I think Mary Seymour is smiling. On Tuesday, March 29th, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the Emmett Till … More
Category: African American
Baseball is Still a Civil Rights Battleground
For over 150 years, the baseball field has been a battleground for civil rights. Bigoted politicians like Texas governor Greg … More
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 … More
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 … More
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.
aka Jim Pembroke
The Reverend James W.C. Pennington, D.D. had been warmly received in Scotland, had his biography published in England, and was … More
Isabel Blake, Welfare Warrior
Isabel Blake challenges state legislators to “meet with us and talk things over.” The legislators stay silent. “We don’t bite,” … More
The Fugitive and the Hero
The steamship Hero made its way up the Connecticut River. It was October 1, 1850; two men with different purposes … More
Baseball Crazy
No ESPN, no sports radio, no internet scores. In 1913, all Hartford baseball fans had was the Megaphone Man. He … More
No Room at the Inn
Ethel Thompson and her family reached Hartford after midnight. She entered the Hotel Essex on Main Street and went to … More
Why the Union Vote Counts
Will the union vote count on election day? For the last one hundred years it has, in Hartford and around … More
No Business as Usual: Vietnam War
On a cool and sunny fall day in Hartford, ten thousand people jammed into Bushnell Park with one goal: to … More
Ralph Allen: “He have more than courage”
As 3,000 people left Connecticut by car, bus, and train to join the historic March on Washington, Hartford college student … More
Strange Fruit
What was the murder of Trayvon Martin if not a lynching? The definition of the word is clear: “an extrajudicial … More
Playing ’til Sundown
Mahlon “Duck” Duckett and John “Mule” Miles returned to Hartford in 2007. Duck and Mule are surviving members of a … More
John Brown & the Negro in the Dark
Samson Easton entered the State House in Hartford through a door someone had left open. He and another man carried … More
Lincoln: “There is a Strike!”
March, 1860. Abraham Lincoln considers an invitation to Hartford, determined to widen his appeal as a possible presidential candidate. “Do … More
The Shameful Legacy of Sam Colt
Some Hartford people are pretty desperate for heroes. What other explanation could there be for the recent attempts to glorify … More
Two, Three, Many Rosa Parks
In 1955, Rosa Parks was removed from a city bus by a Montgomery, Alabama police officer. Her arrest sparked a … More
Sand Hogs
We might drive over the Bulkeley Bridge every day, but we seldom think about the sweat and toil it took … More
Paul Robeson
It was called the “greatest mobilization of police in the city’s history.” But the event that brought out hundreds of … More
The Shoeleather History Project 