This 2020-2021 academic year marks the third year that my students at Kingswood Oxford in West Hartford have participated in the Witness Stones Project and it’s been the most inspiring and meaningful work of my teaching career. It’s also been the most doubt-inducing, time-consuming work as well. Teaching about race, conducting the slow, laborious historical … Continue reading How to Bring the Witness Stones Project to Life
Venture Smith – A story about a hero
Another post from a student from our class - RM The Venture Smith story immediately stood out to me. Out of around 12 million African captives who embarked on the Middle Passage to the Americas; only about a dozen left behind first-hand accounts of their experiences. One man was Venture Smith. His story is truly … Continue reading Venture Smith – A story about a hero
Cesar Family Project
I signed up for this class to engage in something different. It was a chance to break free from the normal classes I had and an opportunity learn about valuable history that had barely been touched. On the very first meeting our teacher asked us to name 5 famous black people who lived before 1950. … Continue reading Cesar Family Project
New Triangle Trade Infograph
Triangle Trade and Connecticut
Learning Northern Slavery Through Twitter @SlaveryNorth
I have asked my students to summarize some of their first trimester's work in a blog post. Over the next week, I will share some of them on here. - RM My name is Simba Chen, I am a member of the Searching for Slavery class. My responsibility is to man the class twitter account. This trimester, I am … Continue reading Learning Northern Slavery Through Twitter @SlaveryNorth
Changed by an Assignment
“I beg you to allow me to take pictures of your utmost suffering.”Eiichi Matsumoto, Photographer, Hiroshima By Anne Farrow Almost 20 years ago, I began studying slavery as an assignment. My editor at the Sunday magazine had received a request from the editor in chief, who wanted the magazine to discover and explore the life … Continue reading Changed by an Assignment
We Noble African Citizens
The Cesar Family: Noble African Citizens of Northwest Connecticut, A Black History Conversation with with Cesar family historian Katherine Overton, and history teacher Rhonan Mokriski December 5 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm EST Presented in collaboration with the Salisbury Association Historical Society and the Hotchkiss Library What do the words “We Noble African Citizens”, … Continue reading We Noble African Citizens
Now streaming: Ghosts of Amistad, by Tony Buba and Marcus Rediker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUCPo0DSstY&feature=emb_err_woyt “Ghosts of Amistad: In the Footsteps of the Rebels,” directed by Tony Buba and produced by Marcus Rediker, is based on Rediker’s book, The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom (Penguin 2012). The film chronicles a journey to Sierra Leone in 2013 to visit the home villages of the rebels who … Continue reading Now streaming: Ghosts of Amistad, by Tony Buba and Marcus Rediker
How the Myth of a Liberal North Erases a Long History of White Violence
Anti-black racism has terrorized African Americans throughout the nation’s history, regardless of where in the country they lived. By Christy Clark-Pujara and Anna-Lisa Cox This article was originally published on the blog for the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History as the first of a five-part series titled "Black Life in Two Pandemics: Histories of … Continue reading How the Myth of a Liberal North Erases a Long History of White Violence
The Cesar Family
As I referenced in an earlier post, I am piloting a class on slavery in Connecticut/New England. It is going to be entirely project-based learning. My only required text is Anne Farrow, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank’s spectacular Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery. At this inflection point, I feel fortunate … Continue reading The Cesar Family
