Juneteenth Celebration Brings Jazz, Poetry, and Reflection to Old Lyme
- caffryfrankel
- Jun 21
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 25
Sunday, June 22, 2025 | Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT
On a lovely June afternoon, the north lawn of the Florence Griswold Museum was filled with music & poetry, as the community gathered for a moving Juneteenth celebration honoring those who once lived enslaved in the historic town of Lyme.
The event featured a powerful performance by renowned bassist and composer Avery Sharpe and his Quartet—Zaccai Curtis on piano, Haneef Nelson on trumpet, and Yoron Israel on drums—whose dynamic jazz rhythms set the tone for an afternoon of remembrance and hope.
The Avery Sharpe Quartet performing at the Juneteenth event
Interwoven with the music were readings by four of Connecticut’s most distinguished poets: Marilyn Nelson, Kate Rushin, Rhonda Ward, and Antoinette Brim-Bell. Their verses, inspired by the lives of those commemorated through the Old Lyme Witness Stones Project, gave voice to the past and called listeners to deeper understanding and reflection.
Witness Stones Old Lyme poets at the Juneteenth celebration.
Following the program, the Florence Griswold Museum welcomed guests to view Their Kindred Earth: Photographs by William Earle Williams on its closing day. Drawn by his interest in the Witness Stones Project, Williams became the museum's third artist-in-residence and made stunning photographs that reveal historic sites of enslavement in Old Lyme and elsewhere in Connecticut.
Left: Photographer William Earle Williams signs copies of the exhibition catalogue. Right: Poets Rhonda Ward and Kate Rushin with William Earle Williams.
Presented by The Florence Griswold Museum and Witness Stones Old Lyme in partnership with other local organizations, the Juneteenth celebration underscored the power of art, history, and community in honoring those whose stories are being remembered. See more in coverage from The Day
