The Mary & Eliza Freeman Center, #28
1019 Main Street., St 210 Bridgeport, CT 06604
IG: @maryandelizafreemancenter
lucemy@freemancenterbpt.org
203-612-7769
freemancenterbpt.org
Founded in 2009, The Mary & Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The Center owns the Mary & Eliza Freeman Houses (circa 1848), under restoration, in Bridgeport’s South End. They are listed on the National Register of Historic Places for significance to African Americans and women. The Freeman Center is creating a national African American historic site consisting of a museum and education center, and a digital research center. Mission: restore, preserve, and ensure the viability of the Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses; teach the history of Connecticut African Americans; revitalize the surrounding Bridgeport South End community; and facilitate the preservation and revitalization of other African American and greater Bridgeport historic/preservation communities.
Bridgeport Art Trail 2025 Schedule
Thursday, November 6
8:30 AM - 7:00 PM | On Display: Reimagining Little Liberia - Restoration & Reunion at Housatonic Museum of Art
Connecticut’s African American legacies are rich, layered. From land to sea, countryside to cityscape, African and Native Americans contributed to the development of this region – only to have their own stories omitted from official histories. Bridgeport’s “Little Liberia” (1821-1899) was even ignored on maps. Art, artifacts and scholarship tell this story. Little Liberia, deeply connected to a Black Atlantic network, created opportunities for CT’s Black and Native Americans beyond the denigration of slavery and servitude. On view at the Housatonic Museum of Art (left corridor), 900 Lafayette Boulevard, Bridgeport.
Friday, November 7
8:30 AM - 7:00 PM | On Display: Reimagining Little Liberia - Restoration & Reunion at Housatonic Museum of Art
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM | Special Exhibition Preview & Reception - A Fundraiser
Support the Mary & Eliza Freeman Center with an exclusive preview and reception for the new exhibit “Turning the Tides - Little Liberia & The Black Atlantic: Art, History and Community.” Donation $75 per person, $125 for two people.
Saturday, November 8
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM | Exhibit Premiere: Turning Tides - Little Liberia & The Black Atlantic: Art, History and Community
Opening reception ends at 3:00 PM, on view until 6:00 PM. All beginning in water, all enduring in water. Turquoise, aquamarine, deep green, deep blue, ink blue, navy, blue-black cerulean water.” (Dionne Brand, A Map to the Door of No Return) Water can devastate – yet it brings life where it flows. In 1821 on the salty, marsh and rock coast of Bridgeport’s South End, a community of free people of color built a settlement that reflected and expanded this truth. They called it “Liberia,” “Free Land.” Little Liberians purchased flood prone, undesirable pieces of ground and transformed them into a thriving 15-block community. Claiming these shores, embracing this water, plunged Little Liberia into the waterways of a reincarnating African Diaspora. They helped turn the tides on the meaning of freedom for Black and Native people. Fluid movement between coasts and continents birthed dynamic fusions of vibrant flavors, rhythms, and traditions; news, commerce, and bold political thought. Explore and reclaim a relationship with our inheritance…our water.'
Sunday, November 9
1:00 PM - 6:00 PM | On display: Turning Tides - Little Liberia & The Black Atlantic: Art, History and Community
Take one more opportunity to see “Turning the Tides” during the Bridgeport Art Trail. The exhibit will be on display after the celebration weekend as well.
