Prince Mortimer Book Launch

In 2020, historian and genealogist John Mills read the remarkable story of Prince Mortimer within an 1844 account of Connecticut’s Old New-Gate Prison. Born in Africa, forcibly brought to America aboard a slave ship, and enslaved for much of his life, Prince served in the Revolutionary War but was never granted the freedom he helped secure for others. Despite being promised his freedom upon his enslaver’s death, he remained in bondage and was ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment at the age of 87, dying behind bars in 1834 at age 110. 

Mills’ research into Prince’s life, including his search for Prince’s final resting place, contributed to a newly expanded edition of Denis Caron’s A Century in Captivity, for which Mills wrote a new chapter and foreword. In this presentation, Mills will share his journey of rediscovery and explore how his perspective as a descendant of enslaved Americans led him…