NORWICH MURAL
LOCATION: 22-70 Market St, Norwich, CT 06360
ARTIST: Emida Roller & Samson Tonton
CREATION DATE: 2021
The Norwich Mural celebrates a timeline of civil rights and humanitarian history with an eye towards local Norwich figures.
WATCH THE CREATION OF THE MURAL BELOW
ABOUT THE MURAL
Aaron Dwight Stevens
1831 - 1860
Aaron Dwight Stevens joined abolitionist John Brown in the raid on Harpers Ferry, VA was he was captured, convicted and hung.
Aaron D. Stevens was born in Lisbon, Connecticut and grew up in Norwich, Connecticut. At the age of 16, he ran away and enlisted in the Cushing’s Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment.
In 1856, Aaron Stevens joined abolitionist John Brown, also from Connecticut, in “Bleeding Kansas.” In 1859, he participated in the raid on Harpers Ferry in Virginia led by John Brown along with 20 other men who opposed slavery. It was at Harpers Ferry, Brown, Stevens and the other raiders were trapped. While trying to negotiate a truce, Aaron D. Stevens was shot in the face and chest area and was captured and imprisoned along with John Brown.
Aaron D. Stevens was convicted of conspiring with slaves to revolt and he was sentenced to death by hanging. His last words to Brown were, “Captain Brown, I’ll see you in a better land.” He was one of John Brown’s bravest and most devoted followers.
Over 160 years later, officials from the State of Connecticut are seeking a pardon for Aaron Dwight Stevens for his crimes posthumously.
CATO MEAD
1761 - 1846
Cato Mead is the only known black Revolutionary War veteran buried west of the Mississippi River.
Cato Mead was fourteen years old when he enlisted in the private regiment of the Connecticut Line in service to the United States led by Captain John McGregor and Colonel John Durkee of Norwich for one year. He was honorably discharged in the State of New York. He returned to Norwich and again enlisted in the same company under the same command and remained when it was transferred to the company of Captain Warner until he was discharged at Peekskill, New York.
Mead served at Valley Forge from December 1777 through 1778 where he
contracted small pox and spent two months in a Pennsylvania hospital. The sores on his legs never healed completely but it was not until September 18, 1827 that a gratuitous amputation was performed for a fungous exestises.
After his honorable discharge from the military, Mead married and settled in
Oneida, New York raising sheep and earning a living as a spinner and weaver.
After a fire destroyed his home, he and his wife traveled west with the Mormons settling on farmland near Montrose, Iowa.
When it was necessary for Mead to appear in person at Fort Madison to collect his veterans pension two local leaders went with him to speak of his high value to the community.
Cato Mead died around April 25, 1846 and his wife died ten days later.
In 1969, the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a stone in honor of the Revolutionary War soldier that had lived and died in Montrose, Iowa.
In 2005 the official U. S. Census of 1840 was examined to reveal that the revolutionary soldier was a black man making him the first known black, revolutionary war soldier found to be buried west of the Mississippi River.
He, however, was not the last to be uncovered.
29TH REGIMENT CONNECTICUT VOLUNTEER
1863 - 1865
Recruiting began in autumn of 1862. On March 4, 1863 Lt. Colonel William B. Wooster, took command of the Connecticut Twenty-Ninth Colored Regiment organized, recognized and mustered into the service of the United States on March 8, 1863 at Fair Haven, CT. On March 9, 1863 the regiment marched aboard the transport “Warrior” and sailed out of New Haven Harbor to Annapolis, Maryland.
243 of the men enlisted in Norwich, CT. Six men were born in Norwich and twelve listed Norwich, CT as their place of residence. Their complexions on the roster listed black, colored, dark or yellow. Two men, Edward Francis and Henry Musharue were substitutes for Norwich residents James L. Hubbard and Charles O. Bliss. Occupations of the men from Norwich were farmers, sailors, laborers, mechanics and waiters.
Others of the regiment in civilian life were Saloon Keeper, Herb Doctor, Musician, Hatter, Stone Mason, Grain Measurer, Quarryman, Chairmaker, clothes cleaner, slater, stevedore, tailor, sail maker, photographer, daguerrman, cook, and butcher.
The soldiers participated in siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond and were engaged in the battles of Petersburg, Chaffins Farm, New Market Road and Kell House. The Connecticut 29th Colored Regiment was the first infantry regiment to enter Richmond, Virginia when the city surrendered during the Siege of Petersburg.
A 35-star US “National” flag was presented to the unit when it became a part of the 25th Army Corps in March 1865. Final muster was on October 24, 1865 at New Orleans with final discharge and pay in Hartford, CT on November 25, 1865.
HIRAM BINGHAM IV
1903 - 1988
Hiram Bingham, IV was a “Righteous and Honorable Diplomat"
Hiram “Harry” Bingham, IV was one of seven sons of former Governor of Connecticut and U.S. SenatorHiram Bingham III. He served in Kobe, Japan, as a civilian secretary in the United States Embassy and he worked part-time as a schoolteacher.
Hiram “Harry” Bingham IV first assignment in the United States Foreign Service was in China. He was also stationed in Japan, Poland, and England before Marseilles, France as a U. S. vice consul in charge of visas. A visa could be the difference between life or death. During the Vichy regime in 1940, thousands of German refugees poured into Southern France to escape from advancing armies and inevitable concentration camp imprisonment. Germany, at this time, was not an enemy of the United States. The issuing of the visas went against the official policies of the United States. Hiram Bingham’s action of assisting with smuggling refugees and sometimes sheltering them in his home was a violation of his orders and the laws governing France.
Before “Harry” was transferred to Lisbon in the summer of 1941, he was directly or indirectly responsible for the saving the lives of 2,000 or more people. Bingham's last post was in Buenos Aires and he resigned from the Foreign Service in 1945.
VIRGINIA D CHRISTIAN
1930 - 1998
Virginia D. Christian was elected to the Norwich City Council in 1965, becoming the first black person on a council in New London County
Virginia D. Christian was born and raised in Washington, D.C., where she graduated from Howard University with a Bachelor of Science Degree. In 1952, she moved to Norwich, Connecticut where she worked as a nuclear engineer and later received her Master’s in physics from the University of Connecticut.
In the early 1960’s, she was a charter member of the NAACP Norwich Branch and a founding member of the Westside Community Action Committee. She served on its board of directors of the Westside Community Action Committee and was very instrumental in raising funds to purchase the the Dr. Martin Luther King Center building on Fairmount Street.
In 1965, she was elected to the Norwich City Council, becoming the first black person on a council in New London County. In 1967, she was the first black person appointed by Gov. John Dempsey to the State Board of Education and later she was appointed to the State Board of Trustees for Technical Colleges. In 1972, Christian and Henry A. Randall were the first two blacks elected to the Norwich Board of Education. In 1984, she was elected to the William W. Backus Hospital Board of Corporators.
DAVID RUGGLES
1810 - 1849
was an abolitionist who helped to free over 600 enslaved blacks including Frederick Douglass and James L. Smith
David Ruggles was born in Lyme, Connecticut as a free black. The Ruggles family moved to Norwich, Connecticut and he attended the Sabbath School for the Poor in Norwich. At the age of 16, he moved to New York, worked as a mariner and later opened a grocery store. He became involved in the temperance abolitionist movements while living in New York.
David Ruggles began writing for abolitionist newspapers and he published the first periodical by a black American against slavery. He printed, published, and sold copies of abolitionist newspapers at his bookstore. In 1835, David Ruggles helped to form the New York Committee of Vigilance, and interracial group. In 1838, he helped and mentored Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave from Maryland and James L. Smith, an escaped slave from Virginia and Sojourner Truth. He is credited with helping over 600 enslaved blacks to freedom.
David Ruggles’ had almost gone blind and suffered ailing health by the age of 28. In 1842, he moved to Florence, Massachusetts and his health improved with hydrotherapy, a popular water cure during this time. He studied and practiced hydrotherapy and in 1846, he ran his own hydrotherapy hospital
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
1817 - 1895
Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland. In 1838, he escaped slavery and arrived in New York and lived in a safe house of abolitionist David Ruggles, formerly lived in Norwich, Connecticut. He relocated to Massachusetts and began attending meetings of the abolitionist movement where he met are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world, from birth until death.
HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Human Rights are commonly understood as inalienable, fundamental rights "to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being" and which are "inherent in all human beings", regardless of their age, race, ethnic origin, location, language, religion, ethnicity, or any other status. They are applicable everywhere and at every time in the sense of being universal, and they are egalitarian in the sense of being the same for everyone.
Human rights encompass a wide variety of rights such as the right to a fair trial, protection against enslavement, medical care, sufficient clean water, prohibition of genocide, ethnic cleansing, free speech, or a right to education, etc.
Many of the basic ideas that animated the human rights movement developed in the aftermath of the Second World War and the events of the Holocaust, culminating in the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
From this foundation, the modern human rights arguments emerged over the latter half of the 20th century, possibly as a reaction to slavery, torture, genocide, and war crimes, as a realization of inherent human vulnerability, and as being a precondition for the possibility of a just society.
To create a strong community we as global citizens must raise our voices against any human rights violations happening anywhere in the world and must recognize and condemn past human rights violations no matter where they have happened.
Hate must be denounced and we must recognize all human races as one.
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Civil Rights guarantees of equal social opportunities and equal protection under the law, regardless of race, religion, or other personal characteristics.
Mr. Asa Philip Randolph, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was the voice of the early Civil Rights Movement. In 1941, he organized the first March on Washington but it was called off after President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, banning discriminatory employment practices by Federal agencies and all unions and companies engaged in war-related work. Mr. Randolph became a mentor to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and he later headed the 1963 March on Washington, one of the biggest civil rights rallies in U.S. history.
In 1954, Thurgood Marshall, NAACP civil rights attorney, won a landmark victory in the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v Board of Education of Topeka that outlawed segregation in public schools and he continued to win important civil rights cases. In 1967, he became the first black American to be appointed as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to move from her front seat on the bus. As a result, Dr. King led a boycott of the bus system and it lasted over one year. In 1956, the U.S. District court ruled that racial segregation on buses was unconstitutional. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is remembered as the most notable leader of the modern Civil Rights Movement.
The NAACP was successful in getting landmark legislation passed such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965and others. In the 21st century, the NAACP continues to tackle today’s toughest challenges
JAMES L SMITH
1816 - 1884
James L. Smith was born into slavery in Northumberland County, Virginia and he was trained as a shoemaker. In 1838, he escaped from slavery and with help from abolitionist in Philadelphia in made his way to New York City to stay with abolitionist David Ruggles, formerly of Norwich, Connecticut.
James L. Smith moved to Massachusetts and in 1842, he settled in Norwich, Connecticut. He worked as a shoemaker in downtown Norwich and he was a founding member of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, where he served as a minister. His two daughters graduated from Norwich Free Academy and they became teachers in Washington, D. C. after the US Civil War.
In 1881, James L. Smith published the “Autobiography of James L. Smith: Including, Also, Reminiscences of Slave Life, Recollections of the War, Education of Freedmen, Causes of the Exodus, Etc.”
JASWANT SINGH KHALRA
1952 - 1995
Jaswant Singh Khalra was a strong advocate for the human rights of all people and was a highly respected leader within the Sikh community and beyond.
Jaswant Singh Khalra documented and exposed human rights abuses and fought for the dignity of Sikhs and others.
He challenged the extrajudicial killing and disappearance of Sikh Youth from the 1980s till 1995 by Indian Police and discovered Mass cremation sites that led to the creation of data of over 25,000 Sikhs who were disappeared and mass cremated as unidentifiable bodies.
September 6, 1995 is the recognized date Jaswant Singh Khalra was kidnapped and murdered. September 6th is Jaswant Singh Khalra Day and a day of remembrance by Sikhs and human rights supporters in many cities all across America and Canada. Norwich Public Schools (Connecticut) have a picnic table with his recognition plaque on it.
His commitment to human rights has always inspired Sikhs to serve local communities with compassion and stand tall for issues related to Social Justice for all.
The State of Connecticut recognizes the month of June as “Sikh Memorial Month” to recognize the Sikh civil rights movement and Nov 1st as “Sikh Genocide Remembrance Day” to raise awareness about Sikhs living in Connecticut.
These efforts have given a sense of closure to Sikhs living here in Connecticut which they now call their new home.
For more information, please visit the Sikh Art Gallery in Norwich, and website: www.SikhArtGallery.com
RABBI MEYER
1930 - 1993
Rabbi Meyer became a recognized international human rights activist while living and working in Argentina during the “Dirty War in the 1970’s.
Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer was born in BrooklynNew York and raised in Norwich, Connecticut. Rabbi Meyer was ordained in 1958 and was called as a rabbi to the Congregación Israelita de la República Argentina (Templo Libertad), where he worked for two years. In 1962, Rabbi Marshall Meyer founded the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano, as a religious, cultural, and academic center. In 1963, Rabbi Meyer was instrumental in the founding of Comunidad Bet El, a synagogue that instituted changes to ritual practices that were broadly popular with youth but not with more conservative members of the synagogue in 1963.
During the years of the military regime of 1976–1983, Rabbi Meyer became a strong critic of the military government and its violations of human rights. He worked to save the lives of hundreds of people who were being persecuted by the regime. He additionally founded the Movimiento Judío por los Derechos Humanos, an organization that played a key role in the fight for human rights in Argentina.
In 1983, Rabbi Meyer was awarded the “Order of the Liberator General San Martin,” the highest Argentine decoration by the newly elected president, Raúl Alfonsín.
SAMUEL ASHBOW JR
1748 - 1775
Samuel Ashbow, Jr. is the first Native American to die in the American Revolution
Native American, Samuel Ashbow, Jr. of the Mohegan Tribe, fought in the American Revolutionary War at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Samuel Ashbow, Jr. was the son of the Reverend Samuel Ashbow and Hannah Mamanash. He and his brother John enlisted into Captain John Durkee’s 3rd Company of Israel Putnam’s 3rd Connecticut Regiment.
In 1775, many Native Americans and Blacks living in the colonies joined forces with the American colonists to fight for equality and independence during the American Revolutionary War.
Samuel Ashbow, Jr. was killed during a British attack at the Battle of Bunker Hill and he became the first Native American to die in the American Revolution.