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
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 von Plehve, who had disbanded labor unions and failed to … Continue reading
“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 socialists and anarchists– “red ruffians” who railed against big business … Continue reading
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 oppose racist and fascist actions like those in Charlottesville, Va., … Continue reading
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 an hour And they was payin’ me fifty cent They … Continue reading
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 distorted the history of the post-Civil War era. D. W. … Continue reading
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 by cheating their employees and putting them in danger every … Continue reading
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 Cambodia and the killings of four young people at Kent … Continue reading
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, with little public opposition, after the atomic attacks on Hiroshima … Continue reading
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 September 3, 1971, eleven Kalos Society members are arrested while … Continue reading
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 the M4 carbine). The Colt name is known worldwide. Workers … Continue reading
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 of Connecticut. He worked for many years for the Hartford-based … Continue reading
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 anniversary of April 6, 1917– the day we entered the … Continue reading
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 one half of the working class to kill the other … Continue reading
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 New Deal’s progressive jobs programs. The Nobel prize winner Sinclair … Continue reading
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, Words Matter
Quiet down, class. It’s time to review some definitions. This time, let’s focus on current events: “Black Lives Matter.” Here’s a phrase that has been incorrectly defined with increasing … Continue reading
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 that. The “Brass City” is not the industrial fortress it … Continue reading
The Gilded Age: Sons of Hartford’s 1%
The boys at the Hartford Wheel Club had a great idea: they would organize a party and dress up like poor people! And so on January 20, 1893 the “Hard … Continue reading
We March with Jesse Jackson to Rebuild America
Hartford and Bridgeport have long been known as the poorest cities in the country, but there is another statistic that completes the poverty picture. At the state’s southern tip is … Continue reading
“Our Mission is Not Violence But Freedom”
On a warm summer day in 1955, fifteen domestic workers– maids, cooks and chauffeurs– packed into a small apartment in a Hartford public housing project. It was a Thursday, the … Continue reading
Theater for the 99%
On stage at Bridgeport’s Park Theater in the fall of 1944 stood “Republico, The Little Mechanical Man.” He was an empty-headed dummy that the stage barker described as “handy, dandy, … Continue reading
On Memorial Day, No Business as Usual
I took this photo with my Instamatic on October 15, 1969. I was in Hartford at the anti-war demonstration known as the Vietnam Moratorium. That day, 90,000 people at protests … Continue reading
Everyday Heroes Fight for Patient Care
If it is true that the test of a society is how well it cares for its most vulnerable people, then Bridgeport’s health care workers can be proud of the … Continue reading
“Something to Show for Our Work:” The Unemployed Organize
Brainard Field may well be the country’s first municipal airport. Located in a former cow pasture in southeast Hartford, Brainard opened in 1921. The era’s greatest aviators– Amelia Earhart and … Continue reading
Steam Punk History: Low-Tech Storytelling in the Digital Age
Uncovering history is one thing; presenting it effectively is another. Even in the digital age, there are “low tech” methods that can be used to aid greater public understanding of important people, places and events.
The Rebel Girl on May Day
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn celebrated May Day with Connecticut textile workers on May 1, 1912. This little-known speech was a special moment, uniting the radical idealism of the Industrial Workers of the … Continue reading
Fascism in Fashion
Benito Mussolini rose to power in Italy during the 1920s and he is credited with developing modern- day fascism. For many people, the ideology did not carry a negative connotation … Continue reading
Speaking Under an Open Sky: Frederick Douglass in Hartford
The great abolitionist Frederick Douglass had significant ties to Connecticut. He visited Hartford many times, spoke to appreciative crowds, and dined with elected officials. Douglass had his portrait taken by … Continue reading
Young Boot Blacks Struggle to Survive
A story circulated in Hartford toward the end of the 19th century about a young boot black who worked on a steamship. Perhaps he found the competition on dry land … Continue reading
The Teenager Who Saved the Amistad Capitves
James B. Covey was only fourteen years old when Josiah Gibbs found him working on the New York docks. Gibbs was one of the Connecticut abolitionists determined to free the … Continue reading
Puerto Rico, Our Experiment in Colonialism
Puerto Rico is in a severe economic crisis, and Connecticut shares some of the responsibility. After all, we made the island what it is today: a colony. Not a colony in … Continue reading
Refugee Crisis, Then and Now
The good people of Connecticut are terrified that society will be overrun by the dangerous, ignorant foreigners and their strange religion. Politicians fan the flames of prejudice to increase their … Continue reading
Hartford’s City Mother
The small plaque in the south corner of the State Capitol identifies the names of early 20th century Connecticut women who campaigned for the right to vote. One of those … Continue reading
Deeds, Not Words: Emmeline Pankhurst Speaks to Hartford
The British campaign to win the vote for women was led in large measure by Emmeline Pankhurst. She spoke to a Hartford audience in 1913 (see below). Her presentation is … Continue reading
Original Wobbly
I met the daughter of Pierce T. Wetter in August. Pierce was an original Wobbly. He was arrested in 1917 in a nationwide roundup of more than one hundred IWW … Continue reading
Beatrice Longman Breaks the Mold
Connecticut has no shortage of war memorials and statues featuring prominent business and political leaders. The celebration of the state’s ordinary working people, however, is almost nowhere to be found. … Continue reading
Remembering Butch Lewis
One friend of Butch’s called him the Pastor of Hartford’s North End. “A pastor is a shepherd, and everyone came to Butch with their problems.” With other Vietnam vets Butch started the Black Panther Party in Hartford. He never became a politician, never used his reputation for fame.
Kalos Society: Early Gay Liberation
On September 3, 1971, eleven Kalos Society members were arrested while protesting at a local gay bar where lesbians were being harassed by the management. The owners of The Park … Continue reading
Community Survival: Black Panther Programs
On May 1, 1969, Hartford’s Chamber of Commerce flanked Mayor Ann Uccello as she held up a broom on the city hall steps. This photo op for the press was … Continue reading
Another Look at the “Negro Governors”
Were the ceremonial “Negro Elections” a harmless practice, or way to diminish Connecticut’s complicity in slavery?
Rock and Roll vs. Racism
In 1955, the most racially integrated public space in Connecticut might have been the rock & roll concerts at Hartford’s State Theater. Despite the widespread discrimination against African Americans in … Continue reading
“The People are Indestructible:” UE General Strike in Hartford
Pratt & Whitney Machine Tool Company President Charles W. Deeds addressed several hundred embattled scabs and supervisors in the company cafeteria. He told them of his plans to put the … Continue reading
Class Struggle Comics: Winning a Strike!
On the 5th anniversary of their strike victory, District 1199 nursing home workers from Spectrum Healthcare explain what it took to win..
High School Students Teach Elders About the Free Press
Marcus Manselle was a Weaver High senior from Hartford who published the student newspaper The People’s Press. He was first to report that faculty and students began a picketing campaign … Continue reading
Carl Sandburg, People’s Poet
At one time, nationally-acclaimed poet Carl Sandburg was so popular in Connecticut that even his goats made the news. After his death in 1967, some of Sandburg’s herd was sold … Continue reading
Selma, Not So Far Away
Father Leonard Tartaglia was sometimes called Hartford’s “Hoodlum Priest.” Like the 1961 film of the same name, Tartaglia ministered to the city’s poor and disenfranchised. He challenged institutional racism wherever … Continue reading
The Woman in Red
If she hadn’t worn her red dress to the picket line, Amelia Sabich might have lived a normal, quiet life. But then, she would never have inspired thousands of workers–including … Continue reading
The Language of the Unheard
“No Danger of Race Riots in Hartford, Police Officials Say.” It was August 4, 1919. Hartford’s African American ministers feared that the white mob violence raging through dozens of U. … Continue reading
Yanquis or Yankees?
Are we yanquis or yankees? In my small state of Connecticut (pop. 3.5 million), we have been both. From the Dutch word janke, the English translation was popularized by Mark Twain … Continue reading
