The Portland Historical Society, Town Committee on Solidarity and Public Library present:

Voices of Portland: Book Launch 

Saturday September 6, 2025

1:00 PM – 2:30 PM 

Portland Public Library

20 Freestone Ave. Portland, CT 06480 

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Join the Voices of Portland Committee at our book launch event at the Portland Public Library (20 Freestone Ave, Portland, CT). 

The Voices of Portland project was a series of oral history recordings focused on the stories of Black Americans living and working in Portland, CT, supported by funding from Connecticut Humanities (CTH). Transcripts of these recordings have been transformed into a book that will be available to check out at the library. Please join us as we celebrate the Black community members of our town who have helped to shape our history and the end of this cycle of the Voices of Portland project at our Book Launch! 

Admission is free and, although not required as indicated below, registration is recommended.

You can learn more about this project on this page of the library's website: Voices of Portland : The Portland Historical Society, the town Committee on Solidarity, and the Portland Public Library produced a series of Oral History recordings focused on the stories of Black Americans living and working in Portland, CT. These included a "Gallery of Portland" Black History Month panel event in 2024, an interview recorded in late 2024, and a follow up panel presentation in February 2025 for Black History month which included a “memory recording booth” where attendees were invited to share memories inspired by the presentation, all of these recordings are available to view here: Voices of Portland | Podcast - YouTube

This project was supported by funding from Connecticut Humanities (CTH), an independent, non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. CTH connects people to the humanities through grants, partnerships, and collaborative programs. CTH projects, administration, and program development are supported by state and federal matching funds, community foundations, and gifts from private sources. Learn more by visiting cthumanities.org.

This project would not have been possible without the partnership of the Town of Portland, the Portland Public Schools, Connecticut Valley School of Music and Dance, the Friends of the Portland Library, and the tireless work of our planning team community volunteers David Roane and Barbara Shaw.