Rhode Island Slavery Legacy Prompting Name Change

[ccharles000]

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The country's smallest state has the longest official name: "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."

A push to drop "Providence Plantations" from that name advanced farther than ever on Thursday when House lawmakers voted 70-3 to let residents decide whether their home should simply be called the "State of Rhode Island." It's an encouraging sign for those who believe the formal name conjures up images of slavery, while opponents argue it's an unnecessary rewriting of history that ignores Rhode Island's tradition of religious liberty and tolerance.

The bill permitting a statewide referendum on the issue next year now heads to the state Senate.

"It's high time for us to recognize that slavery happened on plantations in Rhode Island and decide that we don't want that chapter of our history to be a proud part of our name," said Rep. Joseph Almeida, an African-American lawmaker who sponsored the bill.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/26/rhode-island-slavery-lega_n_221313.html

[msongs]

1. sounds reasonable nt

[Davis_X_Machina]

2. Based on ignorance of the history of the word 'plantation'.

In Elizabethan England a 'plantation' was a settlement, plain and simple. There are 36 plantations in Maine today -- it's a common name for a minor civil division, especially one with no real center. There's been no move here to change the names, although all place names containing the word 'squaw' were changed by the state several years ago.

And the renowned recreation of the Pilgrims' first settlement, Plimoth Plantation, also uses the name in its historically informed, original, sense.

It has nothing to do with slavery, or the slave trade. Rhode Island's role in the slave trade is a century newer than the name.

It pains me that the state legislature is so ignorant of its state's own history.

[voc]

3. The history of the word

Has absolutely nothing to do with its connotation.

[Bucky]

4. By all means, let us erase from memory the parts of history we find uncomfortable

There's a little bit of Republican in all of us, struggling to get out and go to war against intellectual honesty.

[SoCalDem]

5. Why so formal? Why not just Rhode island..period n/t

[NoPasaran]

6. While they're at it, why not change the name to just "Rhode"?

Since it's not exactly an island.

[Obamanaut]

7. This is ridiculous. With this thinking, Brown University needs to

change its name.

<snip>
The Browns, one of the great mercantile families of colonial America, were Rhode Island slave traders. At least six of them -- James and his brother Obadiah, and James's four sons, Nicholas, John, Joseph, and Moses -- ran one of the biggest slave-trading businesses in New England, and for more than half a century the family reaped huge profits from the slave trade. "When James Brown sent the Mary to Africa in 1736, he launched Providence into the Negro traffic and laid the foundation for the Brown fortune. From this year until 1790, the Browns played a commanding role in the New England slave trade."<1> Their donations to Rhode Island College were so generous that the name was changed to Brown University. <more at link> http://www.slavenorth.com/rhodeisland.htm

[Hannah Bell]

8. all the ivies were built with money from slaves & drugs, they should all be closed.

[lame54]

9. So it will be "State of Rhode Island and"