About The CCP

Led by four faculty members at Wesleyan University, the CCP relates contemporary dynamics in racial hierarchy to their historical origins. Beginning in the 2022-23 academic year, Wesleyan offered several newly developed and reconfigured courses on topics in Connecticut history, including the history of policing, incarceration policy, the rise and development of nineteenth century industrial capitalism, significant jury trials, and the ways in which violence remains embedded in all these phenomena. Undergraduates were guided in a variety of original archival research projects through courses and summer research opportunities. 

The CCP included a multi-year collaboration with the Middlesex County Historical Society (MCHS). The project also commissioned an artist and filmmaker to produce a documentary film that re-narrated the nation-building process and the central role that prisons played in the region. In addition, the research of faculty and students through the CCP was shared with broader audiences through exhibitions, theatrical performances, and conferences.