Welcome to your 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!
Summer 2022 / Outsider Perspectives
Welcome to the Summer issue! In this issue we’re exploring people from outside of Connecticut, the impact they had, and how they viewed our state and its residents.
UConn history professor Fiona Vernal brings us the important story of the development of Hartford’s West Indian community and the role that the West Indian Social Club played in its development. Vernal writes, “One of the longest-running and continuous Caribbean social organizations in the United States, the West Indian Social Club was founded by West Indian migrant farm workers in 1950. For seven decades the WISC has been the pulse of Hartford’s burgeoning Caribbean community.”
“The origin story of this important pillar of the Caribbean community, in the vision of West Indian farm workers,” she continues, “is deeply embedded in the history of Connecticut’s boutique shade tobacco industry.” There were push-and-pull factors: war-time labor crises here in Connecticut coupled with the hangover of Depression-era economic woes and labor unrest in the West Indies.
Vernal’s story is based in interviews with 37 community members for the West Indian Community History Project archived at the Connecticut Historical Society. She writes, “members recounted how they pooled their resources to charter the club. ... Those I interviewed … believed they could maintain their culture while taking advantage of the economic opportunities the U.S. had to offer. While the vast majority of men went back home after the war, those who married American citizens, or found workarounds to secure permanent residency, stayed. … The pioneering efforts of the West Indian Social Club and the transition to Caribbean independence throughout the 1960s paved the way for many other Caribbean organizations in Hartford.”
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Site Lines: The Robesons Move to Enfield
In his story for the summer issue, Steve Thornton mines the now-public records of the FBI. “Paul Robeson, world famous actor, singer, and activist, was of course not the first celebrity to move to Connecticut. But perhaps unlike many others, when Robeson and his family moved to Enfield in 1941, they were being surreptitiously followed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).”
Why? As Thornton explains, “The federal government had identified the Robesons as threats to national security because of their outspoken political views. … This activity put them on FBI director J. Edgar Hoover’s list of subversives, and they were secretly surveilled by governments at home and abroad, FBI records reveal.”
“It seemed likely that their relocation to Connecticut from New York would provide a refuge for their son Pauli, who attended Enfield’s public schools,” Thornton writes. Initially welcomed at a full-house concert at Bushnell Memorial Hall in Hartford in 1945, in fact, their 12 years here, from 1941 to 1953, were tumultuous, Thornton documents.
Find out what happened. Read the entire story with your print subscription. (Subscribe at CTExplored.org/Shop.)
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The Latest from Grating the Nutmeg
145. Activists Paul and Eslanda Robeson in Connecticut
Hear Summer 2022 author and historian Steve Thornton of the Shoeleather History Project talk about the story of the internationally-renown activist, actor, and singer Paul Robeson and his wife Eslanda Robeson, an anthropologist, author, and activist in her own right. The Robesons’ home from 1941 to 1953 in Enfield is on the Connecticut Freedom Trail and the National Register of Historic Places.
Programs and Exhibitions to Enjoy This Month
Summer Book Sale! July 22 - 26
Join Pequot Library in Southport on its Great Lawn from July 22 to 26 for one of the largest book sales in New England, with more than 100,000 books, plus CDs, DVDs, records, and unique “Specials” for sale. All items are gently used and donated to Pequot Library. This is one of the library’s most critical fundraisers and community events. Come early on July 22 for coffee and a book signing with author and book influencer Zibby Owens. On July 24, bring the kids in their costumed best for Princess and Pirate day! For more information visit pequotlibrary.org.
Pequot Library, Pequotlibrary.org
Slate Restoration at the Slater
In 2022 Slater Memorial Museum of Norwich Free Academy, dedicated in 1886, embarked on a restoration of its original 135-year-old roof. Because of the nature of the project, the museum closed to the public on January 1 and will aim to reopen toward the end of 2022. In the meantime, the staff is hard at work behind the scenes connecting with students and the public through digital means. Visit slatermuseum.org to learn more and stay updated throughout the restoration!
Slater Memorial Museum, slatermuseum.org
A Sense of Place in Greenwich
The Greenwich Historical Society’s 90th-anniversary celebration, DISCOVER GREENWICH, offers the opportunity to explore local neighborhoods, topography, and architecture through a series of informative guided walking tours. Enrich your knowledge and understanding of Greenwich history through lectures and archival resources that strengthen our connections; engage with members of the community through art classes, picnics, and scavenger hunts and more. To learn more and to register for walking tours and other programs visit greenwichhistory.org/discover-greenwich.
Greenwich Historical Society, Greenwichhistory.org
Our Animal Neighbors Explored
In her first solo museum exhibition, artist Dana Sherwood brings together film, sculpture installations, and oil and watercolor paintings to interrogate the relationship between wild nature and domestic culture. Dana Sherwood: Animal Appetites and Other Encounters in Wildness, on view through September 18 at the Florence Griswold Museum. Last year Sherwood served as the museum’s artist-in-residence, creating an outdoor reimagination of one of the Griswold House period rooms.
Florence Griswold Museum, florencegriswoldmuseum.org
Hill-Stead Celebrates 75
Celebrate Hill-Stead’s 75th Anniversary this summer! For the third year in a row, the museum will host From the Porch, its performing art series. And to celebrate museum founder Theodate Pope Riddle’s passion for spiritualism, the museum is partnering with the Brooklyn-based artist collective Hilma’s Ghost to explore this interest. The programming and artwork, including paintings and automatic drawings, will highlight Theodate’s deep interest in the spiritual world. Visit the museum’s website for updates on these events!
Hill-Stead Museum, 35 Mountain Road, Hillstead.org
Editors’ Picks
Stories we love from back issues to read now.
“Cricket Comes to Hartford,” Spring 2003
“Tobacco Valley: Puerto Rican Farm Workers in Connecticut,” Fall 2002
“Destination: Marian Anderson Studio,” Fall 2008
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