On October 9, 1917 James Weldon Johnson, Mary Ovington and W.E.B DuBois came to Hartford and spent an evening in the living room of Fredrick and Mary Seymour at 420 New Britain Avenue to discuss the issues of lynching and discrimination. In November 1917 DuBois, Ovington, and James Weldon Johnson, all prominent leaders within the national office, visited Hartford to address a large meeting at Center Church. On December 10, 1917, the national organization’s board, clearly impressed by the local activism and organizing spirit in Hartford, granted the Hartford branch a permanent charter. William Service Bell, a respected African American clerk at a local merchandise store, became the branch’s first president, while Seymour served as vice-president.
From its very beginning, the branch battled racism and discrimination in its myriad forms in everyday life, employment, housing, and education. The current endeavors of the Greater Hartford branch, now led by Corrie Betts, reveal a mission, objectives, and a vision that have held true to the foundation established by William Service Bell and Mary Townsend Seymour.
Every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Greater Hartford NAACP hosts Wake Up Wednesday — a weekly initiative rooted in service, support, and solidarity. Located in the heart of the community, this gathering is more than a food drive or resource fair — it’s a living example of what it means to show up for one another.
Whether you need a hot meal, a warm coat, or a conversation, you’ll find it here. We distribute free groceries, clothing, household goods, and offer grilled meals and grinders on-site. And it doesn’t stop there.
Each week also features a rotating lineup of community resources:
If you’re in need — or if you just want to connect — Wake Up Wednesday is for you. No paperwork, no red tape. Just neighbors helping neighbors.
Come for the food. Stay for the community. Leave with hope.
FIND OUT MORE HERE
Hartford’s Clay Arsenal neighborhood borders encapsulate three of the poorest census tracts in the state.
Of the more than 6,000 residents that call the Clay Arsenal neighborhood home, roughly 50% live below the federal poverty line, data shows. More than 27% of the adult population lacks a high school diploma. Nearly 48% of residents between the ages of 20 and 64 do not have a job, according to census data. And home ownership rates are so low that less than 10% of the housing units in the neighborhood are owner-occupied.
But when Jean Holloway walks through her Clay Arsenal neighborhood, she sees endless potential.
Holloway envisions a community with more homeownership opportunities, a place where small merchants can fill the now abandoned storefronts — a Clay Arsenal where families and residents will choose to put down roots, instead of treating it as a stop “until you can do better.”
“If I wasn’t working for my neighbors, I really would not know what to do,” Holloway said. “You have to want your neighborhood to grow.”
