Walk a Mile in My Shoes | James Lindsey Smith Project
Fresh Kicks Academy / Norwich, Connecticut
Walk a Mile in My Shoes
The James Lindsey Smith Project at Castle Church
A shoemaker’s history in Norwich
James Lindsey Smith was born enslaved in Virginia and learned the shoemaker’s trade while still enslaved. He escaped in 1838. In 1842, he settled in Norwich, Connecticut, where he built a shoe business and a life of his own.
He recorded his journey in an 1881 autobiography. Castle Church helps keep his story visible in Norwich through its community history work.
Walk a mile in my shoes
Castle Church hosted the James Lindsey Smith Project sneaker workshop in Norwich. Through Fresh Kicks Academy, I brought young people into the process of making a sneaker their own, from the first design choices to the hands-on work.
That invitation felt full circle to me. I’m a shoemaker teaching the next generation in the city where Smith made and sold shoes. Our lives are different, and his fight for freedom deserves to be understood on its own terms. His story made me pause and think about what a pair of shoes can carry: work, identity, history, and a path forward.
“Walk a Mile in My Shoes” gave us a way to talk about his journey while the students created something with their own hands. That is what I want Fresh Kicks Academy to make room for: learning the craft, learning the story, and seeing possibility in what we can build.
Learn more about Smith’s journey to freedom and Castle Church’s Norwich history project.