Author: Kenneth Walsh Publisher: Author House ISBN: 1496935438 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 225
Book Description
Before the American Revolution, Newport was one of the biggest ports on the eastern seaboard thanks to its religious freedom and lack of effective control by Britain. Its then free-running economy based on international trading would face many challenges and changes over the 18th and 19th centuries.
Author: Christy Clark-Pujara Publisher: NYU Press ISBN: 1479855634 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 223
Book Description
Tells the story of one state in particular whose role in the slave trade was outsized: Rhode Island Historians have written expansively about the slave economy and its vital role in early American economic life. Like their northern neighbors, Rhode Islanders bought and sold slaves and supplies that sustained plantations throughout the Americas; however, nowhere else was this business so important. During the colonial period trade with West Indian planters provided Rhode Islanders with molasses, the key ingredient for their number one export: rum. More than 60 percent of all the slave ships that left North America left from Rhode Island. During the antebellum period Rhode Islanders were the leading producers of “negro cloth,” a coarse wool-cotton material made especially for enslaved blacks in the American South. Clark-Pujara draws on the documents of the state, the business, organizational, and personal records of their enslavers, and the few first-hand accounts left by enslaved and free black Rhode Islanders to reconstruct their lived experiences. The business of slavery encouraged slaveholding, slowed emancipation and led to circumscribed black freedom. Enslaved and free black people pushed back against their bondage and the restrictions placed on their freedom. It is convenient, especially for northerners, to think of slavery as southern institution. The erasure or marginalization of the northern black experience and the centrality of the business of slavery to the northern economy allows for a dangerous fiction—that North has no history of racism to overcome. But we cannot afford such a delusion if we are to truly reconcile with our past.
Author: Patricia E. Kane Publisher: Yale University Press ISBN: 0300217846 Category : Antiques & Collectibles Languages : en Pages : 509
Book Description
This book presents new information on the export trade, patronage, artistic collaboration, and the small-scale shop traditions that defined early Rhode Island craftsmanship. This stunning volume features more than 200 illustrations of beautifully constructed and carved objects—including chairs, high chests, bureau tables, and clocks—that demonstrate the superb workmanship and artistic skill of the state’s furniture makers.
Author: Robert A. Geake Publisher: Westholme Publishing ISBN: 9781594162688 Category : HISTORY Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Known as the "Black" Regiment, the Story of the First Continental Army Unit Composed of African American and Native American Enlisted Men In December 1777, the Continental army was encamped at Valley Forge and faced weeks of cold and hunger, as well as the prospect of many troops leaving as their terms expired in the coming months. If the winter were especially cruel, large numbers of soldiers would face death or contemplate desertion. Plans were made to enlist more men, but as the states struggled to fill quotas for enlistment, Rhode Island general James Mitchell Varnum proposed the historic plan that a regiment of slaves might be recruited from his own state, the smallest in the union, but holding the largest population of slaves in New England. The commander-in-chief's approval of the plan would set in motion the forming of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment. The "black regiment," as it came to be known, was composed of indentured servants, Narragansett Indians, and former slaves. This was not without controversy. While some in the Rhode Island Assembly and in other states railed that enlisting slaves would give the enemy the impression that not enough white men could be raised to fight the British, owners of large estates gladly offered their slaves and servants, both black and white, in lieu of a son or family member enlisting. The regiment fought with distinction at the battle of Rhode Island, and once joined with the 2nd Rhode Island before the siege of Yorktown in 1781, it became the first integrated battalion in the nation's history. In From Slaves to Soldiers: The 1st Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution, historian Robert A. Geake tells the important story of the "black regiment" from the causes that led to its formation, its acts of heroism and misfortune, as well as the legacy left by those men who enlisted to earn their freedom.
Author: Christian M. McBurney Publisher: Westholme Pub Llc ISBN: 9781594161346 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 427
Book Description
Chronicles the battle fought by the joint American and French forces against the British during the Revolutionary War, describing the complex, multi-faceted sea strategies and the controversial decisions made on both sides by the prominent patriots involved.
Author: Robert A. Geake Publisher: Arcadia Publishing ISBN: 1614238421 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 179
Book Description
The story of the indigenous people in what would become Rhode Island, their encounters with Europeans, and their return to sovereignty in the twentieth century. Before Roger Williams set foot in the New World, the Narragansett farmed corn and squash, hunted beaver and deer, and harvested clams and oysters throughout what would become Rhode Island. They also obtained wealth in the form of wampum, a carved shell that was used as currency along the eastern coast. As tensions with the English rose, the Narragansett leaders fought to maintain autonomy. While the elder Sachem Canonicus lived long enough to welcome both Verrazzano and Williams, his nephew Miatonomo was executed for his attempts to preserve their way of life and circumvent English control. Historian Robert A. Geake explores the captivating story of these Native Rhode Islanders.
Author: Christian McBurney Publisher: Arcadia Publishing ISBN: 1439660727 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 182
Book Description
Rhode Island's contribution to World War II vastly exceeded its small size. Narragansett Bay was an armed camp dotted by army forts and navy facilities. They included the country's most important torpedo production and testing facilities at Newport and the Northeast's largest naval air station at Quonset Point. Three special, top-secret German POW camps were based in Narragansett and Jamestown. Meanwhile, Rhode Island workers from all over the state - including, for the first time, many women - manufactured military equipment and built warships, most notably the Liberty ships at Providence Shipyard. Authors from the Rhode Island history blog smallstatebighistory.com trace Rhode Island's outsized wartime role, from the scare of an enemy air raid after Pearl Harbor to the war's final German U-boat sunk off Point Judith.
Author: Frank L Grzyb Publisher: Arcadia Publishing ISBN: 1625850697 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 204
Book Description
A chronicle of five centuries of outstanding women who left their mark on the Ocean State. Rhode Island proudly claims a long list of remarkable women throughout history, from pioneering education reformers and suffragettes to trailblazing athletes and authors. In the mid-1800s, Sarah Helen Whitman became a prominent female poet and nearly married Edgar Allan Poe. In 1922, Isabelle Ahearn O’Neil became the first woman to hold office in the Rhode Island legislature. In the 1940s, Wilma Briggs became the first woman in the state to play on a local high school boys’ baseball team and went on to join the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Join authors Frank L. Grzyb and Russell J. DeSimone in this captivating and insightful account that spans five centuries of women who made history in the smallest state in the nation.
Author: Kenneth Walsh
Author: Christy Clark-Pujara
Author: Patricia E. Kane
Author: Robert A. Geake
Author: Christian M. McBurney
Author: Edward Field
Author: Robert A. Geake
Author: Christian McBurney
Author: Roger Williams
Author: Frank L Grzyb