Stories from Hartford's Grassroots
Nation-building at the point of a Gatling Gun June 19th marks several significant incidents in Connecticut history. First is Juneteenth, an important locus in the African American liberty route to abolition. June 19, 1865 was proclaimed slavery’s end (two years late) to the people of Galveston Texas. On that same date fourteen years later that […]
The 1986–1990 Colt Firearms strike in Hartford, Connecticut, was a landmark four-year labor dispute where 1,000+ UAW region 9a, Local 376 members fought for safe work, better wages and against unfair labor practices It is considered one of the longest strikes in U.S. history, ending in a victory for workers with a buyout, back pay, […]
Jack Smith, former UConn student and Marine veteran, throws his medals at the U.S. Capitol, 1971 I was a freshman in college when the Vietnam War came home. In 1970 two dozen Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on a Kent State student protest, killing Allison Krause, 19, Jeffrey Miller, 20, Sandra Lee Scheuer, 20, and […]
'Radical Connecticut' surveys people's history of a small New England state
The hotel ballroom floor was covered with turf. Three dozen horses arrived by elevator. Trays were attached to saddles. The millionaire’s dinner party had begun. New York’s Cornelius Billings made his money the old fashioned way: he inherited it. Why not host a clever little soirée? The 1903 event cost a mere $1.2 million. Today, the lifestyles […]
Reviews of ‘Radical Connecticut’ “This is people’s history at its best…a monumental work of scholarship that is also loads of fun to read…they inspire all of us to see that we too live in places alive with radical history.” —Kristin Lawler, Professor of Sociology, of Mount Saint Vincent, New York “Needed insight and perspective on […]
She was known as the “Mayor of Columbia Gardens.” Maria Cappetto and her husband Peter were long-time residents in the South Meadow tract designated for the flower and vegetable plots the City considered “war gardens.” Like hundreds of other Hartford people who migrated from the Front Street neighborhood (aka Little Italy) the Cappettos preferred the […]
WE will never be able to measure the financial waste, false hopes and human pain caused by relentless race and class discrimination in Hartford. Real estate businesses, banks, insurance companies and powerful politicians have–at least since the 1930s–conspired to create hidden policies that keep the races apart. Through racist practice, law, and government edict, these […]
Ernie Fiorillo and his daughter Patricia Fiorillo were informed on April 5, 1980 that their 65-year-old building was slated for demolition. Pat had been living there her entire life. The reason for their eviction? The apartments at 9 Clinton Street were owned by Bushnell Memorial Hall. The corporation’s managing director Leland S. Jamieson, Jr. stated […]
With three million homeless people nationwide in 1988, in the land of Ronald Reagan’s criminal domestic policies, and a housing vacancy rate of almost zero in Hartford, People’s Housing Action forms to sharpen public focus on this basic human right. Starting with a two day, 28-mile walk from Willimantic to Hartford, protesters communicate the hard, […]
Walking into the King-Davis union building in Hartford CT, the first thing you see is a very large photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. standing behind a podium with “1199” on front. The spirit of Dr.King– and founding union president Leon Davis– played a major role in the most recent union victory for thousands […]
A working man, known only as John, ended his life in 1907 on Arch Street in New Britain. He was a machinist by trade, but he had been unemployed for many months. John’s wife and child had both died the previous year. He was about 60 years old. He had nothing to live for, he […]
I visited my father’s grave at the veterans cemetery in Windsor the other day. He had been in the Army Air Corps during the second world war. I realized that we spoke very little about his military time in Europe during the fight against fascism. That’s the purpose of collective remembrance on Memorial Day, I […]
Each Labor Day, leaders of Connecticut industry scramble to assure us that their employees are all valued and respected. The Wall Street Journal tells us so. But how would we measure that? Not with wage comparisons. Not with health and safety on the job. Not with sick days or vacation pay. Maybe turkeys at Christmas. […]
In July 2020, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Prize was awarded to Albert Woodfox for his book Solitary. Woodfox, known as one of the Angola Three, spent four decades in solitary confinement for a crime he did not commit: “The Angola Three resolved never to be broken by the grinding inhumanity and corruption that effectively held […]
