Witness Stones Project, Inc.

Restoring History & Honoring Humanity

Witness Stones

Fifth-Grade Teacher at Somerville’s Van Derveer School Recognized for Project on Local Black History

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By Rod Hirsch in Tap Into Somerset on June 12, 2024 

SOMERVILLE, NJ – Somerset County has announced the winners of the Somerset County Historic Preservation and History Awards for their excellence in preserving local history, including Davie-Lyn Jones-Evans, a fifth-grade teacher at the Van Derveer School in Somerville.

The awards recognize individuals and organizations that support the preservation of Somerset County’s history and historic resources through preservation or restoration projects, publications, leadership efforts, or education.

Jones-Evans’ project, “At Home with History,” focused on the history of Somerville’s African American community. Jones-Evans used her collection of published works to educate readers, along with her students about Somerville’s historic black community.

Also recognized are the Friends of The Abraham Staats House & Robert Morris School (South Bound Brook School District), Witness Stones Project.

Their project, “We Were Here ~ The Enslaved People of Colonial America: An Inclusive History Partnership Program,” was recognized for their collaboration with 8th-graders from Robert Morris School to learn the stories of the enslaved people that lived and worked on the Staats farmstead.

The awards are sponsored by the Somerset County Board of County Commissioners and Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission.

The program is administered by an awards committee appointed by the County’s Cultural & Heritage Commission including Cultural & Heritage Commission board members and Advisory Committee members.

“The extensive history of Somerset County is not just a list of names, places, and events,” said Commissioner Director Shanel Y. Robinson. “We must remember that those names have legacies, these places tell stories, and those events offer insights. That’s why we honor and celebrate these great people and organizations that work to preserve Somerset County’s history.”

For more information, contact the Cultural & Heritage Commission at 908-231-7021 or email CulturalHeritage@co.somerset.nj.us.

Juneteenth Jubilee in New Paltz

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Kate Hymes, vice president at the Dr. Margaret Wade-Lewis Black History and Cultural Center, who is also Ulster County Poet Laureate; Jessica Pedro, teacher at Ulster BOCES Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning at Port Ewen; Joy Burns, director of outreach for the Witness Stones Project; and Dennis Culliton, executive director and founder of the Witness Stones Project, are collaborating on a project to be part of the Juneteenth celebration on June 19 in New Paltz. The Ulster BOCES CITL students will be the first to do this project at Huguenot Street. (Ulster County BOCES)

By Terence P. Ward in HudsonValley1 on June 10, 2024

The fourth annual Juneteenth jubilee celebration of triumph and history and learning about Juneteenth with the New Paltz community will take place on Wednesday, June  19. It will begin at 10  a.m. with a one-hour  commemoration ceremony at the New Paltz Rural Cemetery. It will be followed by a community drum procession at the Margaret Wade-Lewis Center for Black History & Culture, located at 5 Broadhead Avenue. This all-day extravaganza will continue until 4 p.m. on the lawn at Historic Huguenot Street and will include lunch, story-telling, musical performances and tours to help honor and remember the formerly enslaved Africans that were integral to the Village of New Paltz’s history. A movie, to be determined, will be screened at Elting Memorial Library at 7:30 that night. 

Students from the Ulster BOCES Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning (CITL) at Port Ewen have been participating in a series of educational activities as part of a collaboration with the Witness Stones Project — a non-profit educational initiative whose mission is to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities — and Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz. Together they have commemorated the lives of Anthony and Susanna, two individuals who were enslaved at Huguenot Street in the 1600s. 

The project will culminate during the Juneteenth public celebration at Historic Huguenot Street on June 19, where students will present their work and pay tribute to Anthony and Susanna. During the ceremony, two memorial stones will be dedicated on Huguenot Street, marking the first time such a project has been undertaken at this historic site.

The project began in January when Lindsay Dalton, school programs manager at Historic Huguenot Street, approached CITL teacher Jessica Pedro after a successful field trip to Historic Huguenot Street. Enlisting the help of CITL reading specialist Catherine Pine, they initiated the curriculum, integrating activities designed to educate students about Anthony and Susanna’s lives and the broader context of slavery in the Northeast. This immersive learning experience included vocabulary lessons, video discussions on dehumanization, and creative assignments where students crafted poems, songs and historical fiction to reconstruct and honor the stories of Anthony and Susanna.

At the Juneteenth ceremony, selected students will present their narratives, contributing to a broader community recognition of these historical figures. Students’ work will also be displayed on a bulletin board at Elting Library in New Paltz for a month following the ceremony.

More information about the New Paltz Juneteenth celebration can be found on the Dr. Margaret Wade-Lewis Black History Cultural Center Facebook page or visiting their website at mwlcenter.org.

Wooster Students Honor Enslaved Danbury Woman Who Gained Her Freedom

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The Witness Stone dedicated to Patience outside St. James Episcopal Church on West Street in Danbury, Conn.

By Kendra Baker in the NewsTimes on June 8, 2024

DANBURY — Patience, an enslaved woman in Danbury who gained her freedom in 1793, became the third individual memorialized as part of a research project led by Wooster School students.

A stone commemorating Patience was placed at St. James Episcopal Church last week, following weeks of research by the school’s eighth grade team in partnership with the Witness Stones Project.

The Witness Stones Project works with schools and community groups to “restore the history and honor the humanity” of enslaved individuals in Connecticut through research, education and civic engagement.

Wooster School has been working with the organization for the past few years to teach students about the history of slavery in Connecticut. As part of the curriculum, students embark on a research project that culminates with the memorialization of formerly enslaved individuals from the area.

This year was the third time Wooster School students embarked on a Witness Stones Project.

In 2022, Wooster students installed a stone honoring a Danbury resident and Revolutionary War veteran named Nimrod at the Long Ridge United Methodist Church.

As was the case with Nimrod, Patience was enslaved in the 18th century and died free. She was emancipated after the death of her enslaver, Joseph Taylor, in 1793.

In addition to freeing all of his slaves, Taylor designated funds for the ongoing support of Patience — whom he described as “somewhat advanced in years” and a “good, kind and faithful servant” to him and his parents — and gave her all his household furniture, according to excerpts from his will.

Taylor is another connection Patience and Nimrod had, as they were both enslaved by him at one point. In 1765, Taylor sold Nimrod — who was about 4 years old at the time, according to the research by Wooster students in 2022 — to a man named Noble Benedict. Nimrod is believed to have joined the Revolutionary War a little over a decade later.

As noted on the Witness Stone recently placed in her honor at St. James Episcopal Church, Patience was enslaved by two generations of the Taylor family and had a son named Richard.

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