"The class is an extraordinary tour of the various sciences needed to really understand the Venture Smith story," Bellantoni said.
Smith is one of the best-documented survivors of the Middle Passage. Born Broteer Furro around 1729, then kidnapped by slavers in West Africa when he was just a boy, he lived enslaved first in Rhode Island, then in New York and finally in Connecticut.
By chopping wood on his own time, Smith bought his freedom, his family's freedom, and then a farm in Haddam Neck. In 1798, Smith told his story to a teacher, who published it. It is thought to be Colonial New England's only surviving slave narrative.
The class also explored the modern-day implications of Smith's story. The students discussed a legal challenge to the excavation of the East Haddam cemetery where Smith is buried and used it as a launching pad into a debate over who owns Mozart's DNA. The DNA testing of Smith descendants led to a discussion of a French proposal to use DNA testing to verify bloodlines of would-be immigrants.
"This class would have made Venture Smith very happy," Strausbaugh said. "It underscores his modern-day relevance."
Katie Stewart, an 18-year-old freshman from New Milford, took the course because she plans to study genetics, but the speakers made her realize she could apply that knowledge in a range of fields, from law to history to government. "It's something we all must understand now," Stewart said. "It's everywhere."
O'Neill hopes UConn will offer the Venture Smith class again next fall.
--Associated Press
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