Photos of the Jamaican Emancipation Day celebration in Enfield, Connecticut

One of the missions of the Shade Research Collective is to document and highlight the workers, past and present, of the Connecticut River Valley’s tobacco fields. On August 1st, Professor Jason Chang and, AAASI Activist-in-Residence, Mike Keo visited the Jamaican Emancipation Day celebration at the Jarmoc tobacco plantation in Enfield, Connecticut to photograph the event. More than 300 Jamaican tobacco workers came to the celebration. Professor Fiona Vernal also attended as part of her on going work with the West Indian diaspora in central Connecticut. The event was an opportunity to recognize the hard work and sacrifice of these workers under the stressful conditions of the pandemic.