Collage : "Scott's Oriole"

 

Pen & ink: Hot Dog Vendor

A Sabrett's umbrella over a street vendor in Bristol CT.
That's the Old New Departure plant in the background

 

acrylic: Reye's Point, Cape Cod, MA

Plein air, acrylic on canvas: looking out toward the Atlantic Ocean. With hand made frame,

 

pen & ink: Writer's Block

 

Watercolor: Laura's Nephew

 

Acrylic on board: Venture Smith's Headstones

 on 9th September a commemoration for Venture Smith (Broteer Furro) was held at Venture's burial site, in East Haddam CT.

Born in Broteer Furro recalled as "Dukandarra" in a region of West Africa. Born ". . . the son of a royal family; kidnapped from his homeland in Africa as a boy and sold into the Maafa (slavery). Venture became a figure of mythical proportions in New England, where he was known for his great size and strength.

His physique and unwillingness to suffer insult made him a problem for his enslavers, and he was sold several times before he was able to purchase his freedom in 1765, at the age of thirty-six.

His history was documented when he recorded a narrative of his life and published it under the title A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America, Related by Himself.

Links to sites that have written on Venture Smith (as well as a link to his [transcribed] autobiography, can be found the the first COMMENTS below this entry.

Illustration: Venture & Meg Smith's headstones in the First Church, Congregational Cemetery. (copr. Will Brady)

Photography: Globe