I was obsessed with Fortune’s Bones for a good five years. I couldn’t believe the story. I wanted to know why it touched me and what I needed to do because I have been touched in this way.
– Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell
From September 2011 to April 2012, the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center will present a series of events inspired by the compelling story of Fortune.
Fortune was an enslaved African whose life did not end when he died in 1798.
In life, Fortune served a doctor in post-Colonial Waterbury, Connecticut. After death, he was dissected by the Connecticut physician who owned him. His bones were preserved and studied and, later, displayed as an anatomical specimen at the Mattatuck Museum, a skeleton known only as “Larry.”
The questions raised by Fortune’s story go beyond a single community or historical era. Who speaks for Fortune? Who has the right to his remains? And what can we learn from his life and its aftermath?
This post was written by Jane Hirshberg, our Community Engagement Manager.
This January, we were invited to present a session at APAP|NYC 2013, a yearly national conference presented by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. In this session titled “Fortune’s Bones: An Adventure in Less Control and More Collaboration", we discussed last year’s Fortune’s Bones project and the community-based collaborations forged over the course of the year.
February 22, 2012
By Dave Eberhardt
This blog was submitted through our Share Your Story webpage by Dave Eberhardt. Aside from some light edits, we present his story as it was provided to us.
The Fortune’s Bones project and Ms. Barnwell’s work looks impressive. As a member of CORE (vice chair) in Baltimore in the 60s and later a peace protester imprisoned for an anti-war protest, I can identify — I hate it when these things get co-opted — as we used to say — by any power structure, which hopefully it won’t be.
January 11, 2012
By Clarice Smith Center
Dr. Ysaye Barnwell and Marilyn Nelson will be on the Kojo Nnamdi Show today to talk about their work and specifically about their roles in Fortune’s Bones.
Listen to them live on the noon–1PM segment. (We expect Kojo to start discussing Fortune’s Bones around 12:20PM.)
Fortune’s Bones Are Our Bones
November 10, 2011
By Jane Hirshberg
Jane Hirshberg is the Community Engagement Manager at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
It seems that people have one of two reactions to Fortune’s story when they first hear it. They are either blown away or they look at me quizzically, as if to wonder why we would care about this piece of history from Connecticut. I don’t try to convince people they should care. But I do.
November 3, 2011
By Larry Broxton
Guest blogger Larry Broxton is the Chief of Public Relations and Marketing for the the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System. He serves on the Fortune’s Bones Advisory Group.
I heard of Fortune’s Bones in 2008 when a friend in New Mexico mentioned working at the Mattatuck Museum as a curator after graduate school. When our Library System was invited to partner on the project her story came full circle. I couldn’t wait to call her and have her share more of the back story about Fortune and the Mattatuck.
