In 1995 I self-published my first book, Chains Unbound: Slave Emancipations in the Town of Greenwich, Connecticut. The book was published as a limited edition work.
For years I've had the desire to furnish the contents of this book online. I contemplated the possibility of writing and publishing a second edition.
Instead, I chose to create a companion online site for the original edition. Click this link. My motivation to do this resulted from my teaching international student at my "other home" in Hawaii, specifically students who came to the islands from Japan and South Korea. They made heavy use of smartphone technologies and online resources like their American peers.
Besides the three chapters in the book and the texts of the emancipation/ manumission certificates on file at Greenwich Town Hall, I've included addtional resources. These include the text of letters exchanged between Greenwich residents and missionaries in Hawaii, who wrote each other on the subject of abolitionism and slavery.
I've also included the texts of news articles and reviews. Where I thought appropriate I've added color images. Bear in mind that none of this was possible in 1995.
At the time that I published this book I posed a challenge to our neighboring communities to publish similar books on the same subject. Greenwich was hardly unique or alone. So far as I know no one has published anything quite similar to this.
Chains Unbound: Slave Emancipations in the Town of Greenwich, Connecticut is not a textbook per se. I envisioned both book and the online site as a resource for arousing and enhancing an appreciation of this little known area of our history.
I am available for guest lecturing on this topic and many others. Please contact me at my email address here. I hope to hear from you. Thank you for your interest.
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