Exhibit “Researching Slavery:  Uncovering Complicated Colonial Narratives.”

How widespread was slavery in the north?  Did it exist in Connecticut?  In South Windsor?

For more than a century, both amateur and professional historians have made very little mention about enslavement in written recordings and in the passing of oral history about Connecticut’s first settlement of Windsor and its daughter towns of East Windsor and South Windsor. 

In early 2023 Friends’ staff  at the time participated in a program offered by the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, “Uncovering the Hidden History in Your Town,” which was funded through an Access Grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. The goal of this program was to learn research and communication strategies about enslaved persons and people of color during the Colonial and Early American Republic eras.

For the first time, in this exhibit, we present our initial research findings of slavery in South Windsor. We hope you will join us and be introduced to Tom and Ansars, Prince, Flora and Sylvia, and be reintroduced to Dr. Primus Manumit as we share the stories of these underrepresented voices.

FREE Lecture Ministers and Merchants in Two River Towns: Exploring Slavery in Colonial Connecticut with Elizabeth Normen
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Doors open at 6:30pm lecture is from 7-8pm.