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In 2009, the ownership of the houses transferred from Action for Bridgeport Community Development to the

Mary and Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community, a non-profit that was created to raise money to

restore the homes (Burgeson, 2018). In 2018, the Mary and Elizabeth Freeman houses were recognized as

one of the top 11 most endangered historic places in the United States for that year by the National Trust

for Historic Preservation In their statements about the sites, the National Trust had the following to say

about the Freeman Houses:

“Widely considered the oldest houses built by African Americans in Connecticut, the Freeman

Houses help to tell the unique story of the free black community in the North prior to the Civil War.

The houses have been vacant for many years and are badly deteriorating.” (“Discover America’s

11,” 2018).

Over the last ten years, there have been multiple efforts to gain national attention from organizations,

grants, and trusts to fund the restoration and protection of the beloved site, seemingly forgotten. Careful

records were taken in 1994 when the Freeman Houses were included as part of the Nation Archives to mark it

as a historically significant site. CT Humanities, a community-focused organization in Connecticut has marked

the Freeman Houses as an interested, awarding finances for the preservation of the site. “This is one of the

most important untold Connecticut stories

A community rally in support of the

restoration of the “Freeman Houses”

photo from CT Post

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