Hempsted Houses Host Virtual Juneteenth Celebration Featuring Joseph McGill of the Slave Dwelling Project & Tammy Denease of Historical Firsts
New London, CT – On Saturday, June 13 th, we welcome you to join us for a virtual presentation in honor of New London’s 6 th annual Juneteenth Celebration! Join Connecticut Landmarks as we celebrate Juneteenth and highlight the African-American history of the Hempsted House and the surrounding neighborhood in partnership with the NAACP – New London Branch, and our neighbor the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC).
The festivities begin at 1 pm with nationally recognized performing artist and storyteller Tammy Denease, with her Hidden Women Series. Denease will lead us on a virtual tour through the Hempsted Houses while bringing the remarkable story of Joan Jackson to life. Hear the story of the Jackson family, which includes the story of Joan’s eldest son, Adam, an enslaved farmer at the Hempsted House for over 30 years. The virtual tour was recorded by LaChale Gillis of Coveringz.
At 1:20 pm enjoy a presentation lead by the founder of the Slave Dwelling Project, Joseph McGill. This is a unique opportunity for visitors to learn about his work around the country to locate and preserve slave dwellings and the history within them. Then engage in a Question & Answer session with both McGill and Denease.
Our virtual Juneteenth event, will be accessible through Facebook Live, and is free to the public. Tune in at
https://www.facebook.com/HempstedHouses
The event is supported in part by: the Frank Loomis Palmer Fund, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee; the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut; and the Chelsea Groton Foundation, Inc.
For more information, visit
https://www.facebook.com/HempsstedHouse,
or call (860) 443-7949.
About the Slave Dwelling Project
The Slave Dwelling Project is a non-profit organization based in South Carolina founded by McGill to preserve extant slave dwellings throughout the country. To focus attention on these important, often unnoticed and neglected structures, McGill spends a night sleeping in them. He began by sleeping in the cabins in which enslaved people lived at Magnolia Plantation and Garden in South Carolina in 2010 to draw attention to a restoration project focused on these cabins. Since that first successful sleepover, McGill, an avid Civil War reenactor and descendant of enslaved people, has slept in 150 sites in 25 states.
In a 2014 interview with Smithsonian Magazine, McGill noted that sleeping in former slave dwellings:
“’seems strange and upsetting to some people.’ But he embraces the discomfort, both physical and psychological, because he wants to save slave dwellings and the history they hold before it’s too late. ‘Americans tend to focus on the ‘big house,’ the mansion and gardens, and neglect the buildings out back,’ he says. ‘If we lose slave dwellings, it’s that much easier to forget the slaves themselves.’”
About Tammy Denease
An accomplished performing artist/storyteller living in Connecticut, Tammy Denease specializes in bringing the lives of very important, yet “obscured” women in history to life. Tammy Denease was born in Columbus, Mississippi where she spent countless hours with her great-grandmother and grandmother. Her great-grandmother was a former enslaved person who lived to be 125 and her grandmother lived to be a 100. Both were known storytellers, and passed this gift along to their granddaughter. More information about Tammy Denease is available at her web site
About The Hempsted Houses
The 1678 Joshua Hempsted House is the oldest house in New London and is one of New England’s best-documented dwellings. Adjacent to the Joshua Hempsted House is a rare stone house built in 1759 by Nathaniel Hempsted. Both structures survived the 1781 burning of New London and stand today as testaments of 17th and 18th-century daily life. The Hempsted Houses engage the public in understanding the historical roots, development, and current-day implications of issues related to equality and freedom, with a special focus on slavery, through events like their annual Juneteenth Celebration, and empower people to make a difference.
About Connecticut Landmarks
Connecticut Landmarks uses historic properties to inspire an understanding of our complex past. Founded in 1936 as the Antiquarian & Landmarks Society, we are a state-wide network of ten significant historic properties that span four centuries of New England history. Our real-life stories, as told through our collections, make history matter. For more information, please visit