Old State House Launches New Exhibits, Tour Featuring Amistad Center Artifacts; Coincides with 175th Anniversary of Amistad Trials

The Old State House is hosting a special exhibit featuring objects connected with the historic Amistad trial, including the original keys to the Hartford Jail, a bust of the African prisoners’ leader, Cinque, as well as images and speeches from the famous case. The exhibit coincides with the 175th Anniversary this month of The Amistad Hearings at Connecticut’s Old State House in downtown Hartford.

The exhibit marking this significant event in our state’s history is open for General Admission viewing through August 2015. It is one of two new exhibits and a new tour at the Old State House.

The other new exhibit features items related to the renowned abolitionist John Brown. Brown, a Connecticut native, led a raid on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry in order to start an armed insurrection to end slavery. This special exhibit features images of Brown and a reproduction of the fort at Harper’s Ferry.

The exhibits are part of the Old State House’s new themed-tour, A Great Storm Swept Over Us: African American History at the Old State House. Through this guided tour, visitors will hear the story of the famous Amistad trials of 1839, learn the history of slavery in our state and discover how some citizens fought to overcome the status quo in their time.

These new exhibits are made possible through the loan of objects by The Amistad Center for Art & Culture and the Connecticut Historical Society.

Tours are scheduled to take place once a month after October 2014; however groups may schedule tours at a separate time by making a special reservation through Old State House Visitor Services at (860) 522-6766. To view upcoming dates for all of the Old State House’s themed-tours and other public events, visit the online calendar on the Old State House website at www.ctoldstatehouse.org.

“Visitors to the Old State House will have an opportunity to gain a glimpse of the marvelous Amistad collection, and learn through archival documents about the remarkable history of Amistad, the Old State House, and Hartford,” said Amistad Center Executive Director Olivia S. White. “Marking the anniversary in this fashion will serve to highlight the tremendous value we place on freedom, which was hard fought for so many through the generations.”

The Amistad Center for Art & Culture, founded in 1987, owns and exhibits a vital collection of 7,000 works of art, artifacts and popular culture objects that documents the experience, expressions and history of people of African descent in America.

Also underway, as part of the ongoing AmistadCenter@ programming:

• I Write Your Name, Part III, at the University of Saint Joseph Art Gallery, thru Dec. 14. This exhibition is the third and largest installment of works from the Amistad Center for Art & Culture being shown at the Art Gallery, and includes a variety of works including prints, photographs and sculptures from the Amistad Center’s collections.
• Selections from the Young Americans Series, being exhibited at the Hartford Public Library. The photographic series of Millennials in dialogue with the American flag was completed by Atlanta artist Sheila Pree Bright during her artist residency with the Amistad Center. The exhibit coincides with the celebration of Citizenship Day.

Support for the AmistadCenter@ programming, while the Amistad Center’s galleries at the Wadsworth Atheneum are closed for renovation, is provided by The Edward C. And Ann T. Roberts Foundation.

The Amistad Center is an independently incorporated and managed not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization, located in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art - a “museum within a museum,” enjoying a unique institutional relationship that facilitates rich cross-cultural conversations between art and audiences.

The Amistad Center is not related to the many other organizations in Connecticut and across the country who share the name Amistad. Amistad is a popular choice as it remembers a significant event and calls to mind African American strength and history. For more information about The Amistad Center for Art & Culture please visit the website at www.amistadartandculture.org or call 860-838-4133.