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Category: Cultural Connections

New Haven’s Amistad History

Image: Roger Sherman Baldwin painted by Rufus Wright Written by SCSU Intern, Isaac Rivera and Digital Inclusion Librarian, Alexandria Robison | July 2026 A Brief History In 1839, La Amistad was transporting 53 kidnapped Mende people, originally from Sierra Leone, to a plantation after being sold into slavery in Cuba. The ship was helmed by … Continued

Share your story! Join our Oral History project

Tell Us Your Story!

The New Haven Free Public Library (NHFPL) is initiating an oral history project that will allow individuals to be interviewed and document their experiences for the Library’s archives, with the potential for these stories to be made available online.

The Freddy Fixer logo is in the center with purple and gold waves and sparkes.

New Haven’s Historic Freddy Fixer Parade

Written by SCSU Intern Isaac Rivera | June 2026 This year the 61st annual Freddy Fixer Parade was held on June 7! Learn more about its beginnings and the people that brought it to life. History  The original Freddy Fixer parade wasn’t a parade at all—it wasn’t even named Freddy Fixer yet. It was a Dixwell and Newhallville neighborhood cleanup that … Continued

New Haven Green on May 1, 1970 showing a large crowd gathered in protest

New Haven’s 1970 May Day Protest

Protesters in the streets. National Guard troops deployed against U.S. citizens. Sounds like scenes ripped from recent headlines, but these events date back to May Day, 1970, when New Haven became a flashpoint in a nationwide struggle. Let us peer back through the mists of history and vagaries of memory to a time that seems so different than our own yet is all too familiar in many respects.  The sixties were a time … Continued