William Grimes

Grove Street Cemetery. New Haven, CT

In 1784, Benjamin Grymes, a White Planter in Georgia, had his way with an enslaved woman who bore a child named William. Being Mulatto, William sometimes garnered favor of keepers, but of other slaves he said, "I was a poor friendless boy with no connections." In 1794, he was sold for £65 ($8,500 today). He said, "It grieved me to see my mother's tears at our separation." He would be sold another 8 times.

In 1815, he stowed away in bales of cotton on a boat headed to New York. Narrowly escaping identification, he walked 80 miles to New Haven, then to New Bedford where he opened a barber shop. Facing racism, he was accused of assault by a woman angered by the voices of Black people coming from his shop; so he returned to New Haven and worked around Yale grooming scholars. He saved $50 ($850 today) and opened another shop in Litchfield, cutting hair of clergy including Governor Oliver Wolcott. Facing more accusations, he left Litchfield returning to New Haven. He again opened a business. His success threatened other business owners, so more accusations and threats.

In 1824, his former slave owner (Francis Wilman) found and threatened to return him to the South if he didn't purchase his freedom for $500 ($13K today). Having a net worth of $425, he went to the Governor for help. He received no real help, but the slave owner ultimately accepted the $425; William and his family now homeless and destitute.

In 1825, William published the first known slave narrative in the U.S. Though free, he was never again able to pull his family out of poverty. He ironically died 4 months after the Civil War which would have freed him; 3 years before the 14th amendment which would have given him citizenship. In 1825, he wrote, "Let it not be imagined that the poor and friendless are entirely free from oppression where slavery does not exist. This would be fully illustrated if I should give all the particulars of my life in Connecticut."

Whether North or South, there was oppression. This is also an early account of the complex dynamics of colorism. I urge you to read his memoir, “Life of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave“.

John Mills

Originally from San Diego, John Mills is a technologist by trade, but an equity advocate and independent scholar by passion. The descendant of both southern and northern enslaved, John focuses on unearthing little known people and stories of this country’s history in slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. John presents research through the lens and perspective of a descendant, with intent to inspire understanding and empathy, a means to inspire good, God fearing people, now armed with information, to look into whether they may be unwittingly aligning to biases resulting from the reverberating effects of a past time. John is a member of the Connecticut Freedom Trail and a member of the Webb Deane Stevens Museum Council. John is also working with an international team funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in an effort to deliver transformational impact on digital methods in cultural institutions...a means to decolonize museums. Finally, John is working with the state of Connecticut, business leaders and scholars in Middletown, CT to honor and memorialize a former enslaved individual by the name of Prince Mortimer.

https://alexbreanne.org
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