Connecticut
A Decade of Impact for ‘African American Connecticut Explored’
Frank Mitchell, Fiona Vernal, and Camesha Scruggs (from left to right) discuss the impact of African American Connecticut Explored at the New Haven Museum on Thursday. Photos Kapp Singer.
The New Haven Museum convened a group of historians to kickoff Black History month and celebrate the ten year anniversary of African American Connecticut Explored, a sweeping book highlighting “the long arc of the African American experience in Connecticut.”
The Thursday evening celebration—which was also livestreamed—focused on how the book has inspired a new generation of historians and galvanized the study of African American history in high schools across the state. The event also leads into the New Haven Museum’s upcoming exhibit, “Shining Light on Truth,” opening Feb. 14, which highlights previously untold histories about Black enslavement and resistance in New Haven. The exhibit includes research findings from the Yale & Slavery History Project and coincides with the Feb. 16 publication of David W. Blight’s much-anticipated book Yale and Slavery: A History. A preview discussion with the exhibit’s curators, David Jon Walker and Michael Morand, will be held Monday, Feb. 5 at the Beinecke Library. The event will also be streamed on Zoom.
In over 50 essays, the African American Connecticut Explored addresses everything from the lives of enslaved African Americans and their impact of slavery on the state’s economy, to the role of abolitionists in the fight for freedom. It covers the Black Panther trials in New Haven, Jackie Robinson’s racial justice work off the field in Hartford and Stamford, and depictions of Black life in the novels of Ann Petry. Those are some of the book’s numerous accounts of cultural and civil rights leaders across 350 years of history. African American Connecticut Explored was developed by the monthly history magazine Connecticut Explored in collaboration with the Amistad Center for Arts & Culture, and published by Wesleyan University Press.
“The exploration, study, reading, and writing of African American history in Connecticut is an ongoing march which we can never retreat from,” said Stacey Close, a professor of African-American history at Eastern Connecticut State University and an editor of African American Connecticut Explored.
Close explained that the book was instrumental in the passage of Connecticut Public Act 19-12, which requires high schools to offer courses in African American history and Puerto Rican history.
“Having been raised by a family with farming roots in Georgia, and attending public schools there for 12 years, not a single word about an African American was ever issued in any of my history courses in high school—not one,” Close said.
Public Act 19-12 is the first of its kind in the United States, and much of the curricula resulting from the bill is derived from the history uncovered in African American Connecticut Explored.
Stacey Close.
“We’ve been building great momentum around these stories,” said Frank Mitchell, also an editor of the book and the curator-at-large at the Amistad Center for Art & Culture, “but there’s still a lot more to do.”
“It’s a really old state, and people open boxes every day and find new things,”he added.
Mitchell moderated a panel with professors Fiona Vernal and Camesha Scruggs where they discussed the impact of the book on their work and how they imagine the future of public history in Connecticut.
Vernal, an associate professor of history and Africana studies at the University of Connecticut, said African American Connecticut Explored was essential background reading as her research interests expanded to include the history of the African diaspora in Connecticut. She is working on Hartford Bound, a book and digital humanities project examining how race, migration, and mobility have impacted the urban history of Hartford.
“There are so many stories to tell,” said Vernal, who was inspired by the biographical approach to writing history she saw in African American Connecticut Explored. Today, she is particularly excited about uncovering the story of Catharine Freeebody, a 19th century Black philanthropist who donated much of her estate to support Hartford’s first African American church.
“Public history has always been telling the story of people who look like me,” said Scruggs, an assistant professor of history at Central Connecticut State University. She is currently researching the experiences of African Americans in Connecticut in the early 20th century.
“At the end of the day, historical figures were just normal people with normal lives,” Scruggs said.
Following the panel discussion, Mitchell turned to the audience to ask what they wanted to see in the future for public history in Connecticut. Some encouraged more research into the intersection of Native American and African American history, while others mentioned an expansion of Public Act 19-22 to include African American history before high school.
Wesleyan University Press Editor-in-Chief Suzanna Tamminen sells books following the panel.
Michael Ellison, who teaches at a preschool program at Augusta Lewis Troup School and is the superintendent of the Sunday school at St. Matthew’s church on Dixwell Avenue, said that he wants to bring the stories from African American Connecticut Explored to inspire his students.
“Children played a big part in the boycott struggle in the South,” Ellison said. “I’m gonna try to see if they have any history on what children did in New England.”
“The Connecticut books that we’ve published have not only been some of the most fun to work on, but also the most meaningful,” said Wesleyan University Press Editor-in-Chief Suzanna Tamminen.
“There is the sense that we’re bringing people together and serving a critical need,” she said.
Connecticut
Florida High School State Bronze Medalist Dajah German Verbals To Connecticut For Fall 2027
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Florida high school state bronze medalist Dajah German has announced her verbal commitment to swim and study at the University of Connecticut beginning in the fall of 2027. She publicized the news on SwimCloud, writing:
I am so excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at the University of Connecticut! I’m incredibly grateful for everyone who has supported me throughout this journey, my family, coaches, teammates, and friends who have pushed me to be my best throughout the years. And a very special thank you to Coach Chris and Coach Nicole for believing in me and giving me this opportunity. I’m so excited for what’s ahead. GO HUSKIES!
A rising senior at Fort Lauderdale High School in Florida, German trains year-round with Swim Fort Lauderdale and primarily specializes in the sprint and middle-distance freestyle events.
German has improved each year of her high school career, most recently dropping from 23.78, 51.39, and 1:50.56 in the 50/100/200 free to 23.54, 51.35, and 1:49.69 during the 2025-26 short course season.
German’s top meet of the season was the Florida Senior Championships in March, where she recorded her current PBs in both the 50 and 200 free. She finished second in the 500 free (4:55.94) and 1650 free (17:02.78), third in both the 50 free and 200 free, and fifth in the 100 free (51.43). She set her current 100 free PB at a smaller holiday meet in December. In the 500 free, she clocked a season-best 4:55.21 at the Speedo Cup in January, with her lifetime best of 4:53.19 coming at the 2025 Florida Senior Championships.
German has qualified for the FHSAA (Florida High School Athletic Association) State Championships for the past three years, with her top performance coming at the 2025 iteration in November. She placed third in the 50 free (23.96), fifth in the 500 free (5:01.12), and helped Fort Lauderdale to fourth place in both the 200 free relay (24.64 leadoff) and 400 free relay (53.08 anchor).
Top SCY Times:
- 50 Freestyle: 23.54
- 100 Freestyle: 51.35
- 200 Freestyle: 1:49.69
- 500 Freestyle: 4:53.19
A Division I Mid-Major program, Connecticut competes in the Big East, with the women’s team placing second out of seven teams at this past season’s conference championships. German’s current lifetime bests would have placed third in the 200 free, fourth in the 500 free, eighth in the 50 free, and ninth in the 100 free, setting her up as an immediate contributor with two full seasons of training still ahead before her first conference meet.
German joins Anna Mumford, Lyla Devlin, Lena Brown, and Louisa Holda in committing to the Huskies’ class of 2031 so far.
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].
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Here are the forecast details for northern Connecticut via the National Weather Service:
Today: Sunny, with a high near 80. Light west wind increasing to 6 to 11 mph in the morning.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 56. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Monday: A chance of showers before 2pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 2pm and 4pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 4pm. Increasing clouds, with a high near 76. Calm wind becoming southeast around 6 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Monday Night: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Low around 59. Southeast wind around 8 mph becoming southwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between three quarters and one inch possible.
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