A Heritage Discovered: Blacks in Rhode Island

Item — Folder: 3. A Heritage Discovered: Blacks in Rhode Island (1636-1098)

Identifier: 1636-1098

Staff Only

Dates

Creation: 1976

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

No special restrictions unless otherwise specified.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright is in the public domain unless otherwise specified. We reserve the right to restrict reproduction of materials due to preservation concerns.

Biographical / Historical

In 1975, the founding members of The Rhode Island Black Heritage Society sought to preserve three centuries of African-American experience in our state by identifying local “"Keepers of the Story”. With their all-important support the Society assembled a collection that documents local African Americans’ accomplishments in the fields of military service, business, politics, the arts and education. The first public sharing of that collection took form in a Rhode Island Black Heritage Society exhibit called “A Heritage Discovered: Black in Rhode Island.” A decade later came the award-winning 1985 exhibit and publication, “Creative Survival.” Over the intervening years, your friends and neighbors, along with thousands of other Rhode Islanders, have earned “"Keeper of the Story” status by helping to preserve the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society and its collection, through support of the annual Black Heritage Ball. Today, the need for a fresh infusion of support cannot be overstated. As you may know, The Rhode Island Black Heritage Society recently was forced to move out of the now-vacant Arcade in downtown Providence. Its collection of our stories has been sent into exile, locked away in a storage facility that affords neither access nor a sophisticated preservation environment.

Source: Rhode Island Black Heritage Society-About

Extent

.02 Cubic Feet (1 folder)

Additional Description

Rhode Island Digital Archives

Digital Record

Accruals

No accruals are anticipated at this time.

General

Excerpt:

The Rhode Island Black Heritage Society was organized in 1975 under the auspices of the Rhode Island Historical Society. Its primary goal is to research, document and preserve the history of Blacks in Rhode Island so that this generation and others to follow will realize that Blacks were among the contributors to the development of this state.

It is difficult to determine when the first slave came to Rhode Island. The legislation passed in May, 1652 indicates that perhaps Black slaves as well as Indians were already a part of this new colony. In the latter part of the 17th century, the slave trade had begun to flourish in the colonies and Rhode Island had become the only colony in New England to use slaves for both labor and trade.

The Society is committed to removing the myth that perhaps the only slave plantations that existed were in the South. Rhode Island had the best of two worlds during the era of the Slave Trade. Research into the state has led the Society to believe that Rhode Island was a mirror with reflections of the new nation with all of its hardships the great landed aristocracy in the form of the Narragansett Planter family, the indentured and slave craftsmen in Newport, the struggle for freedom in the participation of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, the forming of the African Union Society which changed names five times over a period of one hundred ninety six years each time meeting the needs of the African who would later be a part of the American mosaic. Because Rhode Island withdrew from the slave trade earlier than most of the colonies, she became a strong abolitionist force under the direction of Moses Brown . Blacks would escape, migrate, pass through or settle following the North star to Canada.

The uniqueness of Rhode Island, the blending together of two oppressed people, the native American - the Black and indentured servant - gave a richness to this state. Where else in America can you find a community where descendents of the master, Indian and slave are still carrying slave names and living in the same town.

In November 1975, the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities funded our first project "Blacks in Rhode Island - a Heritage Discovered." This booklet is a very brief representation of the discoveries and findings in libraries, historical societies, personal collections of both Black and White citizens throughout the state.