Know Your History

Resources on Historical Topics Relevant to the History We Are Making Today

There are long stretches of our lives when it seems that nothing will ever change, and then, in a moment, everything is changing. As we live through this time, with disease, economic uncertainty, and social unrest, history can help us with empathy and understanding.

‘Know Your History’ will now be a web presence and a focus for NHS. Here, we will try to connect our audiences with historical information that is relevant to the moment and what is happening in the world. Direct parallels to the past are not the point; rather we hope to address questions like “how did we get here?” while we struggle to answer “and what are we going to do now?” For the moment, this page will offer resources on Newport and Rhode Island’s history relative to people of African descent, Native Americans, and on the history of protest and suffrage.

The resources displayed here will change as we develop and discover new ones. Look here, too, when new controversies and events begin to unfold. We will continue to try to provide useful data from the past.

'The U.S. Slave Ship Ascension'

From 1777 to 1812, slave ships carried nearly 70,000 captives to the Río de la Plata; however, the main slave routes leading to Buenos Aires and Montevideo did not depart from Africa. In his peer-reviewed article 'The U.S. slave ship Ascension in the Río de la Plata: slave routes and circuits of silver in the late eighteenth-century Atlantic and beyond,' Alex Borucki, Director of the Latin American Studies Center at the University of California, Irvine, follows the voyage of the slave ship 'Ascension', the first of many U.S. vessels bringing slaves to Buenos Aires and Montevideo, in order to explain the formation of networks between U.S. and Rioplatense merchants and the centrality of silver as means of legal and illegal exchanges. This thesis is substantiated in part through research conducted at the Newport Historical Society. Click the button below to read the full article.

The first European settlers on Aquidneck Island purchased the right to settle here from the native inhabitants in 1638, with Newport being founded the following year. Despite an agreement stipulating that those first residents would vacate the island, there is evidence in the historical record that that native peoples continued to actively engage – socially and economically – with the new European settlers. This digital exhibit highlights some of this evidence in the historical record, including documents and objects.

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Martin Luther King Jr. on the 'New Phase' of Civil Rights Struggle

In 1967, at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Luther King spoke with NBC News' Sander Vanocur about the "new phase" of the struggle for "genuine equality." Click the link below to watch the full interview.

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Abolition & Anti-Abolition

A recent issue of the peer-reviewed publication 'Newport History: Journal of the Newport Historical Society' featured the article “Abolition and Anti-Abolition in Newport, Rhode Island, 1835-1866,” by Joey La Neve DeFrancesco. Click the link below to learn how a determined and cohesive African-American community overcame the maneuvers of the local powerful pro-slavery bloc, and succeeded in building institutions that had a profound impact on the lives of black Newporters in the nineteenth century.

Digital Resource Guide — Rhode Island’s African American History

Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) Resources on African American...

Uncovering Marginalized Histories

While it is generally accepted in our line of work,...

History Bytes: The Life and Travels of Newport Gardener

Guest post by Kristin Uscinski, co-host of the podcast ‘Footnoting...

Precious Stones: The Carved Markers at God's Little Acre

This article in Preservation Magazine features Newport’s own God’s Little Acre, a portion of the Common Burying Ground devoted mostly to individuals of African descent, dating back to 1705. God’s Little Acre is perhaps the richest and most evocative space in the built environment of Newport: Preserving it may be one of the most important things any of us are doing now. For those who are interested specifically in the population of people of color in Newport, and for anyone interested, in a very personal sense, of who lived here and what their lives entailed, read more by clicking the button below.

Rhode Island's Historical Cemeteries

To search burials in Newport’s Island Cemetery, as well as across Rhode Island, click the links below:

Island Cemetery

Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries

Self-Guided Walking Tour of Newport

This hour-long tour touches on Newport’s 18^th century economy, practice of religious toleration, politics and the city’s diverse population – enslaved and free, during Newport’s colonial period. Click the link below to download a free PDF, which includes a map of the tour route.

Self-Guided Walking Tour

Touching Base: Race, Sport, and Community in Newport

Please enjoy free access to an article from 'Newport History', the flagship peer-reviewed publication of the Newport Historical Society! Across the country in June 2020, leaders tipped their caps to honor the creation of the Negro Leagues in 1920. "Touching Base: Race, Sport, and Community in Newport," originally published by Robert Cvornyek in the Winter 2016 issue of "Newport History," uncovers a wealth of information about local African-American teams and players, the integration of baseball in Newport and the visits to the city of elite Negro League teams. Access to our complete journal archive is included with NHS Membership.

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African American Church Membership of Hotel Era Newport

This social history mapping project focuses on Newport’s mid-to-late nineteenth century African American community, using data compiled from from local church records, census documents, and maps from the NHS collection. Click the link below to explore the project.

Story Map