American slavery was a cancer, polluting politics, dominating the economy, and paralyzing the nation’s moral spirit. Abolitionists in the 19th…
Propaganda: State-Sanctioned Lying
Fake News. Alternative facts. “Truthiness.” These are new labels for an old enemy of democracy: propaganda. Four years of Donald…
Fight Violence and Poverty with Mutual Aid
Protests against police brutality still roar across the nation from the front page to cable news. But if we put…
Two, Three, Many Labor Days
My grandmother Nellie Grace arrived in Boston from Ireland in 1909. On the ship manifest she was described as a…
The Preacher Who Called for Reparations in 1837
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Eric Foner was in Hartford discussing the lasting impact of the Civil War on present-day life. His…
Memorials, Treason, and History
As the statues of Confederate criminals are being toppled around the country, and as other symbols of the “Lost Cause”…
A Tale of Two Protests
In June, 2020 two large #Black Lives Matter marches met in Hartford –one from the south end and one from…
June 27th: Happy Birthday Lucy Parsons!
We don’t know if Lucy Parsons (1853-1942) was really born on June 27th. But why not honor her with this…
The COVID 19 Pandemic is Not the “Great Equalizer”
Public figures from Governor Andrew Cuomo to Madonna have declared that the coronavirus epidemic is the great equalizer. The phrase…
Who’s Afraid of Socialism?
Who’s afraid of socialism? According to some pundits, everyone should be. Today’s adherents of democratic socialism have greatly increased over…
Storm Center of Labor Unrest
On the morning of June 27, 1905, Bill Haywood used a piece of wood as a gavel to open the…
The Fight of Black Women for Suffrage
One hundred years ago— for the first time in history— African American women in Hartford went to the polls. It…
“Take Away Their Clubs and Give Them Shovels”
The nonviolent foundation of history’s most radical union. Union organizer Matilda Rabinowitz took to the stage in 1913 to address…
Hartford’s ‘First Family,’ the Eastons
In September 1983, the vital statistics office of the City of Hartford, Connecticut received a letter from a researcher, inquiring…
Josephine Bennett, Hartford’s City Mother
The history of the early Connecticut women’s movement is not complete without the story of Josephine Bennett (1880-1961). A militant…
Beyond Thanksgiving
Recently, I attended a conference at the National Museum of the American Indian in lower Manhattan, close to Wall Street.…
“Justice & Faith” Walking Tour Review
A review of my March, 2019 walking tour for the National Conference of Public Historians held in Hartford:
When Sylvia Came to Town
Sylvia Rivera was a Latinx gay and transgender rights activist. Her organizing work took place primarily in New York, where…
Jewish Women Who Were Local Labor Organizers (plus video)
“Jewish American women have played a central role in the American labor movement since the beginning of the twentieth century.…
Original Sin And Social Control
The first recorded murder victim in Hartford was a Black man— Louis Berbice in 1639. He was the slave of…
Oscar Wilde in Hartford
When the Irish playwright and poet Oscar Wilde visited Hartford on February 2, 1882, a local newspaper scornfully reported the…
GOOD TROUBLE: History and Handbook for Today’s Resistance
Good Trouble: A Shoeleather History of Nonviolent Direct Action is a riveting chronicle of stories that prove time and again the actions of thoughtful, committed people can change their country and the world. It is a brisk, inspiring primer for veteran activists and newcomers alike. (More)
The Center of Black Resistance and Power
On the morning of Wednesday, August 1, 1860, hundreds of African Americans— men, women, and children— from Hartford and surrounding…
The War Criminal and the Patriot
On the west side of the State Capitol in Hartford, one statue stands as a reminder of Connecticut Civil War…
The ABC of Freedom
After the American Civil War, a handful of courageous Hartford volunteers took part in a brief but critical moment that…
Teaching Working Class History to Our Kids
Beginning in 2018, Connecticut schools gained a new resource to teach students about the history of the American working class.…
OUR STORIES: Ivan Valentin and the Connecticut Connection. Fight Back!
“Beer is Proof that God Loves Us and Wants Us to Be Happy”
Reaching all the way back to the 1600s, Connecticut was first a colony made up of three towns: Windsor, Wethersfield,…
Upcoming Film: BISBEE ’17
BISBEE ’17 is a film by director Robert Greene set in Bisbee, Arizona, an eccentric old mining town just miles…
Hartford Federal College, Experiment in Democracy
It has long been a common belief that free public education is the bedrock of democracy. Thomas Jefferson believed an…
Dorothy Day’s New Society
She was a women’s suffragist, arrested in 1917 at a White House protest, but she may never have voted. In…
War Resister: the Odyssey of Ulysses
Thirty-seven million people were killed in World War l from 1914 to 1918, including 1,100 from Connecticut. The United States…
Der Arbeiter Ring : The Workmen’s Circle
The New Britain branch of the Workmen’s Circle applauded the death of the Czar’s henchman, Imperial Police director Vyacheslav…
“It is a Subterranean Fire”
The police wagon, pulled by two large, galloping horses, thundered toward the rioting protesters. Its target was a group of…
Fascists Uncovered: A New Civil War?
Are we heading for a civil war in this country? Frankly, I don’t think so. But if we fail to…
Serving Up Justice: Black Waiters Organize
Me and a man was workin’ side by side This is what it meant They was payin’ him a dollar…
Introducing: WICKED HARTFORD
“Conniving bosses, predatory landlords, and political intrigue; every city has its wicked side, but not every city has a proper critic to chronicle it. In loving detail, Thornton remaps the city, locating its rollicking beer halls, crowded opium dens, and casinos of yesteryear as well as the notorious jails, poor houses, and smallpox quarantines which have long since
Hartford Challenges “The Birth of a Nation”
Can a movie change history? The Birth of a Nation did. The original 1915 film fomented racial bigotry and consciously…
Labor Family Beats Garment Boss
This is the story of two Hartford families: one that rose to the top of the economic and social ladder…
Lesbian Community Says NO: Beating the 1970s Grand Jury System
In 1970, American students shut down hundreds of schools and universities across the nation after the illegal U.S. bombing of…
Godzilla is Really, Really Hard to Kill: the Millstone Around Our Necks
Nuclear power was once considered “too cheap to meter.” The “peaceful atom” was a spurious claim spread by nuke proponents,…
Queer Power, from Stonewall to Hartford
Hartford’s first gay liberation group decides that ‘coming out’ means direct action and if necessary, confrontation with the police. On…
Connecticut’s Longest Labor Strike
The Colt Firearms factory has been producing guns since the 1800s, from pistols to Gatling guns and the M-16 (now…
Telling People’s History: Interview with Steve Thornton
Steve Thornton has been an activist in Hartford since moving there in the 1970’s after graduating from the University…
How Should We Remember World War I ?
How should World War I be remembered? Connecticut libraries and historical groups are now gearing up for this year’s 100th…
What Would Jay Gould Do About Police Unions?
When railroad mogul Jay Gould beat the Knights of Labor in 1886, he revealed his strategy. “I can hire…
It Can’t Happen Here
On Oct. 27, 1936, Connecticut theater-goers watched It Can’t Happen Here, performed by the Federal Theater Project, one of the…
Children of the Original Wobblies
Connecticut produced plenty of courageous members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Some of their children and grandchildren are still around, and they have good memories. As Utah Philips said, a long memory is a dangerous weapon…
With Black Lives at Stake, All Words Matter
Quiet down, class. It’s time to review some definitions. This time, let’s focus on current events: “Black Lives Matter.”…
Texas Millionaires Booted from a Company Town
Waterbury, Connecticut is a company town, but in 2013 union members and neighborhood activists won their two-year battle to change…
