Welcome to your free bi-weekly newsletter from Connecticut Explored with the latest stories, the newest Grating the Nutmeg podcast, programs and exhibitions from our partners to see/watch this month, and more! In this issue, we bring you two history Game Changers - SISTERS at Keeler Tavern and the Freeman Houses in the 19th – Century Bridgeport’s Little Liberia Community - plus, a GTN podcast on Saving Jewish Farming History in Chesterfield.
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Game Changer: Sisters at Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center
The main characters of the play Sisters are two women—one Black and one white—who lived at the site of Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center through the 19th century. Phillis DuBois came as an eight-year-old freed Black child to the Resseguie household to watch over the family’s white child, Anna Marie, and work in the tavern. The girls grew up in the same household, never married, ran the family’s business, grew old together, and are buried side by side in Ridgefield. For many years, Keeler Tavern interpreted this history as a story of sisterhood.
In the 2018 play Sisters, co-authored by a Black playwright and a white playwright, this interpretation is called into question. Melissa Houston writes,
“The play Sisters is not just an expression of one museum’s assumptions about race and gender in the 19th century, but rather it uses one museum’s story to challenge every audience member’s understanding of the effects of racial hierarchies on how history is experienced, how lives are lived. The play shines a light on how two women, spending their whole lives together in one house, could have radically different experiences based on the color of their skin. While an over-simplified history about Connecticut’s role in slavery and emancipation often gets shared in our classrooms and museums, the truth is that generations of a culture of oppression and racism brought us to where we are today. It wasn’t simply white Southern men on plantations that knit slavery into the fabric of America, but also white Northern women in small communities like Ridgefield. This legacy should not be brushed over because it informs us about the root causes of discrimination and racism today.”
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Game Changer: Archaeology at the Freeman Houses in the 19th – Century Bridgeport’s Little Liberia Community
The Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses in Bridgeport are among Connecticut’s most important historic sites for their connections to African American and women’s history. Constructed on adjacent lots in 1848 by sisters Mary and Eliza Freeman, the houses are the last surviving homes from Little Liberia, a prosperous hamlet of free people of color in 19th-century Bridgeport. The two structures provide a direct, material connection between the modern community and Little Liberia.
Since 2010 the Freeman Center for History and Community, Inc. has owned the properties, which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The houses will soon undergo an ambitious renovation to preserve the structures and revitalize them as a cultural and educational center. In preparation for the renovations the Connecticut Office of State Archaeology (OSA) is working with the Freeman Center to better understand the archaeological record of the lots.
In this Spring story, Sarah Sportman and Maisa Tisdale reveal some of the fascinating findings of this archaeological project. They write, “Despite dramatic changes to the above-ground environment of Little Liberia in the last century, the archaeological record of the Freeman lots is remarkably intact, with well-preserved archaeological deposits and cultural features related to the Freeman sisters, their tenants, and later occupants of the houses.”
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The Latest From Grating the Nutmeg
Historian Mary Donohue interviews Nancy Savin, the 2022 winner of Preservation Connecticut’s Harlan H. Griswold Award presented by Preservation Connecticut and the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office.
Savin is the great-great granddaughter of Hirsch Kaplan, an Eastern European immigrant who arrived in New York City in 1887. So how did he end up in tiny Chesterfield as a Jewish farmer? And what was the New England Hebrew Farmers of the Emanuel Society? We’ll find out in this episode. Hear the story of how a group of descendants preserved this early Jewish community’s first synagogue and creamery.
Listen: Saving Jewish Farming History in Chesterfield
Programs and Exhibitions to Enjoy This Month
Jewish Women Trailblazers
Sun., March 19 | 2 pm. | (snow date: April 2)
Visit the New Haven Museum for a look at the lives of several remarkable local Jewish women—Anni Albers, Ellen Ash Peters, Florence Wald—in a Women’s History Month talk by Elizabeth Rose, executive director of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford.
“Trailblazing Jewish Women from New Haven: The First Judith Ann Schiff Women’s History Program,” is the inaugural program held in memory of City Historian Judith Ann Schiff. It will also include speakers from the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven who will discuss Schiff’s life and legacy as a New Haven trailblazer in her own right.
New Haven Museum; Click here for event details
World Water Day Celebration
Saturday, March 18 | 10:00AM – 3:00PM
Water is one of the most vital resources for all beings and has important cultural significance in many indigenous communities. In advance of World Water Day, join the Institute for American Indian Studies for a fun and educational event, appropriate for learners of all ages, celebrating this precious gift. Start the day with Matt Devine, a fisheries biologist with Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, who will accompany IAIS staff on a short hike down to the Shepaug River. Later, join our friends from the Pomperaug River Watershed Coalition for an interactive presentation on the importance of vernal pools. End the afternoon with IAIS Educator Irene Norman (Mohawk descent), who will recount traditional Native American stories and guide participants in making a cornhusk dragonfly craft.
Morning Ticket: $12 for Non-Members, $8 for Members; Afternoon Ticket: $12 for Non-Members, $8 for Members.
Institute for American Indian Studies; Register Here
Building A Legacy: Women’s Basketball in Connecticut
March 22, 2023 | 6:00 pm | Free Zoom Event
In celebration of Women’s History Month and March Madness, join the Greenwich Historical Society for a conversation with Connecticut Sun President Jen Rizzotti of UConn Women’s Basketball and WNBA fame and Nia Clouden, Guard for the Connecticut Sun. Join Greenwich Historical Society in welcoming Rizzotti and Clouden as they engage in an exciting conversation about the importance of women’s leadership in the field of basketball and the ways in which their personal stories weave a history of the sport’s immense impact on and off the court. Both speakers will share more about what the sport has meant to them, and how their varying perspectives ranging from player to coach to leadership have shaped their approach to the game and all that it entails. Learn more about how their individual careers have unfolded over time to shape the legacy of women’s basketball in the state today.
Check out Greenwich Historical Society’s dynamic exhibition presenting an inclusive and insightful history of sporting culture, Sports! More than Just a Game, on display March 8 through September 3, 2023.
Greenwich Historical Society; Click here for event details
Editor’s Picks
Want to explore the topics featured in this edition of the e-Newsletter? Check out these stories and podcasts from the archives.
“Site Lines: Preserving What We Can’t See,” Connecticut Explored, Summer 2014.
“A Family of Reformers: The Middletown Bemans,” Connecticut Explored, Winter 2008/09.
Little Liberia: The Mary and Eliza Freeman Center, Grating the Nutmeg.
Mary Donohue interviews Maisa Tisdale, President and CEO of the Center and Dr. Sarah Sportman, CT State Archeologist at the University of Connecticut.
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