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Share We are a Connecticut-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on promoting social clarity and informed context regarding the African-American experience through research, interrogation and equity advocacy. Our mission is to use research and broader context to identify and address the many reverberating effects of chattel slavery.
Description
On February 1st at 10am, we will be kicking off Black History Month with the dedication of an Honorary Street Sign in Middletown, CT in honor of a formerly enslaved man named Prince Mortimer. The ceremony will be held in the Community Event room of the Community Health Center building at 675 Main Street in Middletown, CT. The room has direct site of the newly installed street sign on Rapallo Avenue, allowing us to celebrate the installation while staying warm! Rapallo Avenue is the former walkway to Prince Mortimer's enslaver's home... a path he walked every day. Free parking is being provided to attendees in the Community Health Center parking lot at 34 Rapallo Avenue.
Prince was captured off the coast of Guinea in the early 1700's as a boy. He was brought to Middletown where he was enslaved by Philip Mortimer, a rich Irishman who owned a rope making facility and a mansion off the water. Prince worked at the rope making facility for decades. He was also a servant to many officers during the Revolutionary war, including running errands for George Washington.
On Philip Mortimer's death in 1794, Prince was promised freedom within the will, but Philip Mortimer's son-in-law, George Starr, challenged the will in court and won. At 70 years old, Prince was now enslaved to George Starr. 17 years later (in 1811), George Starr claimed to see arsenic in the morning chocolate served to him by Prince and went to the authorities. At 87 years old, Prince was sentenced to life in prison and sent to Old New-Gate Prison in East Granby, CT, considered the worst prison in America at the time. The prison was closed down in 1827 (now a museum) and Prince was moved to a new prison in Wethersfield, CT, where he would die in 1834 at 110 years old, never seeing freedom.
John Mills, President of the Alex Breanne Corporation, a Connecticut-based non-profit, worked with Middletown City Historian, Debby Shapiro, to get an ordinance passed allowing honorary street names in the city. They then submitted a request for approval of an Honorary Street name for Prince. It was approved, making this the first honorary street name in the city of Middletown, CT. You can view the approval here.
As part of the dedication ceremony, a piece of commissioned art work will be presented depicting a reimagined image of Prince standing in the rope making facility. The portrait will be unveiled at a reception after the street sign dedication, and then will hang in Middletown town hall for the full month of February.
Please join us to celebrate the life of Prince Mortimer.
Date & Time
Sat, Feb 1, 2025 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Venue Details
Community Health Center
675 Main StreetMiddletown, Connecticut 06457
