Students from Suffield Academy shared their research on Barbara and Lewis Butler at the April 2023 meeting of the Suffield Historical Society. They share their presentation slides here.
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Suffield Academy Students Honor Titus Kent
“Titus Kent was a Black Patriot who served every year in the American Revolution. His name is commemorated on our Town’s Veterans Memorial with many other Patriots from Suffield who fought in the Revolutionary War.” –Suffield Academy English Department Chair Bill Sullivan
On May 21, 2022, students from Suffield Academy and their teacher, Bill Sullivan, shared the history and honored the life of Patriot Titus Kent. The event was co-hosted by the Sibbil Dwight Kent Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Suffield Historical Society.
Witness Stones Project Installation Ceremony Honoring Titus Kent
Saturday, May 21, 2022, 10:00 a.m.
Hosted by
The Suffield Academy S. Kent Legare Library,
The Sibbil Dwight Kent Chapter of the
Daughters of the American Revolution &
The Suffield Historical Society
99 High Street, Suffield, Connecticut
The Suffield Historical Society and the Suffield Academy will bring the Suffield community together to remember and honor Titus Kent and to place a Witness Stone in his memory.
Public History in Suffield
By Bill Sullivan in the Suffield Observer on May 1, 2022
The Sibbil Dwight Kent Chapter (Suffield and Windsor Locks) of The Daughters of The American Revolution (DAR) and the Suffield Historical Society will partner to install a Witness Stone Memorial for Titus Kent. An installation ceremony will be held in front of the Sidney Kent Legare Library (Suffield Academy) on High Street at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 21. Bill Sullivan’s American Studies class at Suffield Academy will help facilitate the program, and you can email Bill Sullivan with any questions: bsullivan@suffieldacademy.org. Continue reading.
Suffield Academy’s American Studies Class Community Presentation
Black History Online Education Class
Suffield Fund Awards Grant to Witness Stones Project
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
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
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
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.
