Witness Stones Project Inc.

Restore History, Educate, and Honor Humanity

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Suffield Fund Awards Grant to Witness Stones Project

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By Journal Inquirer Staff on September 24, 2021

SUFFIELD — Ten local organizations have received grants totaling $80,753 from the Amiel P. Zak Public Service Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

The fund, which benefits local organizations, was established in 2002 by Michael Zak to honor his late father, Amiel, a teacher at Suffield High School for 35 years who also served on numerous town boards and civic and public associations. According to Michael, his father often expressed frustration when the town did not have the budget to meet what he considered important community needs. Continue reading.

Let’s Not Fight the Civil War Again

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Witness Stones Project Co-Chair Pat Wilson Pheanious. Photo by Lester Smith.

By Jackie Hemond in the Suffield Observer on June 30, 2021

 

In June, I witnessed an amazing dialogue. For two days, the Phelps-Hatheway House hosted two programs, both featuring Joe McGill, a national figure and founder of the Slave Dwelling Project. The hook for the Project is ingenious. McGill sleeps in slave quarters for a night. He has done this at 150 sites in 25 states so far. He does not review how comfortable a slave bed is. The point of his sleepovers is threefold: to preserve former slave dwellings; lift slavery from the footnotes of history; and engage his audience in a thoughtful, non-combative discussion about slavery, racism, race relations and racial equity.

We were engaged! So engaged that both programs ran overtime. The second day was a panel discussion when McGill was flanked by Dennis Culliton, Founder and Executive Director of the Witness Stones Project and Pat Wilson Pheanious, Co-Chair of the Witness Stones Project. Suffield will soon be placing a witness stone for Tamer, an enslaved woman, purchased “as a slave for life” when she was seven by Luther Loomis who lived at the corner of Bridge and Main Streets. Continue reading.

Suffield to Celebrate Juneteenth on Saturday

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Journal Inquirer Staff on June 18, 2021

SUFFIELD — A local group is planning to hold the town’s first Juneteenth celebration Saturday on the town green. Juneteenth is a celebration of the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas learned that they were freed by the emancipation proclamation. The local celebration is organized by Anti-Bias, Anti-Racist Suffield, or ABAR. It will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on the town green. Continue reading.

Witness Stone Would Mark Location Where Slave Lived in Suffield

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By Matthew P. Knox in the Journal Inquirer  on June 15, 2021

SUFFIELD — Residents who walk by the corner of North Main Street and Bridge Street may soon stumble upon a new addition.

A witness stone, a plaque 4 inches in length and width, is going to be embedded in the stone wall along the sidewalk to honor the life of Tamer, an enslaved woman who worked in a home at the location in the late 1700s. Continue reading.

Witness Stone to Be Installed during Juneteenth

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By Bill Sullivan in the Suffield Observer on June 1, 2021

The Suffield Historical Society’s (SHS) online class will ceremoniously install a Witness Stone memorial for Tamer (1770-1829) on June 19 at 10:00 a.m. In collaboration with its community partner, ABAR Suffield, the SHS class will gather speakers and musicians on the town’s gazebo on the north green and be a component of Suffield’s first Juneteenth program. Featured guests include descendants of Venture Smith, who was Tamer’s father-in-law. The SHS Facebook page will provide updated details about the installation ceremony. Continue reading.

Commemorating the Lives of Enslaved People in Connecticut

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 By Tess Terribile and Nancy Nalpathanchil of Where We Live

How should we remember painful events in our history? There are more than 70 Witness Stones installed throughout our state. The markers commemorate the lives of the enslaved people that lived in Connecticut. 

Witness Stones Project Executive Director Dennis Culliton joins Bill Sullivan of the Suffield Historical Society Trustee and Suffield Academy, and Susi Ryan, a fiber artist and descendent of Venture Smith, for this discussion.

 

Remarkable Discoveries

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Notations on the back of Tamar’s 1777 bill of sale to Luther Loomis. Photo: Bill Sullivan, Suffield Historical Society.

By Bill Sullivan in the Suffield Observer on March 30, 2021

The Suffield Historical Society’s April 13 meeting will be devoted to updating our community on intriguing developments regarding the research and installation of two Witness Stones Memorials. The meeting is open to the public, and newcomers are most welcomed. Please attend the 7 p.m. program by accessing the Zoom link below.

The first project began early last fall when the Society hosted an online class for adults interested in learning about Tamer (aka Tamar). She was enslaved by Comfort Smith and Luther Loomis from the 1770s until 1798, when Solomon Smith, son of Venture Smith, purchased her freedom for marriage. The class was originally planned for three separate nights, and then many original discoveries extended this online class throughout the winter months and now into the spring. Continue reading.

Witness Stones Project Memorial for Tamer

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This 1777 bill of sale for an enslaved girl named Tamer is one of the many treasured documents archived in the Kent Memorial Library’s historical room. Photo credit: Bill Sullivan, Suffield Historical Society.

By Bill Sullivan, Suffield Historical Society, published in the Suffield Observer on

The Suffield Historical Society hosted Dennis Culliton, chair and co-founder of the Witness Stones Project, during three online classes during October. Using a document-based approach to understanding slavery in colonial New England, Culliton helped the class build a narrative about an enslaved woman named Tamar by examining a bill of sale document, a marriage record, and other historical records. Continue reading.

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