Southwestern Freedom Trail Quilt Display

Battell Chapel

 New Haven

 J.P. Morgan

Represents the role that Yale Divinity School faculty and students played in assisting the Amistad Africans, and offers an exhibition of relevant materials maintained by Yale.

Walter's Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church

Bridgeport

Cynthia Norton, Claudia Green

Walter's Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church has been located at this site since 1882. When its original structure was destroyed by fire in 1951, the current building was erected on the surviving foundation. The building is one of the few reminders of an earlier African American Community known as "Little Liberia." Made up of free blacks, former slaves and their descendants, and migrants from the South, this community supported two churches, a school, and a number of individual homes.

New Haven Colony Historical Society

New Haven

Ruth Anderson

Is a Colonial Revival style building that contains many New Haven artifacts, including a portrait of Joseph Cinque, the leader of the Africans who revolted on the Amistad.

Nero Hawley's Grave

Trumbull

Tamora Syphrett

Nero Hawley was one of numerous slaves in Connecticut who joined the Continental Army during the American Revolution and were freed at the end of the war. He served at Valley Forge, and his life is featured in the book From Valley Forge to Freedom, which also notes other areas of Trumbull associated with Hawley's life. Hawley died in 1817 at the age of 75. Riverside Cemetery is a short walk off Daniel's Farm Road and near Route 127. Hawley's grave is in the center row, near the far end of this small cemetery.

First Baptist Church of Milford

Milford

Heather A. Williams

Memorial to six black soldiers from Milford who served in the Revolutionary War: Job Caesar, Pomp Cyrus, Juba Freeman, Peter Gibbs, William Sower, Congo Zado. Dedicated at a special ceremony in 1976, it is displayed in front of the First Baptist Church, an African American Congregation.

Amistad Memorial

New Haven

Dixwell Senior Center: Sadie Holley, Mattie Dew, Ann Louther, Florence Cables, Shirley Wilcox, Irrita Osborne, Charlotte Williams

This memorial, dedicated in 1992, pays tribute to Joseph Cinque and the other Africans who escaped slavery in 1839 by commandeering the Spanish ship Amistad. The memorial was created by Ed Hamilton and stands where the New Haven Jail was located at the time the African captives were housed there.

Trowbridge Square

New Haven

Heather A. Williams

The noted abolitionist Simeon Jocelyn developed Trowbridge Square in the 1830s in partnership with architect and builder Isaac Thompson. The area was established for New Haven's low-income working class population and was meant to be a model egalitarian residential community populated by African Americans and whites.

Milford Cemetery

Milford

Laura Harden

Located throughout Connecticut are graves of the African Americans who fought in the American Revolution. However, stones or markers seem to exist for only a few of them. In the town cemetery in Milford, to the right of the long driveway, is a monument dedicated to American Revolutionary War prisoners whom townspeople tried to save when the prisoners were abandoned by the British. At the foot of this monument is a large white stone listing the names of Milford's soldiers who served in the war.

Goffe Street School

New Haven

Heather A. Williams

The former Goffe Street School was built in 1864 to provide a much-needed facility for African American children. It closed ten years later, after Connecticut ended racially segregated education, and many of its former students attended predominantly white public schools. Subsequently used by a number of organizations working with the African American community, the building was purchased in 1929 by the Grand Lodge of Prince Hall Masons of Connecticut. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is known as Widow's Son Lodge #1.

Center Church on the Green

New Haven

Blanche Baldwin

The church had a congregation that was involved in developing support for the Amistad captives. It was founded in 1638, and beneath the present 1812-1814 building is a cemetery dating back to colonial times. The property is a National Landmark.

United Church on the Green

New Haven

Jo Buchanan, Carol Buell

This building was originally known as the North Church (Congregational) which merged with the Third Church (Congregational) in 1884 to create the United Church. Several members of the two earlier congregations were abolitionists who also assisted New Haven's free black community. They included Roger Sherman Baldwin, Nathaniel and Simeon Jocelyn, and the Reverend Samuel Dutton. Baldwin, a lawyer, was active in the defense of the Amistad Africans and is commemorated by a plaque inside the church. The church is included in the New Haven Green National Historic Landmark District.

Sachem Country House

Guilford

Jerilyn Goodwater

See the Underground Railroad overview.

New Haven People's Center

New Haven

Susan Klein

Constructed in the 1850s, this building was acquired in 1938 by Jewish immigrant workers and 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. During its early years, the Center succeeded in getting African Americans admitted to some craft unions in the city; it also attempted, without success, to force the Connecticut Bus Company to hire black drivers. Activities of the Center on behalf of African Americans were forerunners of initiatives which, 25 years later, ended some racial injustices in society.

Hannah Gray Home

New Haven

Heather A. Williams

Hannah Gray was a laundress and seamstress who used part of her income to promote the antislavery movement and support her church. Through her will, Gray donated her house at 158 Dixwell Avenue (no longer extant) to be used as a refuge for "indigent Colored Females". Because her will did not include funding to administer the home, it was almost sold for delinquent taxes in 1904. It was saved by the Women's Twentieth Century Club, an organization for African American Women, which took responsibility for maintaining it. The present Hannah Gray house at 235 Dixwell Avenue, acquired in 1911 and accommodating more residents than the original structure, continues in operation in accordance with its founder's goals. The building is included in the Winchester Repeating Arms Company National Register Historic District.

The Ovals

Wilton

Jane Nettleton

See the Underground Railroad overview.

Varick Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church

New Haven

Heather A. Williams

Varick African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was organized in 1818 when more than 30 African Americans left the Methodist Church to form their own congregation. In 1820, it became officially affiliated with the Zionist church movement of James Varick, who helped lead a separation from white Methodism because African American preachers were not permitted to be ordained. By 1841, the church had a building on Broad Street, but it relocated in 1872 to Foote Street. In 1908, the present building was constructed, and it was here that Booker T. Washington made his last public speech before his death in 1915. The church is included in the Winchester Repeating Arms Company National Register Historic District.

Dixwell Congregational Church

New Haven

Dorothy Harper

Was founded in 1820 under the direction of Simeon Jocelyn. In 1829, it affiliated with Congregationalists and became known as Temple Street Congregational Church. Its first African American minister was James W.C. Pennington, and from 1841 to 1858 Amos Gerry Beman was the pastor. Both were well-known African American leaders in the United States. During Beman's ministry, the growth of the church made it necessary to relocate the congregation to a new building. By 1836, the church moved to Dixwell Avenue, where it developed numerous community programs under the Reverend Edward Goin. These programs later became associated with the Dixwell Community House. The present structure was built in 1968.

Washburn Tavern

Oxford

Heather A. Williams

See the Underground Railroad overview.

Long Wharf

New Haven

Renny Loisel, Heather A. Williams

Was part of New Haven's port system before the steamship changed the way goods were brought into the United States. The life-size working replica of the Amistad is docked here. This ship offers exhibitions and programs on African American history, and sails to other ports to participate in events.

Grove Street Cemetery

New Haven

Heather A. Williams

This cemetery opened in 1796 and replaced the Old Burial Ground located on the New Haven Green. Many New Haven residents who were well known in American life are buried here. The cemetery includes the graves of those active in the abolition movement, as well as those associated with African American history.

Lantern Block

The North Star and lantern are the key elements of the logo of the Connecticut Freedom Trail.