Ministers and Merchants in Two River Towns: Exploring Slavery in Colonial Connecticut with Elizabeth Normen

FREE Lecture Doors open at 6:30pm lecture is from 7-8pm.  Take time before or after the lecture to explore our current exhibit “Researching Slavery:  Uncovering Complicated Colonial Narratives.”

What can we learn about the early history of Connecticut by exploring two Connecticut River towns 50 miles apart—South Windsor and Old Saybrook—and their connection to slavery? Elizabeth Normen will speak about her current research into the Hart Family of Old Saybrook and draw comparisons to South Windsor residents in the colonial era. She has been tasked with researching and writing a new history of the Hart family, the most prominent residents of the Old Saybrook Historical Society’s headquarters, the Gen. William Hart House. That story involves generations of slave holding by ministers and merchants involved in the West Indies trade—parallels found in South Windsor. Old Saybrook Historical Society produced a major exhibition about slavery in the Saybrook Colony in 2005 but the story continues to unfold. 

Elizabeth Normen is the founding publisher (retired) of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history. She has written numerous articles for Connecticut Explored, edited the award-winning book African American Connecticut Explored (Wesleyan University Press, 2014) and created two social studies texts for students: Where I Live: Connecticut(2017) for grade 3 and Venture Smith’s Colonial Connecticut (2019) for grades 3 – 8. She is currently working on a new book about the Hart Family for the Old Saybrook Historical Society.