Reverence: Reclaiming the Forgotten follows Connecticut genealogist and historian John Mills as he works to restore the stories of African Americans long left out of the nation’s historical narrative. Through public advocacy, community engagement, and original research, Mills brings renewed attention to individuals such as Prince Mortimer, Esther Jackson, Fortune, and the soldiers of the 29th Connecticut Colored Regiment—people whose lives and sacrifices have been largely forgotten.

From addressing local government to leading the creation of public memorials, the film captures a modern effort to confront the past and honor those who endured enslavement yet helped shape the nation. Centered on the lineage of Primus Armes, the film connects generations of descendants to a broader American story, inviting audiences to reflect on the meaning of equality as the country approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Director Biography - John Mills

John Mills is an independent historian, filmmaker, author, and founder of the Alex Breanne Corporation, a Connecticut nonprofit dedicated to restoring the stories of formerly enslaved people and reconnecting their descendants with histories that were nearly lost.

Inspired by his own family's journey from enslavement in Texas to the present day, Mills specializes in locating living descendants through historical and genealogical research, then returning their ancestral stories directly to them. His work has resulted in descendant reunions, restored memorials, historical markers, public art projects, museum collaborations, and educational initiatives throughout Connecticut.

His work has been featured on The Kelly Clarkson Show, The Areva Martin Show, The Washington Post, and Scholastic Magazine, and he serves on the Connecticut Freedom Trail Committee.

Mills is the author of The Narrative of Primus: A Lineage Woven into American History and wrote the foreword for A Century in Captivity: The Life and Trials of Prince Mortimer, an Enslaved Connecticut Man. His documentary Reverence: Reclaiming the Forgotten extends that same mission to film, exploring how forgotten history can transform the way descendants—and communities—understand themselves.

Director Statement

My grandfather, Milon Mills, passed away in 1987 when I was seventeen years old. At the time, I knew very little about his life. In the years that followed, I was presented with fragments of his story—learning that his mother died during the 1918 influenza pandemic, his father died in 1915, and his grandfather, Ned Mills, had been enslaved in Texas and was freed on Juneteenth.

In 2003, my sister and I traveled to Kilgore, Texas, to visit their graves. What we found was not a cemetery in the traditional sense, but a wooded area behind a whites-only burial ground, where my ancestors had been laid to rest without recognition. I later discovered similar realities across multiple branches of my family—ancestors buried in segregated or neglected spaces, or, in one case, displaced entirely when a cemetery in Baltimore was paved over to make way for a parking lot.

Confronting these histories changed me. It gave me a profound reverence for those who endured enslavement, loss, and systemic injustice, yet still persevered and built families. Their survival made my life possible.

This film is an extension of that reverence. Through genealogical research, public advocacy, and the creation of memorials and murals, I seek to restore visibility to individuals whose lives have been marginalized or erased from the historical record. Figures such as Prince Mortimer, Fortune, and the soldiers of the 29th Connecticut Colored Regiment are not just subjects of history—they are part of a larger, unfinished story about who we choose to remember.

As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Reverence: Reclaiming the Forgotten asks what it truly means to honor the ideal that all men are created equal. My hope is that this work inspires others to examine the histories within their own communities and to find ways to acknowledge and revere those who have long been forgotten.