Today is Juneteenth, a holiday that marks the day that slavery finally ended in Texas--two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

We don’t often think of Connecticut as a slave state, and often celebrate the role of Connecticut’s abolitionists. Yet American slavery was not just confined to the South.

There were an estimated 5100 slaves who lived and worked right here in Connecticut. 

And, moreover, Connecticut’s economy was deeply intertwined with the institution of slavery in the American South and West Indies. It’s an economic legacy that is still with us as a state today. 

As we commemorate the Juneteenth holiday and reflect on the legacy of slavery in this country, we wanted to share with you a conversation Lucy had a few years ago with Jenifer Frank, co-author of Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery.

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