Connecticut Freedom Trail in Greater New Haven
 
The Connecticut Freedom Trail documents and designates sites that embody the struggle toward freedom and human dignity and celebrates the accomplishments of the state's African American community. 860-256-2800, www.ctfreedomtrail.org 

First Baptist Church, 28 North St., Milford.  African Americans who fought in the American Revolution, names of six black soldiers from Milford are displayed on a memorial marker. 203-878-1178

Soldiers Monument, Milford Cemetery, Prospect St., Milford. Monument dedicated to American Revolutionary War prisoners whom the townspeople attempted to save when the British abandoned them. 46 American soldiers buried here in a common grave, including six black soldiers.

Westville Cemetery, Blake St. and Osborn Ave., New Haven. Concept of Freedom.

Edward A. Bouchet Monument, Evergreen Cemetery, 92 Winthrop Ave., New Haven. first African American to obtain a doctorate in any discipline and the first to be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, graduated summa cum laude in 1874 from Yale University. 203-624-5505

The People's Center, 37 Howe St., New Haven. Constructed in the 1850s, this building was acquired in 1938 by Jewish immigrant workers and was used as a social and cultural center for community groups, including African Americans. New Haven's first interracial drama group and first integrated basketball team were started here. 203-624-8664

Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church, 217 Dixwell Ave., New Haven. Its first African American minister was James W.C. Pennington (1809-1870). From 1841-1858, Amos Gerry Beman (1812-1874) was the pastor. Both were well-known African American leaders in the United States. 203-787-5839

Hannah Gray House, 235 Dixwell Ave., New Haven. Hannah Gray was a laundress and seamstress who used part of her income to promote the anti-slavery movement and support her church. Women's Twentieth Century Club, an organization of African American women. Privately owned.

Varick A. M. E. Zion Church, 242 Dixwell Ave., New Haven. Organized in 1818 when more than 30 African Americans left the Methodist Church to form their own congregation.

Goffe Street School, 106 Goffe St., New Haven. Built in 1864 to provide a much-needed facility for African American children. Closed ten years later after Connecticut ended racially segregated education. used by a number of organizations working with the African American community. Privately owned.

Battell Chapel
Battell Chapel
Michael Marsland/Yale University
Battell Chapel, Yale University, Elm and College Streets, New Haven. Represents the role that Yale Divinity School faculty and students played in assisting the Mende Africans of La Amistad. 203-432-1130

United Church on the Green, 323 Temple St., New Haven. Several members of earlier congregations were abolitionists who also assisted New Haven's free black community, including Roger Sherman Baldwin. 203-787-4195

Center Church on the Green, 250 Temple St., New Haven. Founded in 1639, the church had a congregation that was involved in developing support for the Mende African Amistad captives. 203-787-0121

Roger Sherman Baldwin Law Office Site, 123 Church St., New Haven. Roger Sherman Baldwin (1793-1863), a New Haven lawyer and abolitionist, represented the Mende African captives. With John Quincy Adams, he won freedom for the captives before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1841.

Amistad Memorial, 165 Church St., New Haven. Pays tribute to Joseph Cinque and the other Mende Africans who escaped slavery in 1839 by commandeering the Spanish ship La Amistad.

New Haven Museum, 114 Whitney Ave., New Haven. Contains many of New Haven's historical artifacts and art, including an on-going exhibition, "The Amistad Gallery." 203-562-4183, www.newhavenmuseum.org

Grove Street Cemetery, 227 Grove St., New Haven. The cemetery includes the graves of those active in the abolition movement, as well as those associated with African American history. A stone marker was dedicated in remembrance of the six Mende African captives of La Amistad buried here. www.grovestreetcemetery.org

William Lanson Site, Lock & Canal Streets, New Haven. African American William Lanson's (1776-1851) provided strength and leadership to New Haven's African American community and was elected Black Governor in 1825.

Soldiers and Sailors Monument, 41 Cold Spring St., New Haven. Dedicated June 1887, this 110-foot monument stands at the summit of East Rock Park, commemorating the New Haven soldiers who fell in four wars, including many from the Connecticut 29th Colored Regiment and the 31st Regiment U.S. Colored Troops.

Freedom Schooner Amistad, Seasonal, Long Wharf Pier, New Haven. A replica of the Spanish ship La Amistad. An educational ambassador promoting legacies of leadership, cooperation, perseverance and social justice inherent the Amistad Incident of 1839. Connecticut's official State Flagship. Seasonal programs. discoveringamistad.org

Long Wharf, 389 Long Wharf Dr., New Haven. Long Wharf was built by William Lanson, an African American. It was part of New Haven's port system before the steamship changed the way goods were brought into the United States.

Martha Minerva Franklin Gravesite, Walnut Grove Cemetery, 817 Old Colony Rd., Meriden. Born in New Haven, attended school in Meriden. Founded the National Association for Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN).  

George Jeffery House, 66 Hillside Ave., Meriden. Leading activist on the state and national level for civil, economic and political rights and equality for African Americans. Privately owned home, not open to the public.

James Davis House, 111 Goose Ln., Guilford. According to oral tradition, abolitionist and anti-slavery society member George Bartlett (1798-1893) hid fugitive slaves in a cellar on this property.

CT Freedom Trail map www.ctfreedomtrail.org/trail

Additional Events

British scholar Hannah-Rose Murray will present a lecture, "Frederick Douglass: New Haven to Great Britain," at the New Haven Museum, 114 Whitney Ave., on Feb. 21 at 5:30 p.m. Free. www.newhavenmuseum.org

Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St. in New Haven, will screen the "Native Son," the 1951 adaptation of Richard Wright's novel, on Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. Free. whc.yale.edu

Richard Wright's "Native Son" on Stage and Screen" is an exhibit at Beinecke Library on the Yale University campus in New Haven, until April 15. Free. beinecke.library.yale.edu

The exhibit Frederick Douglass In Ireland: The Black O'Connell is in Arnold Bernhard Library at Quinnipiac University, 275 Mt. Carmel Ave. in Hamden, until Jan. 28, 2019. Details here.
  • Quinnipiac University will host a memorial service in remembrance of Frederick Douglass on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. at its Center for Religion, 275 Mount Carmel Ave. 
    Douglass, the famed abolitionist leader, died on Feb. 20, 1895. The event is open to the public. Light refreshments will be served before the service.
Please visit our calendar for additional events.
 

This newsletter is produced in collaboration with the South Central Regional Council of Governments. www.scrcog.org