DeLauro, Blumenthal Celebrate City of New Haven Opening of Venture Smith Exhibit

NEW HAVEN, CT — Congresswoman DeLauro and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal celebrated the City of New Haven’s opening of the Venture Smith exhibit. The Venture Smith exhibit in New Haven honors the life of Broteer Furro, known as Venture Smith, the most documented survivor of the Middle Passage and Connecticut resident.

In 2022, U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal introduced a resolution to honor the life and legacy of Venture Smith.

“It is an honor to celebrate Black History Month at the opening of the Venture Smith exhibit here in New Haven, helping to bring Venture’s story alive. It reminds us the legacy of our past, but the reality of our present,” said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. “The Venture Smith exhibit tells the story of an African noble who was captured as a boy and sent under truly horrible conditions and enslaved in Connecticut. Venture’s life story opens a window into one of the darker chapters in our history. It captures the brutality and oppression of American slavery as it happened. Of the nearly half-a-million Africans who were brought to these shores against their will and in chains – Venture’s story is just one of only a handful of personal narratives still in existence, whose reflections are needed in our communities. I am incredibly thankful to Chandler Saint and all of our partners in creating such an important and powerful exhibit in our city.”

“I am deeply proud and honored to mark the opening of the Venture Smith exhibit here in New Haven. This exhibit showcases Venture’s story of unimaginable strength and courage as an enslaved person who successfully fought for his freedom in Connecticut 258 years ago. Venture’s story chronicles one of our nation’s most shameful chapters, and his story is one of resilience in the face of brutal mistreatment and oppression. He was a landowner, businessman, and author, generations before emancipation. Congresswoman DeLauro and I are committed to Congressional action that would shine a bright light on his life and legacy and so that we might learn from his story,” said Richard Blumenthal.

“It is highly appropriate that Venture Smith’s exhibit should come to New Haven City Hall, the site of the imprisonment of Cinque and the other Africans of the Amistad—connecting the two great Connecticut stories of liberation from slavery,” said Robert Pierce Forbes, Historian.

“Venture Smith's journey from slavery to freedom is a story that is important for all people fighting racism.  I intend to digitize this exhibit to bring it into homes and schools worldwide via the Internet,” said George Blumenthal, Philanthropist.

In 1798 he published his autobiography, A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America. Related by Himself, which is now considered a classic of early African American literature and one of few first-hand accounts of enslaved Africans. Smith’s autobiography is a powerful reminder to continue the fight for equality, justice, and opportunity.

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