Hugh B. Price’s family den, located inside of his tastefully decorated colonial-style home, is filled with family photographs that captured special moments ranging from birthday parties, graduation ceremonies and weddings.
Some photos date back to the 1800s, including one of his great-grandfather, Augustus Hawley.
But Hawley’s great-grandfather, Nero Hawley, a formerly enslaved Revolutionary War soldier from Trumbull, Connecticut, is nowhere to be seen on the wall.
Instead, one of the few records Price has of Hawley’s existence is a worn bank note made out to Hawley.
“On the back you can see he signed it with an X,” Price said.
It was a pension payment made to Hawley, who was born into slavery and fought for his freedom during the Revolutionary War. Hawley is one of around 5,000 African Americans who fought for the Continental Army.
A Trumbull grave-marking ceremony was held in early November at Trumbull’s Riverside Cemetery to honor Nero Hawley. And among the attendees were descendants of Nero Hawley’s enslaver, including Ryan Hawley, a Democratic city councilman in Danbury.
The ceremony was hosted by a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Reenactors from the Connecticut Sons of the American Revolution fired their muskets in Hawley’s honor.
Price said federal efforts to erase some of the contributions of African Americans to the establishment of the United States make Nero Hawley’s legacy all the more important.
Nero Hawley’s story
Price’s family says Nero Hawley was born around 1742 and lived in North Stratford, which later became part of the town of Trumbull.
Few records survive of Nero Hawley’s early life. He was given as a wedding gift to Daniel Hawley, who taught him various skills including brickmaking. Hawley allowed Nero to move out in order to live with his wife after they were married.
Little is known about Daniel Hawley’s treatment of Nero Hawley. However, Nero Hawley quickly joined the Continental Army in 1777, with the understanding he would be a free man after serving in the war. The military sought out men who were enslaved for service as losses mounted for the British and revolutionaries, forcing them to seek out much-needed manpower.
Many enslaved people fought for the British Army, which issued them similar guarantees of freedom, according to Thomas Balcerski, a professor of history at Eastern Connecticut State University and director of the university's Center for Connecticut Studies.
Regardless of their personal loyalties, every enslaved person, including Hawley, fought for the literal promise of liberty instead of an abstract idea, according to Balcerski.
“Freedom for the individual was the most important and, I think, valuable outcome for this war, as opposed to national independence, or victory in battle,” Balcerski said.
Many of these soldiers, Balcerski said, would find themselves in a situation that wouldn’t be as common for nearly 200 years.
“The Continental Army was, by one scholar's take, and I agree with it, the most integrated army to serve the United States until the Vietnam War,” Balcerski said.
Coincidentally, Hawley joined his unit in Danbury in 1777, where nearly 250 years later, Ryan Hawley, a descendant of the family who owned him, would win his campaign as a Democratic city councilman.
Nero Hawley, by all accounts, was a brave and skilled soldier. He endured the famed winter at Valley Forge and fought as a scout. He was injured during his service and discharged in 1781. In 1782, he was emancipated by Daniel Hawley.
Nero Hawley became a brickmaker and landowner and died in 1817 at the age of 75.
Former enslaver’s descendant reflects
At the grave-marker ceremony to honor Nero Hawley, Ryan Hawley spoke. It marked the first time he attended such an event.
“The society of the Hawley family, we exist to preserve and celebrate our shared heritage,” Hawley said.
He had difficulty coming to terms with that part of his family’s legacy.
“I was looking into it, and at first it rubbed me the wrong way. I was like, Do I even want to know? Do I look into it?” Hawley said.
Ryan Hawley said Nero Hawley’s decision to maintain a relationship with his former owner lessened the blow of learning his family participated in an inherently inhumane system.
“You start to learn the story of how he earned his freedom, and then he went into business with his former slave owner, earned the right to buy land from around the property where he was enslaved, where we're currently standing right now,” Hawley said.
An honest reckoning
Hugh B. Price, Nero Hawley’s ancestor, lives in New Rochelle, New York and has stopped traveling as much to Hawley’s gravesite. However, he holds several bricks that once belonged to Nero Hawley and a U.S. Treasury note reflecting his military pension payment close to his heart.
Price says he has not been in touch with the Hawley family.
“It's not out of any particular feelings, one way or the other, but I'll be 84 soon,” Price said. ”I don't travel like I used to, so I know what I need and want to know about them.”
Price, who has had a long career in civil rights advocacy work, and is the former president of the National Urban League, said it is more important for descendants of slave owners and the descendants of enslaved people to have an honest accounting of the past. He praised the Hawley family for the several family members who have made a career in public service.
That, according to Price, is more meaningful than being in contact with the Hawley family.
“We all have to do whatever we can to make sure that we continue to live in a civil society that's respectful of everyone and views everyone equally,” Price said. “And if we espouse those and live those values today, that's good enough for me.”
Price’s family photos don’t include an image of Nero Hawley. Price says he doesn’t wonder what Hawley looked like.
He says Hawley's bank note connects him with his ancestor’s spirit. Price said when he touched it for the first time, he could sense Nero Hawley’s presence, as if his skin touched his hand.
