History of the Project

Students Find and Share an Untold History of the Enslaved People of West Hartford

WSP · Oct 24, 2019 ·

From left: Retired educators Denise deMello, Elizabeth Devine, and Town Historian Tracey Wilson serve as the co-directors of the Witness Stones Project. Pictured in front of the bronzed stones memorializing enslaved people in West Hartford in Old Center Cemetery on North Main Street. Photo credit: Lisa Brisson (we-ha.com file photo)

By Ronni Newton in We-Ha.Com on October 24, 2019

History involves the study of what happened in the past, but we all know there is more than one side to most stories.

There are also stories that have yet to be told.

When Tracey Wilson and Liz Devine started the Witness Stones Project in West Hartford, they wanted to find those stories, the stories about the lives of the enslaved people who are a part of the town’s history. People whose made contributions that few, if any, know about today. They wanted to acknowledge that slavery existed in West Hartford, and commemorate the lives of those who were enslaved while at the same time inspiring community conversation. Continue reading.

A Memorial Project Is Rediscovering Stories of Slavery in Connecticut

WSP · Jul 24, 2019 ·

Witness Stones in Guilford, Conn. marking the location where two 18th century residents named Phillis and Montros were enslaved. Photo credit: Meghan Friedmann.

By Erik Ofgang in Connecticut Magazine on July 24, 2019.

Shortly before the Revolutionary War, an enslaved Connecticut man named Jeffrey Brace was beaten unconscious by his new owner, John Burwell of Milford. Burwell struck Brace with his fists, legs and a chair. In a written account years later, Brace recalled that one blow to his head during the beating was so hard it “pealed [sic] up a piece of my scalp about as big as my three fingers.” After waking up, Brace was subjected to two rounds of whipping and made to walk a quarter-mile barefoot in the winter.

Brace’s visceral, difficult-to-read account of the horrors of slavery in Connecticut is the type of story we don’t often hear about Northeastern states, says Dennis Culliton, a recently retired teacher at Adams Middle School in Guilford. In Connecticut, we’re good at “pointing our fingers south and saying how awful those people were,” he says. But when it comes to confronting our own past, we have more trouble. Continue reading.

Dennis Culliton Receives Social Studies Special Projects Award

WSP · Jun 12, 2019 ·

Guilford Public Schools News and Announcements on June 12, 2019

Dennis Culliton, social studies teacher at Adams Middle School, has received the Special Projects Award from the Connecticut Council for the Social Studies (CCSS) for his work in leading the development of the Witness Stones Project and its application in the classroom.

The award recognizes exceptional social studies projects that engage students in unique, relevant, and inspirational learning activities. Recipients receive a plaque, recognition at the CCSS Spring Awards Social, the opportunity to present their project at the CCSS Annual Fall Conference, and a grant of $500 for their school. Culliton was nominated for the Special Projects Award by Adams social studies teacher Tom Bushnell. Continue reading.