The years leading up to and through WWI, America would see the first Great Migration of African American families who would move from the rural south to urban cities in the north. During that time nearly 2 million men, women… Continue Reading →
In all the years that I have worked researching and interpreting slave cemeteries, the most interesting and baffling discovery I have come across is the matching burial markers in Newport, RI and Dorchester, MA of a young slave girl named… Continue Reading →
Newport, Rhode Island in the mid-18th century embodied two marked ironies. Settled a century earlier on the principles of religious freedom and civil liberties, the fledging colony would attract many of the world’s most persecuted religious minority groups including Quakers,… Continue Reading →
The peculiar institution of slavery in Rhode Island had its start and evolution with the sea. The town of Newport, aptly named the “City by the Sea,” would become the fifth most active seaport in all of Thirteen Colonies by… Continue Reading →
While much of African American historical research and interpretation regarding the 19th and early 20th centuries “Back to Africa” movement has focused largely on the efforts of the American Colonization Society or the Pan-Africanism effort of Marcus Garvey in the… Continue Reading →
Anecdote FOUR Negros were carrying a Corpse to the grave at a place where it was a custom to give the pall bearers gloves: but the four were not presented with any. About middle way to the church yard, Cuffee… Continue Reading →
2013 is a special year for Newport, for Rhode Island and for the nation. It is the 350th anniversary of the Rhode Island Colonial Charter, one of the nation’s earliest compacts to affirm religious toleration and freedom. It is the… Continue Reading →
The September 27, 1856 edition of the Richmond Times Dispatch ran what might have been for most readers at the time an amusing story concerning stolen chickens from the farm of one of the city’s prominent citizens. The news story… Continue Reading →
2013 is the 350th anniversary celebration of the Rhode Island Royal Charter. Dated July 8, 1663, it was drafted by Dr. John Clarke of Newport. Clarke worked for over a decade to secure the charter from England’s King Charles II… Continue Reading →
Brown University Choices Program – The American Revolution: Experiences of Rebellion
TedxNewport – Newport’s African Burying Ground
Click on image to view pdf.
A Matter of Truth is a comprehensive analysis of the role the City of Providence and State of Rhode Island played in supporting a “separate and unequal” existence for African heritage, Indigenous and people of color.
Please contact RIBHS at origins@riblackheritage.org if you would like a print version.
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In The Name of History
Many times, when you live and were raised in a historic community like my home in Newport, Rhode Island, you take for granted the significant sites and structures in the place you call home. My family has lived on Vernon… Continue Reading →