Out Of The Shadows
Out of the Shadows: Black Civil War Soldiers in the CT 29th Colored Infantry Regiment
Mr. Kevin Johnson from the Connecticut State Library archives and genealogy unit, portrays a member of the 29th Colored Regiment in the Civil War creating a program based on research into local enslaved Africans and free Blacks in Northeast Connecticut.
Our chapter works with Mr. Johnson to arrange visits with schools and classrooms in person when COVID-19 protocols allow it. Performances will be scheduled on Mondays according to Mr. Johnson’s availability.
Content Area/Primary Focus: Language Arts, Social Studies, American History, Character Development
State Frameworks: Unit 2: Black Literacy, Organizations, and Liberation; Lesson 2.4: Civil War/The Great American Slave Rebellion
Dressed in his Civil War costume, Mr. Johnson talks about the experiences of a Black Civil War soldier from a first-person perspective and the true meaning of freedom. We will provide classroom teachers with resource materials for group discussions, preparation, and follow-up materials. Students will be able to engage with Mr. Johnson with Q & A.
These presentations and materials are particularly suitable to be used during the teaching of American History. Some of the lessons and activities can be used by teachers in high school to support the new State curriculum for Black/African American and Puerto Rican/Latino history, being implemented next year, and are especially useful during Black History Month.
If you are interested in this program please complete our contact form to book the performance, classroom workshop, preparation, and follow-up materials. The classroom workshop will be presented by NAACP education committee members.
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
―
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM WEBB: by Kevin Johnson
Lessons and activities are included.
Click on poster to download PDF copy.
Evidence suggests that Private William Riley Webb was born about 1834 in Hartford, Connecticut, to Eloise Johnson. His father’s first name is unknown. Eloise married Edwin Salisbury on November 24, 1836, in Hartford. Eloise and Edwin also had a daughter Emerett. Emerett married Benjamin Franklin Roberts, a member of a prominent African American publishing family in the Boston, Massachusetts area. Eloise and Edwin eventually moved to the Boston area.
In 1855, Webb committed a crime and was sent to the Wethersfield State prison where he spent four years.
William Webb enlisted in Company F of the Twenty-Ninth (Colored) Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry on Dec. 22, 1863. He was mustered into the organization on March 8, 1864. He was discharged on March 9, 1865 after suffering an eye injury which resulted in vision loss.
William Webb married Augusta E. Madison of Ellington, on March 12, 1864. They were married in New Haven before the 29th left the state. Augusta and William had no children. William passed away in 1868. His estate was probated at the Ellington District Probate Court. Augusta died at the age of 19 on April 3, 1868.
If you are interested in this program please complete our contact form to book the performance, classroom workshop, preparation, and follow-up materials. The classroom workshop will be presented by NAACP education committee members.