Black Heritage Walking Tour

New London has long been a diverse community. Its heavy reliance on seafaring brought people from around the globe to the small seaport for centuries. Originally the domain of indigenous people, by the colonial period New London residents included Native Americans, European settlers, enslaved Africans and West Indians and free Blacks. Uncovering New London’s Black history tours focus on this rich past with all its triumphs and tragedies. New London was the site of the hanging of one of the youngest people in the nation’s history, a Pequot girl who likely was developmentally disabled. An early New London law prohibited Blacks from owning property and the county had one of the largest percentages of enslaved Blacks in the American colonies. New London is also where the Amistad mutineers first landed in the U.S. and where they began their long and eventually successful battle to win their freedom. The woman who was the first Black female to request admission to Prudence Crandall’s Canterbury school once lived here, a small abolitionist community took root here and men of color comprised 10 percent of every whaling ship’s crew as the city increased its wealth and prominence during that era. Discover the little-known stories of New London’s Black history on one of Black history tours.
To purchase tickets www.uncoveringnewlondon.com or email [email protected]