- Digging Deeper:
To learn more about the lives of African Americans in Connecticut during the early 19th century, read historian Peter Hinks's article "The Emergence of Free Black Communities in Connecticut" (download pdf).
- Thinking Like an Historian:
Listen to the introductory video segment for this module, "The Attack on Black Citizenship in Connecticut," with New Haven historian Frank Mitchell. How does the story of William Lanson help us to understand the conditions of African Americans in the early decades of the 19th century? How was Lanson personally affected by the larger political, economic and social transformations occurring around him? Why has William Lanson dropped out of our state and local history?
- Using Primary Documents:
Compare and contrast the 1819 Constitution of
the Hartford Auxiliary Colonization Society with the 1828 Address
to the Public by the Colonization Society
of Connecticut (both linked above). How might one account
for the changes in the aims and in the
general tone of these documents? What
clues do these documents provide to better
understand the conditions faced by free
Blacks like William Lanson and William