Two murals have been unveiled in Hartford, just days apart, with the newest one located a few feet from the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, a memorial for Hartford residents who served in the Civil War.
Nearly every photo I have seen of the arch, on social media or otherwise, is of the monument as a whole or with focus on the rooftop angels. Take the time to look, and you will notice that one of the statues symbolizes freedom from slavery.
In 1988, a marker (pictured below) was added to the monument, with a passage reading: “The Bushnell Park Foundation is proud to rededicate the arch on behalf of the citizens of Connecticut and especially to Hartford’s one hundred and twenty-eight Black soldiers who were not previously honored for their bravery and valor in the great Civil War.”
How did that addition come about?
In 1986, Fox Middle School student Airrion Bethea researched Connecticut’s Black soldiers in the Civil War; he learned that 128 were from Hartford. Entering an essay contest, Bethea wrote about how their contributions were omitted: “The only depiction of the Black man’s role in the Civil War is a statue […] showing a Black slave being freed — NOT a Black soldier coming back victoriously from the war.”
Two years later, this plaque was added, making for a more complete telling of history with the Memorial Arch.
These features are what puts the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch on the Connecticut Freedom Trail map.
