When Wendy Tyson-Wood was 10 years old, she and her friends would roam around downtown Waterbury, she said.
鈥淲e would do the picture show, go to the library, go to the museum, get some candy and come home. So that was our whole routine every Saturday growing up,鈥� Tyson-Wood said.
She remembers that when they strolled through the Mattatuck Museum in downtown, she and her friends would stare at a display showing a bunch of bones.
鈥淲e just thought they were like a nice prop,鈥� Tyson-Wood said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 really read [the placard], we just walked through.鈥�
Later in her life, Tyson-Wood would read it and learn that those bones had belonged to an enslaved man named who lived in Waterbury and died in 1798. 鈥淸T]he doctor who was [his] legal owner stripped Fortune's flesh from his bones and kept Fortune's skeleton for medical study,鈥� , a historian and the executive director of the Silas Bronson Library in Waterbury. Fortune鈥檚 skeleton was later displayed in the Mattatuck Museum until 1970.
黑料吃瓜网 was the last state in New England to have slavesaccording to the 1850 Census.
Slavery continued to exist in 黑料吃瓜网 long after Fortune died. It wasn鈥檛 officially outlawed in the state until 1848 鈥� only 17 years before the last enslaved people in the U.S., in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom, an event now commemorated by the Juneteenth holiday.
Growing up, Tyson-Wood, who is now secretary of the Greater Waterbury NAACP, said she was hungry for stories about enslaved people in the North. Her parents and grandparents didn鈥檛 talk about it because it was too painful, she said. 鈥淏ut 鈥� it kind of like was part of the DNA,鈥� Tyson-Wood said, 鈥淵ou wanted to know, 鈥榟ow did they do that?鈥� We talk about slavery, but they lived it.鈥�
That history, it turns out, had been right under her feet. The Silas Bronson Library, the one she walked through on Saturdays, was built on top of Waterbury鈥檚 first burial ground. The cemetery included a segregated section with the remains of about 40 enslaved people, as well as free African Americans and Native Americans who lived in the area in the 18th and 19th centuries.
About 10 years ago, Tyson-Wood started to dig into of the enslaved and freed people of color who lived in this region in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Her curiosity led her to Guest, who researched
A gradual end to slavery in the North
While slavery wasn鈥檛 abolished in 黑料吃瓜网 until 1848, the state began to phase it out decades earlier. In 1784, it passed the Act of Gradual Abolition.
鈥淕radually, eventually there wouldn鈥檛 be slavery, but they didn鈥檛 outlaw slavery. They just said, 鈥業f you were born into slavery in 黑料吃瓜网, you would be free upon becoming an adult,鈥欌�� Guest said, adding that lawmakers at the time worried the sudden end of slavery would be too disruptive to the state鈥檚 agricultural economy.
When New York abolished slavery in the 1827, it encouraged a developing abolition movement in 黑料吃瓜网, Guest said. Around the same time, former enslaved people in the state started to petition for the right to vote.
鈥淭hey tried, and they tried, and they tried, and it never passed in 黑料吃瓜网,鈥� Guest said. The question was put up as a ballot measure, and voters overwhelmingly said no. 鈥淭he year after they failed to get the vote, 黑料吃瓜网 said, 鈥淲e haven't actually outlawed slavery, so we'll do that,鈥欌�� Guest said.
By the time the state officially ended slavery, Guest estimates there were still 12 to 17 people enslaved there.
黑料吃瓜网 was the last state in New England to have slaves, according to the . 鈥淚鈥檓 still shocked at that,鈥� said Tyson-Wood.
Guest and the Mattatuck Museum compiled biographies for about , some freed and some enslaved, who lived in Waterbury in the 18th and early 19th centuries. In some cases, all they could find was just a name and location.
But Tyson-Wood says those clues give her actual people to celebrate on Juneteenth.
鈥淚 look at this day as a chance for me to reflect on where they were and how can I still honor them during the next part of my life,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e're still trying to ask for answers, and hopefully, they might be able to offer some through their lives and their history.鈥�
Here's a look at Juneteenth celebrations across 黑料吃瓜网
The Greater Waterbury NAACP will gather in front of the Silas Bronson Library on Juneteenth this year to commemorate the lives of those resting below.
Tyson-Wood said she wants to help Black and brown children in Waterbury learn that their history didn鈥檛 begin with slavery.
鈥淲e had a whole beautiful life, and culture 鈥� that we bring into this new world we鈥檙e living in,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd how can we take all that and feel empowered to know that you鈥檙e not here by chance.鈥�
Learn more about the Greater Waterbury NAACP鈥檚 Juneteenth memorial and other celebrations around the state: Here's a look at Juneteenth celebrations across 黑料吃瓜网
