HOW YOU CAN HELP US
OVERVIEW
We need your help. Bridgeport, Connecticut is the home of the oldest homes built by African Americans in this State – the Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses. Our community would like to restore these houses and eventually turn them into a history center in the tradition of the Anacostia Community Museum and house a nonprofit organization that will serve the community.
The Freeman Houses are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. “Unique survivals”, they tell a the story of a forgotten community. The Freeman Houses are the only surviving homes of Bridgeport’s “Little Liberia” - a seafaring community of free people of color that thrived from the 1820s to the 1850s. Before Bridgeport was chartered, before US slavery ended, free Blacks born here, in the Caribbean and Cape Verde, runaway slaves, and members of Indian tribes lived and worked together. Evidence points to Ethiope’s having been a major depot on the Underground Railroad, with Shinnecock Indians ferrying runaways across the Sound under cover of darkness.
DEADLINE
Our need for assistance is immediate and urgent. On May 18th, 2009, the City of Bridgeport will take ownership of the Freeman houses because the property taxes are not paid. At that point their future is uncertain. The current owner, ABCD, Inc. (Action for Bridgeport Community Development), a 501 (c) 3 Community Action Program (anti-poverty agency) owns the houses and cannot afford to pay the tax liability. Funds must be raised. ABCD inherited the houses in 1992. It has now identified funds for restoration, but cannot satisfy the tax liability without donations. ABCD paid more than twenty percent of the $120,000 debt, but interest and fees continue to grow. ABCD has conducted a structural analysis, two archaeological studies, and convened a “Visioning Workshop & Charrette.”
The National Park Service considers the Mary & Eliza Freeman Houses significant to Women’s History and African American History. Mary (1815-1883) and Eliza (1805-1862) overcame significant obstacles as women of color in nineteenth-century America. The story of their success could serve as inspiration to many. By the time Mary died she had parlayed her investments to holdings of $30,000 to $50,000, a fortune for that time. There was only one Bridgeporter of greater wealth – the legendary showman, P.T. Barnum. Ethiope was a remarkable community with churches, a school, lending library, and a four-story hotel – 36 buildings in all. The men of Little Liberia were in the main employed as seamen on whalers and West Indies schooners. Little Liberia’s sons served in the Civil War.
TARGET GOAL: $98,000.00
by May 18th, 2009
PRESSING ISSUES
As for the property taxes. ABCD inherited the houses in 1992. Historically, the properties of non-profits were considered tax exempt by the City of Bridgeport. The Ganim administration changed city policy in the late 1990’s. ABCD, like many non-profits, received its first property tax bills for the houses in 2001. They totaled $32,000. The tax bill was retroactive to 1990 (two years before ABCD owned the houses) and included interest. ABCD could not afford to pay them. Although a glance at ABCD’s annual report would lead one to believe that it has tons of money, the truth is that the agency administers federal and state programs for the needy. Uses for these funds are restricted.
The City and ABCD went back and forth about the tax status of the houses. At one point it was told that the houses were listed on the tax rolls by mistake. ABCD applied for a change of status as instructed. Years later it received a negative decision that it really didn’t expect. In the meantime Mayor Ganim was sent to jail for racketeering, extortion and bribery. Now, the Finch administration, in desperate financial straits, is insisting on the payment of every penny by May 18th, or they will take possession of the houses.
The irony of the entire situation is that, about a year ago, just as ABCD concluded that it had to drive the restoration and development project itself (it had assumed that a coalition of civic, business, and community volunteers would spontaneously emerge) and began identifying funding sources, the City foreclosed and set a law date. This prevented the project from moving forward. The law date was postponed for three months by the court, to November 18th and again to May 18th, to allow time for negotiations and/or fundraising.
ABCD has community support. Letters of support by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the CT Trust for Historic Preservation, the CT Commission on Culture & Tourism, the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, and more. What ABCD doesn’t have is time…or $98,000. We hope you have suggestions and an interest in the project. The CT Trust has listed the houses on its “most endangered” list. ABCD qualifies for restoration grants and has the support of funding agencies, but there are no grants available for payment of back taxes.
The City has favored demolishing such structures to encourage investment in future development. ABCD successfully fought one such attempt to demolish the Freeman Houses in July. The Mayor has since articulated an interest in restoring the houses, but in all fairness, with the City’s current financial problems we don’t know where he would find the money and staff to move this project forward in a timely fashion. We have to take action ourselves.
DEADLINE APPROACHING!
All donations are tax-deductible and deposited in a restricted account. Don't let this piece of history slip away. Give what you can or tell us other ways you'd like to help! We need volunteers to help with this effort!
Credit/Debit Card -
Checks/Money Orders -
ABCD Freeman Fund
c/o ABCD, Inc.
1070 Park Avenue
Bridgeport , CT 06604If ABCD does not retain ownership of the houses, donations will be returned. Donations in excess of the tax liability will be deposited in the Freeman House Capital Campaign Fund.
SUPPORT THE FREEMAN HOUSES