The great abolitionist Frederick Douglass had significant ties to Connecticut. He visited Hartford many times, spoke to appreciative crowds, and…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Labor & Suffrage
The small plaque in the south corner of the State Capitol identifies the names of early 20th century Connecticut women…
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…
Original Wobbly
I met the daughter of Pierce T. Wetter in August. Pierce was an original Wobbly. He was arrested in 1917…
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…
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…
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…
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…
“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…
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…
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…
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 Woman in Red
If she hadn’t worn her red dress to the picket line, Amelia Sabich might have lived a normal, quiet life.…
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…
Yanquis or Yankees?
Are we yanquis or yankees? In my small state of Connecticut (pop. 3.5 million), we have been both. From the…
Confronting Police Violence, from Ferguson to Hartford
“It is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots…I must say that a riot is…
Bonus Veterans: An Army Without Guns
It was a warm Sunday night in Hartford on August 7, 1932. Several dozen men and women–exhausted, dirty, hungry– trudged…
We Irish Are A Working Race
A cold morning in March, 1849. The angry Irish laborers marched from Hartford to East Hartford across the covered bridge…
Jail Sit-Down Strike: Prison Rights Are Human Rights
Instead of returning to their cells for the night, 145 inmates at Hartford’s Seyms Street jail have organized a nonviolent…
Puerto Rican Youth Liberate Their Space
Just after dark, a dozen young Puerto Ricans approach 21 Kennedy Street, an abandoned building near Keney Tower. Within minutes…
Breaking the UPS Race Barrier
One by one the young protestors approach the United Parcel Service (UPS) parking lot on Locust Street. It is May,…
Labor History, Family Histories
My grandmother Nellie Grace arrived in Boston from Ireland in 1909. On the ship manifest she was described as a…
Gay Pride, Straight Prejudice
Nancy Buckwalter and Tony Norris expected 150 people to show up at the Old State House for their event. Instead,…
Mark Twain: Nation Building at the Point of a Gatling Gun
June 19th marks a significant incident in Connecticut history. Yet no one celebrates it. (No, I don’t mean Juneteenth, which…
Hell Hole: The Seyms Street Jail
For more than a century Seyms Street jail housed the criminal and the courageous. At one time or another, Wobblies,…
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…
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,”…
Secret FBI Files 3: Lessons for Today
How the Phone company and the news media aided FBI spying in Hartford.
Secret FBI Files 2: The Black Panthers’ Work in Hartford
The National Archives released 1,582 pages on the Black Panther Party (BPP) in Hartford on March 6, 2014. Many pages…
New: FBI Files Released on Hartford Black Panthers
Government spying on Hartford residents is not new. It dates back at least to 1919, when police and the U.S.…
Mayor Mark Twain
Could Mark Twain have become mayor of Hartford? Apparently, the Knights of Labor thought so. This 19th century labor union…
Shoeleather Quiz #2
1. What was the last film to play at the Meadows Drive-In Theater before it closed? 2. Which one of…
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…
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: Lessons from a Tragedy
Sol Bidek’s family lived in a tenement on Market Street in Hartford. They waited several days for word from New…
Baseball Crazy
No ESPN, no sports radio, no internet scores. In 1913, all Hartford baseball fans had was the Megaphone Man. He…
More Hidden History of the Wobblies
A Shoeleather History of the Wobblies: Stories of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in Connecticut is a new book…
No Part too Great or too Small
I think Bobby Sands is smiling. In 1981, Bobby was an Irish prisoner in a British jail. As a member…
Roberto Clemente, ¡Presente!
Why would a baseball star who died more than forty years ago have such a great impact on Hartford people?…
Shoeleather Quiz # 1
1. From where did Mayor George Athanson broadcast his overnight radio show? 2. Which famous person spoke in Hartford? (a)…
The Gandhi Strike
It’s been more than 75 years since the legendary Flint sit-down strike by Michigan autoworkers, a watershed event in American…
We Won’t Starve Quietly
At the height of the Great Depression, thousands of Hartford people were thrown out of work. Like the rest of…
Jay Gould: Octopus of the Wires
“I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half,” said Jay Gould, probably the most…
They fought for me and I fought for them
When he was about eight years old, Ernie DeMaio came home after school– more than once– with a black eye.…
