"How New London Prospered from Slavery and the West Indies Trade"

The West Indies trade was the source of New London’s early prosperity.  But what was that trade, exactly?

Tom Schuch--one of the researchers for New London's Black Heritage Trail--will explain the intersection of the West Indies Trade, the coastal trade and the slave trade, and how that intersection was central to colonial New London's economy.  As always, Tom will come armed with facts: names of ships, owners, captains, numbers of enslaved captives, and the prominent families who engaged in this trade.  And it will include at least two stories that are virtually unknown in New London:  two New London slave ship captains who were slain on the coast of Africa during shipboard insurrections of kidnapped Africans.

This lecture is free and open to the public, thanks to support from the State Historic Preservation Office, CT Humanities and Fiddleheads Food Co-op.

And don't worry about tickets.  The website forces us to create them for an event,  but you don't need a ticket.  Just show up!