Restore History, Educate, and Honor Humanity
By Shaw Israel Izikson in the Winsted Phoenix on May 1, 2021.
NORFOLK — A ceremony was held for the unveiling of a Witness Stone for James Mars on Saturday, May 1. According to the Witness Stone project’s website at witnessstonesproject.org, a Witness Stone is a marker that recalls an enslaved individual at a site of significance. Continue reading.
Students at the Salisbury School brought the community together on May 1, 2021, to share their research and reflections on James Mars. Their work was part of a project-based learning course entitled, “Searching for Slavery in Northwest Connecticut,” taught by History Faculty Rhonan Mokriski.
The students documented the day with a new website and film. We invite you to take a look here.
The Litchfield County Times on March 25, 2021
SALISBURY — Noble Horizons will host “The Life and Times of James Mars: The Story of a Connecticut Slave,” a virtual presentation, on April 1 at 7:15 p,m.
Registration for this free Zoom program is at noblehorizons.org.
Salisbury history teacher Rhonan Mokriski and his students will discuss their extensive research into the buried story of James Mars and other Black American slaves in Connecticut that have been hidden from history for over a century, an announcement said. As Mokriski explained, “We believe that efforts like this will help refute the impression that American history is inherently white.” Continue reading.
Students in Rhonan Mokriski’s “Searching for Slavery in Northwest Connecticut” class at the Salisbury School are becoming public historians.
By James King, Library Director at Salisbury School, published by the Atlantic Black Box Project on March 5, 2021
James Mars didn’t complain of “many things,” but one thing troubled him his entire life: the lack of “opportunity to go to school as much as I should, for all the books I ever had in school were a spelling-book, a primer, a Testament, a reading-book called Third Part, and after that a Columbian Orator.” Mr. Mars would go on to write his own book and it seems a fitting tribute to this remarkable man for his story to now further the education of others.
When Salisbury School history teacher Rhonan Mokriski asked me to help with the Searching for Slavery course, I was thrilled to take part. As the school’s librarian, I had worked with the history department on multiple occasions and was excited about the prospect of a more extensive collaboration. Over the last year, my contribution to the class has been in three parts: finding, providing, and showcasing research resources and media creation applications; researching with students during class time; and contributing articles and comments to the class’s Microsoft Teams channel. Continue reading.
Preservation Connecticut hosted Salisbury School history teacher Rhonan Mokriski and WSP’s Dennis Culliton to discuss a project-based learning course in public history focused on uncovering the lives of free and enslaved African American families in Northwest Connecticut. We invite you to watch here.
A blog on the Atlantic Black Box Project, started on December 24, 2020.
History teacher Rhonan Mokriski and his students at the Salisbury School have been pursuing a project-based learning course in public history focused on uncovering the lives of free and enslaved African American families in northwestern Connecticut. Continue reading.
By Rhonan Mokriski on The Atlantic Black Box Project on August 1, 2020
I teach at an independent school in the sleepy Connecticut town of Salisbury (pop 3,598 in 2018). I have been living here for 24 years. My lens has been largely focused on world history – particularly China – so beyond the normal US survey idea of slavery, this is a topic that I knew relatively little about. Until really recently, I was always of a mind that slavery happened “down there.” Since I’ve been engaged in the work, I’ve been amazed at how steeped Connecticut generally, and the Upper Housatonic River Valley region specifically, is in this history. Continue reading.
The Atlantic Black Box Project is a public history project that empowers communities throughout New England to take up the critical work of researching and reckoning with our region’s complicity in the slave trade and our extensive involvement in the global economy of enslavement. This grassroots historical recovery movement is powered by citizen historians and guided by a broad coalition of scholars, community leaders, educators, archivists, museum professionals, antiracism activists, and artists.
By Meghan Friedmann in the New Haven Register on July 31, 2020
A team of educators hopes to empower teachers to educate their students about racism and slavery in southern New England – and to do so correctly.
A nationally-renowned scholar, two Connecticut teachers and a state representative, all of whom advocate for a reconfiguration of curricula to incorporate overlooked history lessons, are working together to deliver the program teachers next week. Continue reading.
