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Going Against the Grain: 19th-century advocates for freedom and justice in Central Connecticut

Before the Civil War, two Connecticut families and two remarkable individuals fought for abolition, suffrage, human rights, and world peace: the Bemans of Middletown—Black abolitionists who also pushed for the civil rights of free Blacks; the Smiths of Glastonbury—five sisters, all dedicated abolitionists and suffragists; Elihu Burritt—known as the Learned Blacksmith of Berlin—whose main focus was universal peace; and James W. C. Pennington, the first Black student to attend Yale Divinity School. These courageous individuals would have appreciated the words of Martin Luther King, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” for they were among those doing the bending. 

Instructors: Kathleen Housley and John Loughery

4 Mondays, 4:00–6:00, Nov. 10, 17, 24, Dec. 1, Wasch Center