contributed photos
“Only by coming to terms with history can we free ourselves to create a more just world.” –Drew Gilpin Faust (Harvard’s twenty-eighth president, in a speech acknowledging the university’s early ties to slavery)
I have lived in Guilford, Connecticut since 1997, making me a newcomer in New England terms. Guilford is a town of just over 22,000 residents, and I love it for its gorgeous access to both the sea and a number of fresh water lakes; I love its open space and agricultural beauty; I love its locally-owned businesses surrounding our beautiful town green; and I love its small-town neighborliness and the commitment people who live here give to one another.
One thing about my treasured new hometown that I dislike is its lack of racial diversity. Just 8% of our town identifies as non-white compared to greater New Haven’s average of 35% non-white. Having been raised in a racially diverse community in New Mexico, I regret that my now-teenage children have grown up without the vibrancy and enlightenment of living among people who don’t look like them.
Complicating my feelings about the lack of diversity in Guilford (and indeed, throughout the shoreline) is an entrenched parochialism that pops up every once in a while. One small example is a generally wonderful educational program provided through the schools around early colonialism called “Early Guilford Days.” While the information about the first white European settlers is valuable, I was surprised and disappointed that there wasn’t more corresponding education around the indigenous peoples – Native Americans – and the white settlers’ role in their devastation. The Native American history of this country was an integral piece of my own childhood education and it seemed a glaring omission. Coupled with this is my ongoing discomfort with our high school mascot – the Guilford Indians.
Against this backdrop, I was deeply moved to learn about a new initiative called the Witness Stones Project, a local effort to shine a light on the occurrence of slavery right here in our quaint New England town. We (Americans and especially Northerners) correlate slavery with the South, but of course slavery was up North as well – including right here in woodsy Guilford.
Inspired by the Stolpersteine project in Germany (and with its blessing), the Witness Stones Project – a program of the Guilford Preservation Alliance – is taking a step to bear witness. The Witness Stones Project was formed to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved persons who helped build our communities. The Guilford Foundation, of which I am the Executive Director, is a proud early and ongoing sponsor.
The physical Witness Stone is a permanent marker installed where an individual who was enslaved lived, worked or prayed. The enslaved individual’s name and other facts known about them – including whether they were emancipated or died enslaved, with corresponding dates – are stamped in brass and mounted onto a stone, then installed in front of a building that was important to that individual’s life. The stone serves as a permanent reminder of the person’s untold story and their unacknowledged presence in and significance to Guilford.
In its first year (2017), the program selected three enslaved people from Guilford: Moses, Phillis, and Candace. Their stories were researched and then honored at a community event, and stones commemorating their lives were installed in front of Town Hall, the Guilford Savings Bank, and the Hyland House, respectively.
A key aspect of the program is a partnership with Adams Middle School, which has embraced the program and incorporated it into their 8th grade U.S. History curriculum, thanks to the leadership of Dennis Culliton, Co-founder of the Witness Stones Project and a history teacher at Adams. As students learn about slavery, they research the history of an enslaved individual who lived in Guilford and reconstruct the memory of that person through a written record using primary and secondary documents.
The project culminates in a public Installation Ceremony, which includes the presentation of the stories of each enslaved person who was researched that year. One student’s essay is selected for each of the enslaved individuals, and they each read to the audience their work describing the life and experience of the person. After the presentations, the Witness Stones are physically installed at the locations where each individual lived, worked, or prayed.
This year’s installation takes place on November 15, 2018 at 9:45 a.m. on the Guilford Green. It will feature a very special guest: Patricia Wilson Pheanious, who can trace her family back almost three centuries to her 6th great-grandparents, Montros and Phillis – enslaved persons who lived in Guilford. Phillis is one of the enslaved people studied and remembered in 2017, and Montros is being researched now. The other two people in the 2018 cohort are Jouachim and Pompey.
The town of Guilford was established through a Covenant, signed on June 1, 1639 by 25 Puritan white men. While Guilford behaves and is governed differently now, a significant part of the Covenant that remains ingrained in our community is caring for and helping “each to the other… according to every man’s ability and as need shall require.” In order to truly reflect our ideals of helping “each to the other,” we must acknowledge and confront the painful and shameful times in our history when we have not lived up to those ideals. This includes reflecting on and bearing witness to those who were enslaved here.
I’ll close with the opening paragraph from one of the essays on Candace, who was born in Guilford in 1751. The essay was written by then-8th grader Theo Freeman:
“Guilford, a small town on the Connecticut shoreline, in New Haven County, founded in 1639, is known for many positive historical events that shape what it is today. However, there are also many negative events that lots of people aren’t aware of. Slavery was one of these events. When you think of slavery, you don’t typically think of Guilford, Connecticut, but there definitely was slavery in Guilford. In addition, most of the unfortunate slaves involved have been forgotten. Guilford wouldn’t be the great town it is today without its history, so it’s important that these slaves are remembered and recognized.”
Each Witness Stone installation process is one step in a journey of a thousand. But it is one. Remembrance and reconciliation helps us navigate a path toward healing. We cannot change the past, but we can recognize the voices that were ignored and oppressed. Perhaps this is one step that leads us to a more just tomorrow – not only in Guilford, but everywhere.