By: Leah Crowley, WPRI12
NEWPORT, R.I. (WPRI) — The Newport Historical Society (NHS) is being recognized at the national level for shining a light on some of the city’s previously untold history.
The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) announced on Tuesday that the Rhode Island organization would be receiving an award of excellence for its 2024 exhibition, “A Name, A Voice, A Life: The Black Newporters of the 17th-19th Centuries.”
The exhibition was on display at the Richard I. Burnham Resource Center in Newport from May to November 2024.
“A Name, A Voice, A Life” featured the names of Black Newporters whose stories were uncovered during a four-year research project that involved digitizing the Newport Historical Society’s archives.
The AASLH said its Leadership in History awards are the “most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history.”
“After an incredible community response and reception to this exhibition, which centered the experiences and contributions of Black Newporters in our historic city, it is so exciting to earn national recognition from an esteemed leader in the field,” NHS Executive Director Rebecca Bertrand said in a press release.
The NHS said the exhibition and database also played an integral role in launching the capital campaign to turn the 328-year-old Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House into the future Edward W. Kane & Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History.
You can learn more and explore the “Voices from the NHS Archives” here.
View this story online at WPRI12.com