Celebrate Black History Month in Rhode Island

The DeWolf Tavern is located in a former warehouse constructed from repurposed slave ship ballast. Bristol-based maritime merchants and slave traders James and William DeWolf built the warehouse and attached distillery for their “Triangle Trade” enterprise. Remnants of wooden barrels used in making rum were unearthed during the building’s restoration and one is on display on site.

Fred Benson Town Beach is named for Fred Benson, who was sent to Block Island as a foster child in 1903 and lived with five generations of the Milliken family until he died at the age of 101. It is said that Fred Benson held every job on the island, including farmer, owner of the "Square Deal Garage," commercial fisherman, island undertaker, salvage crew operator, five-time president of the chamber of commerce, member of the fire department, teacher of carpentry, boat building, and machine repair at Block Island High School, RI DMV representative, and author of two books about Block Island. When he was 82 he won the Rhode Island lottery threw a huge party for everyone on the island. He then used the rest of the money to start a scholarship fund for Block Island High School graduates who maintain a B-average in college. The scholarship continues to this day. Here is a story the Los Angeles Times did on "The Living Legend of Block Island" in 1986 when he was 91 years old.

Viola Davis Way leads to Central Falls High School, where she discovered her love of stage acting. Her notable philanthropy and activism include donations to the Central Falls Public Library to keep it from closing and the theater department of her alma mater, Central Falls High School. Photo courtesy of Rhode Island Monthly.

In 2001 she was honored with a bronze bust on display in the Rhode Island State House for her work as "the conscience of Rhode Island." She is buried at Providence's Swan Point Cemetery.

On August 29, 1778, during the Battle of Rhode Island the First Rhode Island Regiment, comprised primarily of black soldiers, made a gallant stand which thwarted a British attempt to flank the American line centered on Butts Hill Fort.

On July 9, 1777, Black patriot Quarco Honyman (Jack Sisson) was a member of the group that captured British General Prescott, who had set up headquarters in the Nichols-Overing House. 

In the 18th century, the city of Newport was a major hub of the North American slave trade. The area now known as Bowen’s Wharf served as a location where enslaved people arrived and departed in sailing ships and also worked in trades related to maritime commerce, including serving as shipbuilders, sailors, caulkers, sailmakers, carpenters, rope-makers, painters, barrel-makers, and dock workers.

The John Brown House was built in 1788 by merchant, patriot, politician, and slave trader John Brown, an instigator and participant in the Gaspee Affair. He and his family were some of the wealthiest and most influential people in the colonies and, then, the United States. The Browns are the namesake of Brown University.

This cathedral, originally built as King’s Church in 1722, was funded in part by the Triangle Trade. Enslavers and enslaved people both worshipped here. It is now the site of The Center for Reconciliation, an organization dedicated to educating the public about slavery and its aftermath. You can visit the grave of Phillis Chace, her daughter, and granddaughter, an enslaved family, in the adjacent burial ground.

Originally founded in the First Baptist Meeting House in 1819, this is the oldest continually operating Black church in Providence. The church, which was rebuilt in 1869, provided a space for the growing Providence Black community to meet their spiritual needs and work together to access education, meeting space, and the agency and social capital that comes from institutions.

The progressive idea of promoting education to all in support of a free society was at the heart of this old brick schoolhouse. By 1800, Rhode Island had one of the earliest public education systems, housed in this building. In its long history as host to innovative educational initiatives, it served as a school for African American students, an early fresh air school for children suffering from tuberculosis, and site of the Meeting Street School, a pioneering organization for children of all mental and physical abilities. 

This is the oldest surviving (and probably the first) house built by an American architect for his own use. Joseph Brown both participated in the slave trade and enslaved people via his family businesses. Some of those enslaved persons lived and worked in this house. 

Smith’s Castle was built in 1678 as a replacement for an earlier structure that was destroyed by the Narragansett Tribe during King Philip’s War. The land on which the house was built was known as Cocumscussoc and was the original site of Roger Williams’ trading post. Later it was transferred to the Updike family of Wickford and became a large slave-holding plantation that occasionally participated in the slave trade as well. Smith’s Castle is the site of 200 graves of enslaved people who worked at the property over a period of 150 years.