Historian John Mills will share Stories of Connecticut’s Black Patriots, based on extensive genealogical and historical research he has conducted.

In exploring the lived experience of Black residents during the American Revolution, Mills’ research led him to the Lathrop family of Norwich, CT, whose patriarch, Primus, was captured as a child from his home in Africa. While enslaved to Ebenezer Lathrop, Primus married a woman named Venus and together they had a son named Job. Job would go on to fight in the Revolutionary War, only to return and remain enslaved. Mills will share details about the Lathrop family’s journey for freedom and their long-lasting patriotic legacy. Mills’ research will be made into a new book, The Narrative of Primus: A Lineage Woven into American History, available this year.

“Stories of Connecticut's Black Patriots : A Presentation by John Mills,” is free and open to the public.  Registration is requested for this in-person event at https://forms.office.com/g/9x7DDphM0d. For those unable to attend in-person, the presentation will be live-streamed on the Connecticut State Library’s YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@CTStateLibrary)

Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Museum of CT History at the CT State Library
231 Capitol Ave.

Hartford, CT 06106

All Hiking Thru History hikes begin at 10am and are free and open to the public. For more information or to reserve a spot contact patrick.j.smith@ct.gov

Check out the schedule of events.