The life and work of pioneering anti-slavery reformer and civic leader James Hillhouse (1754-1832) will be commemorated Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 13-15, as part of Yale's Tercentennial celebration.

The Yale Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition -- part of the Yale Center for International and Area Studies -- will join the Connecticut Freedom Trail, the New Haven Public Schools, the Amistad Committee, and other local sponsors to salute Hillhouse in a program of public events. These will include a dedication at his gravesite, an exhibit of memorabilia from his life and a forum about his life and times to be held in the school named in his honor: Hillhouse High School.

Born in Montville, Connecticut, Hillhouse grew up in New Haven, where he attended the Hopkins School and Yale College. He enlisted in the American Revolutionary army and led the Foot Guard in defense of New Haven against the British invasion of July 6, 1779. The following year, he entered state politics and by 1790 had been elected to the U.S. Congress. Chosen to finish the term of Senator Oliver Ellsworth in 1796, Hillhouse was elected to the seat a year later.

As a member of the U.S. Senate, where he served until 1810, Hillhouse distinguished himself as an early critic of slavery. He proposed such amendments to the Constitution as random appointment of the president from the Senate and term-limits on all federally elected officials -- largely to check the slaveholding South from accruing too much power.

Closer to home, Hillhouse was an effective treasurer and fundraiser for his alma mater Yale College, successfully soliciting funds from the Connecticut legislature and the network of Yale alumni beginning to fan across the growing nation. Locally, Hillhouse arranged to have elm trees on his farm replanted in downtown New Haven, earning it the epithet "Elm City," and he established the Grove Street Cemetery, where he is buried.

Events in honor of Hillhouse will begin with an opening reception for the memorabilia exhibit, on Sept. 13, at 5 p.m. at the New Haven Free Public Library, 133 Elm St.

A forum, "James Hillhouse and His World," will take place Sept. 14 at 7 p.m in Hillhouse High School, 480 Sherman Pkwy. The featured speakers will include Peter Hinks of Hamilton College, who will discuss blacks in Federalist New Haven, and Kariann Yokota, assistant professor of history at Yale, who will talk about the Federalist world of Connecticut.

A ceremony dedicating Hillhouse's grave as part of the Connecticut Freedom Trail will be held on Sept. 15 at 10 a.m. in the Grove Street Cemetery, corner of Grove and Prospect streets. This will be followed by a community reception at 11:15 a.m. in the common room of the McDougal Center, Hall of Graduate Studies, 320 York St.

A related event, the dedication of the grave of Amistad captives who died in Connecticut, will take place on Saturday, Sept. 22, at the Grove Street Cemetery. Tejan Kabbah, president of Sierra Leone, which has ties to the Amistad, is expected to attend the ceremony.

The Yale Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition is part of the Yale Center for International and Area Studies.

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