Unforgotten is a cross-platform series and podcast chronicling 黑料吃瓜网's ties to slavery. Learn more.
It was a promise that changed Dick Bristol鈥檚 life.
More than two centuries ago, the enslaved man was sold to a slave holder in New Haven, 黑料吃瓜网, who prepared to embark on an ambitious expedition to the Far East on board the ship Neptune.
He asked Bristol to join him.
鈥淒ick鈥檚 conditional promise of freedom was that if he went on this trip, about three to four years, then he would have been free,鈥� Jason Thomas says.
Thomas, 15, is a student at in New Haven. His history class studied ship logs and archival documents to help piece together, for the first time, the story of Dick Bristol.
While many Americans grow up learning about slavery in the South, slavery also happened in the North 鈥� in 黑料吃瓜网 and across New England.
In recent years, experts, historians and volunteers have been uncovering 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 ties to slavery. But students in communities across the state are also chronicling the untold stories of the enslaved right where they live.
While plenty has been written about the Neptune鈥檚 voyage, the enslaved men aboard the ship have received far less attention from historians. The crew would depart from New Haven Harbor and trade seal skins for silk and tea.
Hillhouse students discovered that Bristol鈥檚 journey would end prematurely.
鈥淎fter about a year he was like, 鈥業 can鈥檛 do this anymore. They鈥檙e treating me worse than they did in New Haven.鈥� So he saw this ship,鈥� Thomas says. 鈥淚t was only about a football field away. He didn鈥檛 know how to swim, but he jumped off the ship and he tried to swim over there.鈥�
No one knows what happened to Dick Bristol after that.
'To understand things that I had not understood before'
Students at Hillhouse worked with researchers from the to uncover Dick Bristol鈥檚 story. The educational initiative aims 鈥渢o restore the history and honor the humanity鈥� of enslaved people who helped build 黑料吃瓜网. It鈥檚 one of several groups working with local school districts across the state.
For students, uncovering the stories of enslaved people more than 200 years ago is reframing how they think about themselves today.
鈥淲hen we brought this out to light, suddenly it shows this whole new aspect of what the Neptune was and how they achieved their goal,鈥� Thomas says.
鈥淚t allows me to understand things that I had not understood before, as a Black person myself. Once I understand my history, and I understand my background and I understand the background of those around me, I think it allows me to be a better person and be more of myself.鈥�
Adrienne Joy Burns is a public historian with the Witness Stones Project, doing primary research outside of the university setting.
When students truly engage with history, she says they see the world differently.
鈥淏ecause it tells us about how we get to the present, how history is made, why things are voted on today the way they are,鈥� she says.
Dennis Culliton, Witness Stones鈥� executive director and a former middle school history teacher, says society struggles with defining who is 鈥渢he other.鈥� The goal of the project, he says, is to help students realize that many people 鈥� enslaved and free 鈥� helped build 黑料吃瓜网.
鈥淲hat if the other is us? What if we鈥檙e the same?鈥� Culliton says. 鈥淲e want kids to close their eyes and think of colonial 黑料吃瓜网 and colonial America as a place where many people are contributing, not just people with certain last names and from certain heritages.鈥�
'They can鈥檛 imagine this actually happening'
Each Witness Stones project centers on one enslaved person and culminates with the installation of a small bronze plaque at a site where the person lived, worked or worshiped.
Henrik Sharpe, 14, a student at the , recently spent time studying the account book of the family of Deacon John Grave.
Grave鈥檚 historic home, known today as the 鈥�,鈥� still stands in the coastal 黑料吃瓜网 town.
Several people were enslaved here, records show.
In the late 1600s, the Grave family purchased a carpenter named Tome (pronounced 鈥淭ommy鈥�) and kept an account book listing money they earned by renting him to neighbors.
Students at the school studied the book.
Sharpe says he understands some people shy away from learning this hard history.
鈥淏ecause they can鈥檛 imagine this actually happening,鈥� Sharpe says. 鈥淏ut this stuff did happen. It was awful. It did happen. It was real.鈥�
For 14-year old Abby Calarco, learning about Tommy also led to personal introspection.
鈥淢y dad has light skin and my mom has dark skin. So I think it was always very important to me about where I came from,鈥� Calarco says. 鈥淎nd now I鈥檓 wondering if there were any of my ancestors around here, maybe even in this house? I think that鈥檚 possible.鈥�
'People were people'
Critical historical analysis and personal introspection are all parts of the Witness Stones process, says poet Jumoke McDuffie-Thurmond.
McDuffie-Thurmond, who works with students researching the lives of the enslaved, says it鈥檚 critical to think about the gap between dry historical documents and a person鈥檚 inner humanity.
鈥淭hese documents do not have a monopoly on truth, do not have a monopoly on reality,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd really important for younger folks, especially for children who are learning about slavery and the legacy and afterlives of slavery, [is] to resist this idea that people were property.鈥�
鈥淧eople were people 鈥� who were treated as property,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here were so many ways in which enslaved Black people in this country insisted upon and asserted their humanity.鈥�
Take the story of Lettice, a 6-year-old enslaved girl.
Twenty miles away in the town of Wallingford, students have been researching her story. They include 16-year-old Evelyn Reach and her brother, John, who鈥檚 18. They were introduced to Witness Stones when they were in middle school.
They helped bring the effort to . And they discovered that Lettice had been enslaved on land that is now the school campus.
Students examined records that show she was 6 years old when she died. And they learned that three months before her death, she had been baptized.
鈥淲hich we think may indicate that she was sick,鈥� John says.
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 able to find as many documents on Lettice,鈥� Evelyn says. 鈥淏ut we were able to find a lot more 鈥� documentation on the Atwater family, who had been her enslavers, due to the fact that they were so prominent in the Wallingford area.鈥�
Sitting on the Choate campus today, just steps away from where Lettice was enslaved, the siblings reflect on Lettice鈥檚 life 鈥� enslaved and a child.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really impactful,鈥� John says. 鈥淟ike, would she have played in the woods nearby?鈥�
Learning about 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 hidden history of slavery inspired John to look inward and to write a poem.
鈥淥ur forgotten are to be remembered,鈥� his poem concludes. 鈥淭hey are eternal in time and history, but only if there is history. I pick up a pen: An unending journey rises from the resting dust.鈥�
Uncovering a past this close, he says, makes it real.
鈥淚t takes history and it narrows it down to a point of just one life. And I think that鈥檚 powerful because it makes it personal and it makes it meaningful.鈥�
Read more from Unforgotten: 黑料吃瓜网's Hidden History of Slavery
Chapter 2: 鈥楾his is my country': A family learns their ancestors were enslaved in 黑料吃瓜网
About the series: Why we're reporting on 黑料吃瓜网's history of slavery
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