back

WestportREADS 2019 Exhibit: Liberty To Set Down: Immigrants and Migrants in Westport

Wednesday, Jan 23, 2019 - Sunday, Jun 30, 2019

The Westport Historical Society explores how immigrants have long woven the fabric of the town in its exhibit "Liberty To Set Down: Immigrants and Migrants in Westport, Connecticut." From its earliest settlement in 1648 in the parish of Greens Farms, the area that was to become Westport has been a crossroads of cultural expression. Westport’s immigration story began with the first Europeans who wrested the land from Native People to the forced immigration of enslaved Africans to the later waves of Irish, German, Italian and Polish immigrants of the 19th-century to a wide and varied immigration story of the 20th and 21st centuries. 

Location: Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place

Dan Woog's 06880 article, "We’re All Immigrants. Westport Historical Society Wants To Know How We Got Here."

Images Above:

  • Maids At Laurence Estate (Longshore): In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Irish immigrant women often worked as domestic servants at Westport’s great estates, as did African Americans who came to the area as part of the Great Migration from the South.
  • Immigrant Laborers Work on the Saugatuck Railroad Bridge Expansion: Italian immigrants from the Saugatuck area were among those who worked on an expansion project in 1905 for the railroad bridge over the river. The bridge is still in use today.

WestportREADS is funded by the estate of Jerry A. Tishman.

Other
WestportREADS 2019, WestportREADS, Exhibits
Exhibits, History, WestportREADS 2019, WestportREADS
add to my calendar

COMMENTS

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
By submitting this form, you accept the Mollom privacy policy.