceremony, following weeks of research by Wooster School seventh and eighth grade teams in partnership with the Witness Stones Project. Continue reading.

First-Ever Witness Stones Installation Ceremony in the City of Danbury

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Teachers and Dignitaries at Long Ridge United Methodist Church in Danbury, Connecticut. Photo: Lori Kriegel.

By Lori Kriegel on HamletHub.com on June 3, 2022

Wooster School’s Middle School held the first Witness Stones Installation Ceremony in the City of Danbury on Tuesday, May 31, 2022 at the Long Ridge United Methodist Church at 201 Long Ridge Rd, Danbury, CT 06810.

Wooster School’s 7th and 8th grade Middle School team have been learning about the complicated history of enslavement in Connecticut via their research of a formerly enslaved man who lived in Danbury, Connecticut, as part of their participation in the Witness Stones Project. The Witness Stones project is a “K-12 educational initiative whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities. The Project provides research assistance, teacher development, and curriculum support to help middle school students study the history of slavery in their own communities.” Through their study of primary sources, students were tasked to take a critical look at issues such as the treatment of the people who were enslaved and their agency and resistance to the practice of enslavement. Continue reading.

Suffield Academy Students Honor Titus Kent

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“Titus Kent was a Black Patriot who served every year in the American Revolution. His name is commemorated on our Town’s Veterans Memorial with many other Patriots from Suffield who fought in the Revolutionary War.” –Suffield Academy English Department Chair Bill Sullivan
On May 21, 2022, students from Suffield Academy and their teacher, Bill Sullivan, shared the history and honored the life of Patriot Titus Kent. The event was co-hosted by the Sibbil Dwight Kent Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Suffield Historical Society.

Caesar Stevenson

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With the generous support of the Connecticut Valley Education Foundation, the students of Frank Ward Strong Middle School created a presentation on  their work with the Witness Stones Project.

 

Witness Stones Project Installation Ceremony Honoring Jack and Cull Bush, Jr.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2022
1 p.m.
Hosted by the Greenwich Historical Society at
The Bush-Holley House
47 Strickland Road, Cos Cob, Connecticut

The Greenwich Historical Society will bring the Greenwich community together to remember and honor Jack and Cull Bush, Jr., and to place a Witness Stone in their memory.

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