Restore History, Educate, and Honor Humanity
On May 31, 2022, students from the Wooster School gathered at the Long Ridge United Methodist Church to remember and honor the life of Nimrod Benedict.
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.
The Wooster School will bring the community together to remember and honor Nimrod Benedict and to place a Witness Stone in his memory.
The Witness Stones Project today announced a new affiliation with the Wooster School in Danbury, Connecticut. The college-preparatory school will be using the Project’s curriculum and landscape markers to expand their teaching of the history of slavery in Connecticut.
Students will examine primary source documents, including property records, probate documents, 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 Wooster School is guided by its purpose, promise, and beliefs, which represent the natural evolution of the school’s mission since its founder, the Reverend Aaron Coburn, charged them with preparing its students to be “gentle, generous, truthful, kind, and brave.” These commitments remind them that as a school community they must learn from the past, embrace the present, and look to the future as they prepare their graduates for college and lives of purpose in a world of increasing complexity and change.
