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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!
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Assembling the Puzzle Pieces: The Unionist Unified, Prudence Crandall & the Canterbury Female Academy
In 1834, amidst intense racial prejudice, thirty-one Black students began attending the Canterbury Female Academy. Lessons would often be interrupted by violent protest and stones thrown through windows. The local newspaper pushed the narrative that the public was against what the Academy was accomplishing. This led abolitionists Arthur Tappan, a wealthy New Yorker, and Samuel J. May to seek out Charles Calistus Burleigh to lead their new newspaper, The Unionist. The newspaper was expressly anti-slavery and showed sympathy for Prudence Crandall and the school’s students.
Only five complete issues of The Unionist survived, while other pieces are scattered throughout different newspapers. Thanks to the work of the authors of this Spring issue feature, Jennifer Rycenga and Nick Szydlowski, the newspaper lives on through digital media. Through their project, The Unionist Unified, an easy to access online hub of all things The Unionist is now available. Their site pairs articles from the original newspaper with photographs that help to provide context to the time period. The preservation of this newspaper is a preservation of Connecticut’s abolitionist past.
Learn all about Prudence Crandall, The Unionist, The Unionist Unified, and the Canterbury Female Academy with your CT Explored subscription.
The Canterbury Female Academy in the 21st Century
The building that once housed the Female Canterbury Academy is now the Prudence Crandall Museum. In Joanie DiMartino’s article, she writes about her experience as the curator of the museum as well as information regarding the exhibit Canterbury Female Boarding School: Courage, Conscience, and Continuance – which celebrates the staff and students in the academy in 1833-1834. The museum gives visitors a look into Prudence Crandall, who was the principal of the Canterbury Female Academy, and whose very court case was instrumental in paving the way for later Supreme Court decisions. Going forward, the Museum seeks to integrate The Unionist Unified as part of the experience as The Unionist and Canterbury Female Academy go hand-in-hand.
For more information, read the rest of the article as part of the Spring 2024 issue of Connecticut Explored.
The Latest From Grating the Nutmeg
Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution
Did you know that roughly 200 privateering vessels that sailed the Atlantic during the American Revolution were built here Connecticut?
In this weeks episode of Grating the Nutmeg, guest and acclaimed author Eric Jay Dolin gives his expertise on piracy and privateering during the American Revolution. Which begs the question, were these pirates simply seeking profit, or were they legally sanctioned extensions of General Washington’s Naval Force? Learn about the ships, what they were armed with, and the people aboard them on this week’s episode.
Listen: Click Me
Programs and Exhibitions to Enjoy This Month
Webb Barn Sale
April 13-April 14 | 9:00 AM- 1:00 PM | Webb Deane Stevens Museum
The Webb Barn Sale, formerly known as Tags and Treasures is a fundraiser event sponsoring the Webb Deane Stevens Museum. Sponsored by The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in The State of Connecticut, is the Museums largest fundraiser event! Stop by to shop for tableware, silver, art, kitchenware, toys, collectibles, linens, garden items, holiday decor, jewelry, rugs, small furniture, and more!
Fiery and Fierce: Katharine Houghton and the Work for Women’s Rights
March 27th | 7:00 PM | Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center
Come celebrate the activism of Katharine Houghton, the mother of Katharine Hepburn, and an incredible activist.
Houghton fought for women’s rights such as suffrage, access to birth control and overall equal legal rights. Her work petitioning for access to birth control was influential to the formation of Planned Parenthood. Learn more about Katharine Houghton’s incredible life and fiery spirit at this in-person Museum Talk, followed by an audience Q & A.
Styling Identities: Hair’s Tangled Histories
March 21-August 11 | Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Hair is an integral part of us, something personal and intimate but also often one of the most visible ways we express our identity. Hair is more than symbolic; it is an integral part of the universal human experience, and its DNA links us to our ancestors and propels us forward. Throughout human history, hair has been both subject and medium in art. Styling Identities aims to tell a story about what hair means to us—to our museum staff and to our Hartford community. It is as much about us, the people within our museum and our immediate community, as it is about hair. Hair is community. Hair is power. Hair is us. On view through August 11.
Click here for event details Hyperlink.
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.
“Chinese Exchange Students in 1880s Connecticut,” Connecticut Explored, Summer 2007.
“Frederick Douglass in New London,” Connecticut Explored, Summer 2022.
“Re-Indigenizing Connecticut History for Students,” Connecticut Explored, Fall 2022.
“Educated for Freedom,” Grating the Nutmeg Episode 88.
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