Newport's Black history shared in pair of new projects
The lives of Black people in Newport's history are becoming easier to see through a pair of recent initiatives.
The Newport Historical Society recently launched "Voices from the NHS Archives," an expansive research project that centers the Black and Indigenous experiences embedded in Newport’s historical record. This digital tool is the culmination of four years of work, feedback from dozens of experts and advisors, and the review of 4,000 church records, business papers, ship logs, and more from the NHS archives.
Work on this project will be ongoing indefinitely, with more documents regularly digitized, catalogued, and posted for public access. This is the first digital tool of its kind in Rhode Island.
“Traditional histories of Newport in the 17th-19th centuries – and our own history as an organization – have centered on the white and the powerful. Voices from the NHS Archives is an effort to increase access to the vibrant stories and experiences of people of color in Newport,” said Executive Director Rebecca Bertrand said in a statement. “We are excited to make these records more accessible to all – whether you’re a historian, a teacher, a visitor, or just curious about our Newport County community.”
Voices from the NHS Archives was supported by a grant from the van Beuren Charitable Foundation and is modeled on the work of Enslaved.org: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade. It contains highly searchable digital records that will allow people to explore the lives, stories, and personal relationships documented within the NHS collection.
“Voices from the NHS Archives preserves and makes public information about the lives of people who have for too long been overlooked in the telling of history – named enslaved, free, and freed individuals of African and Indigenous descent who lived and labored in Newport,” said Walter Hawthorne, professor of African History at Michigan State University, co-principal investigator of Enslaved.org, and founder of Slave Biographies, the precursor to Enslaved.org, in a statement. “The project team has created a site that will be valued by professional historians, secondary and university educators, African American genealogists, and anyone who wants to broaden their understanding of the role of people of African and Indigenous descent in shaping the world that we have inherited.”
“We are always looking for ways to make our incredible collections and treasured properties more accessible. This database is one of many examples of the ways in which we help Rhode Islanders and others engage with our organization and the history we steward,” said Douglas Newhouse, president of the NHS Board of Directors, in a statement. “We hope this database will be an invaluable tool for people for generations to come.”
Database users can search records using several filters, including race and gender, occupation and freedom status, and the life events reflected in the documentary record.
“The process of designing and populating this database was thoughtful and intentional, and I appreciated the opportunity to offer feedback to help shape its development,” said Theresa Guzmán Stokes, executive director of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, in a statement. “This resource will be tremendously useful for academics, historians, and researchers, but also, I hope, for the community at large that, for too long, has had limited access and exposure to this chapter of our history and how it informs all aspects of our lives today.”
In addition to the digital archive, Newport Historical Society curated more than 15 stories of people who lived and worked in Newport during the era of slavery. Five of the stories will be at the center of a complementary exhibit, “A Name, A Voice, A Life: The Black Newporters of the 17th-19th Centuries,” which will open in May 2024 in the NHS’ Richard I. Burnham Resource Center on Touro Street.
To learn more about Newport Historical Society’s collections, events, and programming, visit www.NewportHistory.org.
Preservation Society to present 'Gilded Age Newport in Color'
The Preservation Society of Newport County, in partnership with the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, will launch the exhibition "Gilded Age Newport in Color" at Rosecliff on March 15, taking visitors back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries when African heritage families were active members of a new type of urban setting – the resort community.
At Rosecliff through June 30, this exhibition will display more than 150 objects ranging from photographs, handbills, business cards and news clippings to furniture, clothing, jewelry and ceramics, from the collections of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, The Preservation Society of Newport County and other institutions.
The exhibition examines various aspects of everyday life in the African heritage community of Gilded Age Newport, including where they lived, worked, played, traveled and worshipped. The city offered a rare opportunity for persons of color from Providence, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington to experience an uninhibited social exchange.
“The ‘Gilded Age Newport in Color’ exhibition explores an important chapter in American history when African heritage families could unite and promote their economic and social well-being through self-reliance, entrepreneurism, political advancement and cultural interchange,” said Stokes. “Rhode Island’s Black Heritage Society has drawn from its over 9,000 linear feet of collections representing an African heritage experience that dramatically marks African heritage excellence. As best described by Booker T. Washington, America’s leading civil rights advocate of the Gilded Age, ‘Success always leaves footprints.’”
“We are proud to continue telling stories of the Gilded Age from different perspectives that give us a broader understanding of Newport during this important era,” said Trudy Coxe, CEO of the Preservation Society.
Newport's earliest African heritage doctors, dentists, teachers, hospitality entrepreneurs and elected officials appeared during the Gilded Age. Visitors will see how African heritage entrepreneurs leveraged their commercial enterprises to promote economic security and advance their political interests by hosting numerous African heritage social and political gatherings that ran the broad spectrum of political rallies and became the foundation for the later 20th-century civil rights movements. Additionally, these entrepreneurs built wealth to invest in and advance civic, recreational, social and political interests for all people of color.
Visitors will be introduced to significant historical figures like Dr. Marcus F. Wheatland, the first known African heritage physician to live and practice in Newport and a medical specialist to many of the city's summer elite; accomplished journalist Lillian Susie Fitts Jeter, who wrote for Ladies Home Journal, The Saturday Evening Post and McCall's Magazine among other publications; soprano opera singer Abbie Mitchell; and prominent literary critic and poet William Stanley Beaumont Braithwaite.
As part of the exhibit’s launch, Rhode Island Commerce Corporation is thrilled to assist with marketing the debut of the exhibit on the national stage as part of the state’s plan to promote the rich and diverse history of Rhode Island.
"Newport is well known as the blissful summer retreat destination for America's wealthiest families and individuals back in the 19th and 20th centuries, but it was also home to an abundant African heritage community that played critical roles in the economic and cultural development of African heritage and the county overall," says Anika Kimble-Huntley, Rhode Island Commerce Corporation's chief marketing officer. "African heritage families were not looking to integrate or emulate the white elite families of Newport; they were looking to do business with them and gain interdependence and establish their own communities. This exhibition is an important step in sharing the holistic picture of Newport's diverse history."
This exhibition is included with admission to Rosecliff. Purchase tickets in person or through www.NewportMansions.org. To learn more about “Gilded Age Newport in Color,” visit www.NewportMansions.org/events.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Newport's Black history shared in pair of new projects
