Neighbor News
Free Black History Month Event with Author Barbara Beeching
Author and Hartford researcher Barbara J. Beeching in exploring the origins of the Black middle class in Hartford in the 1860s.
2/17 2:00-3:00 In honor of African-American History month please join author and Hartford researcher Barbara J. Beeching in exploring the origins of the Black middle class in Hartford. A short presentation will be followed by a discussion on the topic based on her recently published book, Hopes and Expectations. This is a free event with light refreshments. Signed copies of the book will be available for sale. This event is co-sponsored by the South Windsor Alliance for Progress, a grassroots organization working to educate, inspire, and empower.
Based on a treasure trove of more than two hundred personal letters written in the 1860s, Hopes and Expectations tells the story of three young African Americans in the North. Through extensive archival research, Beeching shows how the Primus family intersects with changes over time in Hartford’s black community and the country. It is a story of individuals, family, and community, of expectation and disappointment, loss and endurance, change and continuity.
