Saturday, September 21, 2013

Mr. Fortune is Laid To Rest

Source: WTNH Video from Connecticut


After 200 years, the remains of a man who was enslaved in Connecticut were finally laid to rest. This event happened last week in Waterbury Connecticut and his long deserved burial has at last occurred.

His name was Fortune, but for many years they simply called him Larry - Larry the Skeleton
This name was given to him during the decades that his skeleton was on display at a museum in Waterbury Connecticut.

When he died in the 1700s, it was not uncommon that the bodies of the poor, became used for "scientific" study. In his case, the case of a man whose family had no say of his fate even in death, his remains were not buried, but were boiled to remove the tissue so that his skeleton could be used for study, for over 100 years.

The skeletal remains stayed in the family of doctors that had possessed them for generations. Finally in the 20th century Mr. Fortune's bones were given to a museum, where they were then put on display, as "Larry" the skeleton. He "entertained" visitors to the museum, for several more decades when they were finally removed in the 1970s.

It took another four decades for human dignity and honor to finally be restored to this man, and for him to be properly laid to rest. It is not known if there are any descendants of Mr. Fortune, or if any were present at the ceremony last week in Connecticut. But at last, his humanity was acknowledged and he can now finally rest in peace.


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