Unforgotten Airing on PBS Affiliate CPTV

Documentary
Written By John Mills

Back in November of 2023, I was contacted by Diane Orson, Special Correspondent with Connecticut Public. Ms. Orson was finishing up a long-form project for CT Public Broadcasting which explored Connecticut’s history and complicity in slavery.  The project included several audio stories for air on CT Public Radio and as a podcast.  It also included accompanying video, photos and digital content for eventual publication as a video documentary. 

Ms. Orson asked if I would consider being a contributor. She explained that my contribution would be part of the final segment which would focus on ‘looking forward’ – why learning and understanding this long-hidden history matters.  She said:

“As a public historian doing important research in this area, I’d love to include your voice in the project.”

I was humbled and incredibly honored. Of course, I agreed. So on December 8th, 2023, we filmed my contribution in the library of James Hillhouse High School in New Haven, CT.

The project was made available on YouTube and on the Connecticut Public website on March 18th, 2024. It will now air on the Connecticut PBS affiliate CPTV as a 1 hour documentary on the following dates/ times:

  • 8:00pm, 04/16/2024 | CPTV

  • 12:30am, 04/17/2024 | CPTV

  • 3:30pm, 04/17/2024 | CPTV

  • 8:00pm, 04/17/2024 | CPTV SPIRIT

  • 6:00pm, 04/21/2024 | CPTV

I’m incredibly thankful to Diane Orson for including me in this documentary. If you find the time, please consider viewing and supporting this programming.

BTW… We have many projects occurring across Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland. Please consider supporting our efforts by making a donation at https://alexbreanne.org/donate.

Thanks and God Bless.

John

John Mills

Originally from San Diego, John Mills is a technologist by trade, but an equity advocate and independent scholar by passion. The descendant of both southern and northern enslaved, John focuses on unearthing little known people and stories of this country’s history in slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. John presents research through the lens and perspective of a descendant, with intent to inspire understanding and empathy, a means to inspire good, God fearing people, now armed with information, to look into whether they may be unwittingly aligning to biases resulting from the reverberating effects of a past time. John is a member of the Connecticut Freedom Trail and a member of the Webb Deane Stevens Museum Council. John is also working with an international team funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in an effort to deliver transformational impact on digital methods in cultural institutions...a means to decolonize museums. Finally, John is working with the state of Connecticut, business leaders and scholars in Middletown, CT to honor and memorialize a former enslaved individual by the name of Prince Mortimer.

https://alexbreanne.org
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Unforgotten: Connecticut's Hidden History of Slavery