"The Search for Nero Jones"
Hugh B. Price

My mother has traced her lineage as far back as the American Revolution. An archivist, she has also been trained to track down ancestors. Her mother, Cora, was a Hawley from Connecticut. Nero Hawley, who was Cora’s great-great-grandfather, lived in Trumbull, known back then as North Stratford. Born a slave in 1742, he was persuaded by the promise of freedom, and a signing bonus, to enlist on April 20, 1777, in the 2nd Connecticut Regiment.

"The Troubled Reign Of The Emperor Jones"
By Susan Delson

Today it’s considered a classic of early cinema. But in the early 1930s, when it was made, The Emperor Jones was one of the riskiest movies ever to reach the screen. Adapted from an acclaimed drama by Eugene O’Neill, then on his way to becoming a leading American playwright, it was hardly the usual popcorn fare. More to the point, in an era when Hollywood typically depicted African-Americans as servants or comic figures, The Emperor Jones focused on a complex, powerful black character. It cast a charismatic black actor as its only star, giving him top billing over a white actor—unheard of at the time. Hobbled by censorship and buffeted by the uncertainties of the Great Depression, The Emperor Jones still dared to challenge conventional thinking in the film industry and among movie audiences around the country.