EAST HADDAM — Venture Smith, who lived from 1729 to 1805 and became the first Black man to document his capture in Africa and life as an enslaved person, will be memorialized for the 29th year during a Connecticut Freedom Trail celebration Sept. 6.
The event will run from 1 to 4 p.m. in the First Church Cemetery at 499 Town St., where Smith is buried.
Smith was captured in about 1736 when he was 7, and sold for “4 gallons of rum and some calico” to the steward of a Rhode Island slave ship, according to a press release. He grew up enslaved on Fishers Island, New York, it continued.
He lived and worked on Long Island to raise money to purchase the freedom of his wife and children. During these years, he cut wood, farmed, fished, and spent seven months on a whaling voyage, the news release said.
In 1774, Smith, "well-known and respected," sold all his land on Long Island and in Stonington and moved his family to East Haddam, where he began purchasing land on Haddam Neck along the Salmon River Cove. His grave is one of the original sites on the Freedom Trail.
This year's speakers include Akeia de Barros Gomes, director of the Edward W. Kane and Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History at the Newport Historical Society, who will present “There's a World of Something in This: Enslavement, Identity, Freedom-Making in Newport, Rhode Island.”
She leads the development and implementation of the Center for Black History at the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House in Newport, and is also a visiting scholar and adjunct lecturer at Brown University’s Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice.
Trained genealogist John Mills, president of the the Connecticut-based nonprofit Alex Breanne Corp., will present “Refocusing the Lens of Reverence.” In his talk about the Black experience in Connecticut, he will highlight the impacts of the "erasure," and benefits to be gained by sharing untold stories, the statement said.
East Haddam municipal historian Karl P. Stofko, a Smith family genealogist since the 1970s, will talk about “What’s New with Venture & Three Justices of the Peace Who Assisted Venture in His Land Purchases.” Stofko, who received the 2022 Award of Merit for Individual Achievement from the Connecticut League of History Organizations, co-authored “A Brief History of East Haddam, Connecticut.”
He is also a member of the Freedom Trail Committee and chairman of the annual Venture Smith Day celebrations.
Also, The Sisters in Stitches Joined by the Cloth of eastern Massachusetts will return to show off their African American quilts. Smith’s family genealogy, family photos and artifacts from their trip to Ghana will be on display. A wreath-laying ceremony by the descendants of Smith and the family reunion photograph will take place in the cemetery by his grave.
All ages are encouraged to attend. For questions, call 860-873-9375. To review the original Venture Smith Narrative, go to docsouth.unc.edu.
A new Smith exhibit is on display at the East Haddam Historical Society and Museum, 264 Town St., which will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 6.
Attendees are encouraged to bring a chair or blanket to sit on outside. Refreshments will be served following the event. For more information, visit easthaddamhistory.org.