As we celebrate Black History Month, we must recognize the multitude of accomplishments in the advancement of African Americans that occurred in Connecticut. 

People might be familiar with Hartford resident Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, from reading the story in school or they have learned about the liberation of the captives on the slave ship, “Amistad,” from watching the movie about the New Haven trial. Unfortunately, most people are unaware of many moments, events, and contributions from residents in the state that also played a pivotal role in Black history. 

Connecticut was a primary gateway for the Underground Railroad, which was responsible for the liberation of many people who lived in the bondage of slavery in the South. Locations such as North Stonington, Wilton, Bloomfield, Stamford, Old Lyme, and Manchester are well-documented for their contribution to the freedom trail. Many of the homes used to hide enslaved people from being captured are still standing today. 

While many people are aware of the Amistad trials, many are unaware of the contributions by residents of Farmington; they welcomed the captives into their community and provided them with housing and education throughout the two-year trial, and after they acquired their freedom. 

While people in Connecticut celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., many are unaware that the civil rights icon attributes his time working in the tobacco fields of Simsbury as playing an essential role in his activism. 

While working in Connecticut as a teenager, for the first time, King, a person born and raised in Georgia, experienced life outside the confines of the segregationist South. King later explained that his experience in Connecticut was a life-changing moment that shaped his activism and crusade for civil rights for all people. Other important icons in Black history, such as Malcolm X, called Connecticut their home at times. Malcolm X opened a mosque in the North-End section of Hartford. 

From the state's contribution to the abolitionist movement, to civil rights icons in the struggle for equality who made Connecticut their home, when you celebrate Black History Month, take a moment and learn about the contributions to racial equality that occurred in your back yard.