In July 2020, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Prize was awarded to Albert Woodfox for his book Solitary. Albert Woodfox, known as … More

Howard Zinn’s 100th birthday celebration is August 24th. Even though he died in 2010, I decided to hold a séance … More

GRATING THE NUTMEG podcast: PAUL and ESSIE ROBESON In CONNECTICUT Paul & Essie The influential Robeson couple moved to Enfield … More

Nancy Jackson was born into slavery. Major James Stephen Bulloch, a successful Georgia businessman, claimed ownership of Jackson. Bulloch owned … More

Brookwood Labor College: “We teach the truth and train workers to work in their own movements.” One of the first … More

Some guys just don’t know when they’re not wanted. Take Captain John Mason, a founder of Hartford. He is now … More

“In our schools and libraries are books that create hatred and dislike among the people of different sections of America. … More

Three Kings Day is a time of gift-giving, celebrated on January 6th in Connecticut, across the nation, and throughout Spanish-speaking … More

American slavery was a cancer, polluting politics, dominating the economy, paralyzing the nation’s moral spirit. And ultimately, killing people. Abolitionists … More

Fake News. Alternative facts. “Truthiness.”  These are new labels for an old enemy of democracy: propaganda.  Four years of Donald … More

My grandmother Nellie Grace arrived in Boston from Ireland in 1909. On the ship manifest she was described as a … More

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Eric Foner was in Hartford discussing the lasting impact of the Civil War on present-day life. His … More

As the statues of Confederate criminals are being toppled around the country, and as other symbols of the “Lost Cause” … More

In June, 2020 two large #Black Lives Matter marches met in Hartford –one from the south end and one from … More

We don’t know if Lucy Parsons (1853-1942) was really born on June 27th. But why not honor her with this … More

Public figures from Governor Andrew Cuomo to Madonna have declared that the coronavirus epidemic is the great equalizer. The phrase … More

Who’s afraid of socialism? According to some pundits, everyone should be. Today’s adherents of democratic socialism have greatly increased over … More

Recently, I attended a conference at the National Museum of the American Indian in lower Manhattan, close to Wall Street. … More

One hundred years ago— for the first time in history— African American women in Hartford went to the polls. It … More

A review of my March, 2019 walking tour for the National Conference of Public Historians held in Hartford:     

 Sylvia Rivera was a Latinx gay and transgender rights activist. Her organizing work took place primarily in New York, where … More

“Jewish American women have played a central role in the American labor movement since the beginning of the twentieth century. … More

The first recorded murder victim in Hartford was a Black man— Louis Berbice in 1639. He was the slave of … More

When the Irish playwright and poet Oscar Wilde visited Hartford on February 2, 1882, a local newspaper scornfully reported the … More

On the morning of Wednesday, August 1, 1860, hundreds of African Americans— men, women, and children— from Hartford and surrounding … More

On the west side of the State Capitol in Hartford, one statue stands as a reminder of Connecticut Civil War … More

After the American Civil War, a handful of courageous Hartford volunteers took part in a brief but critical moment that … More

BISBEE ’17 is a film by director Robert Greene set in Bisbee, Arizona, an eccentric old mining town just miles … More

It has long been a common belief that free public education is the bedrock of democracy. Thomas Jefferson believed an … More

She was a women’s suffragist, arrested in 1917 at a White House protest, but she may never have voted. In … More

Thirty-seven million people were killed in World War l from 1914 to 1918, including 1,100 from Connecticut.  The United States … More

  The New Britain branch of the Workmen’s Circle applauded the death of the Czar’s henchman, Imperial Police director Vyacheslav … More

The police wagon, pulled by two large, galloping horses, thundered toward the rioting protesters. Its target was a group of … More

Are we heading for a civil war in this country? Frankly, I don’t think so. But if we fail to … More

Me and a man was workin’ side by side This is what it meant They was payin’ him a dollar … More

Can a movie change history? The Birth of a Nation did. The original 1915 film fomented racial bigotry and consciously … More