A MATTER OF TRUTH The Struggle for African Heritage & Indigenous People Equal Rights in Providence, Rhode Island (1620-2020) Cover images: African Mariner, oil on canvass. courtesy of Christian McBurney Collection. American Indian (Ninigret), portrait, oil on canvas by Charles Osgood, 1837-1838, courtesy of Massachusetts Historical Society Title page images: Thomas Howland by John Blanchard. 1895, courtesy of Rhode Island Historical Society Christiana Carteaux Bannister, painted by her husband, Edward Mitchell Bannister. From the Rhode Island School of Design collection. © 2021 Rhode Island Black Heritage Society & 1696 Heritage Group Designed by 1696 Heritage Group For information about Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, please write to: Rhode Island Black Heritage Society PO Box 4238, Middletown, RI 02842 RIBlackHeritage.org Printed in the United States of America. A MATTER OF TRUTH The Struggle For African Heritage & Indigenous People Equal Rights in Providence, Rhode Island (1620-2020) The examination and documentation of the role of the City of Providence and State of Rhode Island in supporting a “Separate and Unequal” existence for African heritage, Indigenous, and people of color. This work was developed with the Mayor’s African American Ambassador Group, which meets weekly and serves as a direct line of communication between the community and the Administration. What originally began with faith leaders as a means to ensure equitable access to COVID-19-related care and resources has since expanded, establishing subcommittees focused on recommending strategies to increase equity citywide. By the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society and 1696 Heritage Group Research and writing - Keith W. Stokes and Theresa Guzmán Stokes Editor - W. Paul Davis Our Report Production Team gratefully acknowledges the time and involvement of the many individuals who made their vital contribution to this work. These include Dr. C. Morgan Grefe (Executive Director, Rhode Island Historical Society), Richard J. Ring (Deputy Executive Director for Collections and Interpretation, Rhode Island Historical Society), Brent Runyon (Executive Director, Providence Preservation Society), Caleb Horton (Providence City Archives), Lane Sparkman (Rhode Island State Archives), Joanna Dougherty (The Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission), Clifford Monteiro, (Providence NAACP), Raymond Watson (Providence Cultural Equity Initiative), and Dr. Dannie Ritchie, Brown University. While their comments and suggestions were gratefully taken into account, the sole responsibility for the content of this report is ours. Table of Contents I. Introduction: Organizing Research Content & Narrative 1 II. The Process: Truth Process Research Objectives 3 III. The Truth: Mayor’s Truth, Reconciliation & Reparations Initiative 4 IV. The Narrative: Seven-Part Narrative Documenting 400 Years of History 6 Part 1: Founding Enterprises: Indigenous People Land And African Labor (Pre-1600-1800) 7 Part 2: Separate & Unequal In 19th Century Providence (1800-1899) 35 Part 3: The Great War & The New Civil Rights Era (1900-1940) 66 Part 4: Fair Employment During WWII Era (1941-1950) 80 Part 5: Fair Housing & Urban Redevelopment (1950-1970) 87 Part 6: Community & School Integration & Tribal Sovereignty, (1970-2020) 111 Part 7: Continuing Legacy (2020 & Beyond) 122 V. The Resources: Contributing Historical Institutions & Libraries 134 Appendix A: Endnotes 135 Appendix B: Bibliography & Resources 161 A MATTER OF TRUTH I. INTRODUCTION: Organizing Research Content & Narrative Why History Matters 2020 was a year of racial awareness, providing America with a long-overdue awakening to the systematic racism that has created measurable socioeconomic disparities between Black and White communities across the country and here in Providence, Rhode Island. Systematic racism, a form of race-based discrimination embedded as a normal practice within a society and its governmental system, has a long history in America, and cities like Providence approved discriminatory and dehumanizing laws and policies that created and exacerbated inequality in almost every sphere of life. This report documents 400 years of discrimination in The Ocean State, including the detribalization of Indigenous people and the enslavement of those of African heritage. From the moment when the English colonists settled Providence and Rhode Island, African heritage and Indigenous people were denied equal standing and a chance at self-determination. Although some within the colony sympathized with the oppressed, any laws that would have empowered them were largely ignored. Instead, laws were employed to further subjugate and control early people of color. The history of Providence, Rhode Island, is the collective memory of its entire people. Throughout the year—not just on Native American Day or during Black History Month— citizens must recognize the important roles that people of all walks of life played in building our city, state, and nation. The interdependence between these people is what makes our history unique. To tell the story completely, it must be inclusive. African heritage and Indigenous people have made and continue to make major contributions to our capital city’s history, commerce, and culture. This legacy has its roots in ancient Africa and America, particularly in Providence. The city’s very names of places and rivers — Woonasquatucket, Weybosset, Tockwotten, Moshassuck, and Wanskuck — are part of its Native American past. And what would be the history of important contributing neighborhoods and historic buildings such as College Hill and the Providence Art Club without its ample African heritage contributions? This rich Providence history has remained hidden in plain sight from most of its residents. Historically, Indigenous people and, beginning in the 17th century, African heritage people have been a part of our city. Today, the city’s residents include African, bi-racial, Latino, Cape Verdean, Caribbean, and Native people. Yet, the accomplishments and contributions of African Americans, Indigenous people, and people of color have generally been invisible, lacking in public acknowledgment. On July 15, 2020, Honorable Mayor Jorge O. Elorza signed an Executive Order that identified and created a process of Truth, Reconciliation, and Municipal Reparations to address institutional and systemic bias and racism affecting Black, Indigenous people, and people of color within the City of Providence. Working together, a team of city and state historical institutions has crafted a comprehensive narrative for public education, public interpretation, and future policy-making efforts. RIBLACKHERITAGE.ORG 1 They have collected over 600 primary and secondary documents and historical artifacts highlighting 400 years of Providence and Rhode Island history. The account is divided into seven sections. Each includes detailed examinations of the people, events, and places that have shaped the history of the city and state. Research, recovery, and interpretation help us understand how the City of Providence’s treatment of nonwhite people evolved, which people and institutions benefited, who got left behind, and how these past legacies still influence us today. The findings, which document and validate the struggle by African heritage and Indigenous people to thrive in the City of Providence, will help to create an environment and future policy platforms for positive change that fosters fairness, equity, and justice. Images courtesy of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society Archives 2 RIBLACKHERITAGE.ORG A MATTER OF TRUTH II. THE PROCESS: Truth Process Research Objectives African Heritage & Indigenous People History Truth Process Research Objectives • Apply objective analysis of the recovered documents to ensure an accurate and comprehensive interpretation. • Recognize that historical remembrance is best understood through public education and engagement. • Define African heritage and Indigenous people as a vital part of the earliest settlement of the City of Providence and State of Rhode Island, greatly influencing the region’s economic, religious, and social origins. • Document and affirm the development of the city and state through the enslavement and genocide of African heritage and Indigenous people. • Examine the state and municipal laws that discriminated against formerly enslaved African heritage and Indigenous people and their descendants. • Examine the lingering adverse effects of the institution of slavery, Indigenous genocide, and the seizure of Indigenous lands. • Present evidentiary documents for public education, public interpretation, and future policy-making recommendations at the municipal, state, and federal levels. RIBLACKHERITAGE.ORG 3 III. THE TRUTH: Mayor’s Truth, Reconciliation & Reparations Initiative On July 15, 2020, Honorable Mayor Jorge O. Elorza signed an Executive Order that identified and created a process of Truth, Reconciliation, and Municipal Reparations to address institutional and systemic bias and racism affecting Black and Indigenous people (Indians), and people of color within the City of Providence. The Truth process requires identifying, compiling, and presenting the evidentiary documentation of the institutions of slavery, the genocide of Indigenous people, and the ongoing discrimination that resonates to the present day. The Executive Order provides detailed instructions on how evidentiary documents shall be compiled and made available for public interpretation and future