Museum on slave trade planned for former Episcopal cathedral in Providence

[theHandpuppet]

Note: there is also a seven part series, "Unrighteous Traffick: Rhode Island's Slave History" at this link:
http://www.providencejournal.com/extra/2006/slavery/?click=RB

The Providence Journal
Museum on slave trade planned for former Episcopal cathedral in Providence
Published: November 16, 2014
By PAUL DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A shuttered church could soon shine a light on Rhode Island’s dark role in the slave trade.

Church leaders hope it will also help heal a divided state and nation.

The Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island wants to use part of the Cathedral of St. John for a museum that will look at those who made money in the slave trade — and those who opposed it. Churchgoers and clergymen filled both camps.

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, Rhode Islanders backed 1,000 trips between Africa and the Americas. Newport, Bristol and Providence were among the busiest slave trade ports in North America....

MORE at http://www.providencejournal.com/news/ri-life/20141116-museum-on-slave-trade-planned-for-former-episcopal-cathedral-in-providence.ece

[kwassa]

1. The Browns of Brown University were involved ....

I read a bunch of these articles yesterday on the subject. I went to college in Rhode Island, in a very historical area on the east side.

The DeWolf family was particularly appalling, ending up as the second wealthiest in America due to slave trading, and running their own plantations in Cuba. Episcopalians, too, as were most of the elite establishment. They built most of Bristol, RI.

This seems like a good use of the cathedral, as it has closed due to lack of membership and interest, and the economy of Rhode Island really depended on the slave trade in the early days.

[theHandpuppet]

2. It's a chapter of American history of which probably few are aware

When it comes to places associated with the slave trade, cities such as Charleston and New Orleans come to mind. Yet there was a thriving market in slaves in New England, with many prominent old families making their fortunes from that abominable business.