- [Narrator] Funding provided by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and the Amistad Center for Art and Culture.

- I didn't have anyone in my family to pass down the history of quilt making, but I have family members that passed down photographs in our history.

And so with Venture Smith's side of the family, which is on my paternal grandfather's side, I always wanted to make sure that the history would be passed down to my daughter and grandson too.

And so quilt making has been a positive reinforcement of telling the story, but telling the story, sometimes that people don't want to hear.

The images that are in the cloth make it easier to start conversations or have continuous conversations about family history, and slavery in the United States, and many other causes that affected, pretty much Black people living in the United States since slavery.

Venture Smith was a person that was kidnapped when he was a young child from the coast of Africa in the early 1700s.

And he was supposedly, according to his narrative, the son of a prince of the Dukandarra tribe in Guinea, west Africa, specifically.

Venture's narrative, recounts the story of his life living in Africa, going through the doors of no return, traveling across the Atlantic Ocean, stopping in Barbados, and eventually winding up in Rhode Island first, then dropped off with his new enslaver.

And then eventually he was purchased and brought to Connecticut.

The last person that he was enslaved by, Captain Oliver Smith, allowed him to purchase his freedom.

And from there he managed to purchase the freedom of his children.

And other slaves actually, you know, asked him to purchase their freedom.

And so he purchased other slaves in Connecticut.

He was determined to live his life as a free man at all costs.

And he actually stood his ground, which is a phrase that a lot of people use now, in fear, when a black person says, I'm gonna stand my ground or stand for who I am, that feels like a threat to a lot of people and Venture Smith, to me, did not feel, he already was enslaved.

so it was like, what's the worst that can happen to me?

So this is a piece that I dedicated to Venture Smith.

And this is the first 26 acres that was known that he had purchased in Stonington, Connecticut.

And the rock tied down with hemp is actually symbolic of Venture's rock that was originally used as the marker for Venture's property line.

But you can see that this is also a map quilt because it's symbolic of the actual shape of Venture's land.

And then there's a footpath underneath the rock.

And that's my way of saying I'm following in his footsteps.

I think my greatest like aha moment was going to Venture's land during my childhood.

As a child, my family would go fishing and boating at Barn Island Wildlife Sanctuary.

Actually, my grandfather and uncle would put the boats in the water on that very piece of land.

We would go to Fisher's Island and have picnics until one year we were told we were no longer welcome on Fisher's Island, and this was in the '60s, so things have changed.

I always say that Venture is like the beacon of hope for anyone else looking for their family history.

There are so many people that are descendant of slaves in the United States that don't have the history to go back to.

And so when I talk about Venture and all that he's done, I'm also, like, giving hope for other people.

I just look at Venture as his story is an amazing story for other people to learn from and to start digging and finding their own family history.

(people chattering) - Good afternoon, on this beautiful fall day.

And the rain came yesterday so we don't have to worry about it.

Welcome to the 27th annual Venture Smith Day, a Connecticut Freedom Trail celebration.

- The first time I came and I, the grave had been exhumed, and was just there, cleaned up the headstone, I put my hand on the headstone and I fell to my knees and cried uncontrollably.

I could not, I had never felt anything like that before.

- See you next year.

- Our family is one of the original native African American families in Connecticut.

And just, I wanna continue that.

I want our family to embrace that history.

I want our young family members to embrace that history and continue to keep alive the memory of Venture Smith.

- My dad used to tell stories, but I didn't believe him.

Like, I didn't, the way he talked about Venture was almost like he was a mythical figure.

And so I had been hearing about him lifting rocks and this big strong guy, like, I didn't really think that he was real.

So when I was a child, and then as we got older, we started coming here.

Like, we've been coming here for, I'm gonna say, maybe 20 years, I faithfully have come.

We actually went to Africa, we went to Ghana where Venture was captured and enslaved and then brought to Newport.

So it was very emotional because, you know, I was there with my family, my family members.

To be able to, I had some of my dad's ashes and at one point when we were at the fort, we walked through the Door of No Return.

Excuse me.

And I was able to bring my father's ashes back to Africa.

So it was very moving, needless to say.

It was a wonderful experience.

Sometimes, I guess right now, it's hard for me to put it into words, but it really helped me to understand who I was, and who I am, and where I came from.

When I can talk to people about where I actually have come from, where I come from, I have a lot of friends and coworkers that are African American, and a lot of 'em have never done their DNA, have no interest in, you know, finding out where they come from.

And when I talk to people about where I come from, they're amazed.

And so it's actually sparked, in some of my friends, the desire to kind of do some research on their own to see, you know, maybe if they can find where they come from, because we come from somewhere.

And when you have that, when you actually can say, this is where I am from, it changes you inside.

It does something deep, deep, deep inside that makes you, I feel like I belong.

I feel like I matter that, you know, I came from somewhere.