JAMES MARS

Welcome Faith Church Family and Friends!

190th Historic Faith Facts for March, 2009:

James Mars, a deacon at Talcott Street Church,
an abolitionist, author and Revolutionary war veteran.

Hartford Blacks who joined the abolitionist cause no longer favored emigration to Liberia, but winning civil rights for the City's Black population, legally free since the end of servitude in the State in 1838.
One notable figure in this regard was James Mars. He was one of those whose service in the Revolutionary War led to the pursuit of a professional career, and entering church office must have offered the fewest hurdles. Mars became a deacon at the Talcott Street Church and actively sought the reform of Connecticut and national legislation affecting Blacks. During the 1840s and 50s he organized several petitions to the Connecticut legislature regarding voting and social rights for Blacks.
In 1864 he wrote, "Connecticut - I love thy name, but not thy restrictions. I think the time is not far distance when the colored man will have rights in Connecticut." Indeed, these rights would come, but it took a century, and social justice remained allusive.

Research excerpts from:The Hartford Black History Project

For more interesting facts and information on Black Hartford's History
please visit the website provided below under James Mars
on the website click on "Movements for Change".




Historian Yvonne McGregor-McCaulley