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The history of Rhode Island is truly remarkable. The Story of Rhode Island is my humble attempt to tell you some of the stories about the people, places, and events that have made Rhode Island the state it is today.
To learn more about the show visit the Story of Rhode Island Podcast website at https://www.storyofrhodeisland.com/
Hello and welcome to the story of Rhode Island. The Podcast that tells you the story of Rhode Island’s fascinating history. In season 2, we witnessed America’s smallest colony come of age and grow into an economic powerhouse. Not only did Rhode Island’s hinterlands become fully developed but its network of trade expanded well beyond its borders. But Unfortunately, there’s an ugly truth lurking behind this story of economic prosperity. Throughout the 18th century, Rhode Island’s economy was built on the back of slavery. Not only did their citizens make massive fortunes off of trafficking enslaved Africans abroad but their towns and plantations at home were also highly dependent on the labor of enslaved men and women as well. But that’s just part of the story because Rhode Island’s ties to slavery run much deeper than just what took place during the 18th century. Enslaved people had been living in the colony since its very founding and its citizens continued to profit off of the business of slavery right up until the civil war. And so, since Rhode Island and this horrific institution remained intertwined for over two centuries, we’ll explore the history of that connection from start to finish via this 2-part bonus episode. As we jump into part 1, we witness the birth of Rhode Island’s involvement in slavery. We do so by visiting Roger Williams on a June day in 1637. Behind Williams is Providence, the town that he founded a little more than a year earlier after his radical belief in religious freedom got him banned from Massachusetts. At the moment, William’s town is but a minor English settlement situated on land that is still dominated by the region's indigenous people. Providence’s population of about 100 religious outcasts is dwarfed by the over 20,000 indigenous people living in the area. Other than providence, William Blackstone’s farm in present day Cumberland and the trading posts used by Roger Williams and Richard Smith in present day Wickford, the land that we know today as Rhode Island is ruled by two tribes; the powerful Narragansett Nation located to the west of Narragansett Bay and the Pokanokets to the east. As the 31 year old Roger Williams stands on the southern tip of his newly created town, he looks south towards the Providence River. His young eyes, having yet to be weakened by old age, clearly make out the English vessel heading towards him. With the sloop bobbing up and down on the Bay’s choppy waters, Williams notices that while some of the people on the boat are other English colonists, many of them are members of the Pequot tribe. When the vessel finally arrives at Williams’ small settlement, he sees that the Pequot people are bound together by chains and shackles. For the past year, the Pequot tribe located in present day southeastern Connecticut has been at war with the English and it’s become quite clear that they are bound to lose. Although the people on the boat are lucky to have survived the fighting, they are about to be sold off into a life of servitude. And while most of them will live that life in either Massachusetts, Connecticut, or Plymouth Colony, at least one of them will remain in Providence. Because the man we know today as the founder of Rhode Island is about to acquire one of these captives, teaching us that slavery has existed in Rhode Island since the very beginning. Back when it was little more than a tiny English settlement surrounded by indigenous villages. But this is just the start because as new English settlements emerge around Narragansett Bay and unite into the Colony of Rhode Island its network of trade will expand into new markets. When this happens, the Rhode Islanders will realize that not only can indigenous war captives be beneficial to their economy but so can enslaved men and women from Africa. And because of this discovery, Rhode Island will begin to dominate the African slave trade in America and it will participate in its human trafficking activities far more than by other American colony y. On top of that, its towns and plantations will become more dependent on the free labor of enslaved Africans than any other society in New England. The story of how Rhode became so embedded in the most horrific institution ever created is what we’ll cover in Part 1 of this two-part bonus episode of The Story of Rhode Island Podcast.
Intro Music
With a cloudy summer sky sitting over Narragansett Bay, Roger Williams makes his way down present day South Main Street in Providence. Standing in the street, is the same group of Pequot captives he watched travel up the Providence river earlier that day. These non-combatants, a group of people consisting of women, children, and village elders, had no involvement in the Pequot War but nonetheless they will be punished for their tribe’s decision to go to war with th English by being sold off into a life of servitude. Willimas watches as English soldiers tug on the captives’ chains, ensuring they are tightly secured to the carts and wagons that will eventually lead them to Boston. As he observes them, he finds a small part of himself conflicted by how they are being treated. Unlike most of his fellow colonists, he sees the indigenous people as more than just a group of heathen savages and has learned to respect their way of life. He even has hope that overtime the English and indigenous people of New England will find a way to live together in harmony and develop a society that enables them to flourish together as one. It’s due to this sentiment and a few other reasons, why at first Williams had concerns about the English selling off non-combatants into a life of servitude. But after turning to the bible for guidance, he’s come to justify the enslavement of these war captives. To show his support for the practice, he’s been helping his English neighbors track down Pequot people who managed to escape this horrific fate. And as we’re about to see, he’s recently found a way to justify the enslavement of these people enough to rationalize his direct involvement in the practice. As Williams eyes the pequot people he comes across a young boy who looks to be of good health. After approaching the boy and his mother he begins to have a conversation with the two of them. He learns that they are from the Pequot village of Sasquaskit which is located near present-day Fairfield, Connecticut. He’s happy to find out that the boy's father chose not to fight against the English, giving him hope that the boy will be of mild temper. But as the English soldiers begin escorting the captives out of Providence and towards Boston, the founder of Providence decides that he would like to take the boy in as his servant. Therefore, in a hasty act to claim the boy as his own, he grabs a red scarf from his pocket and loosely wraps it around the boy’s neck. Then, he returns home to write a letter to the Governor of Massachusetts, John Winthrop, asking if he could keep the boy as a servant. Within just a few weeks, Winthrop accepts Williams' request and the boy is separated from his mother and sent to live with Williams. When he arrives, the boy is renamed Will and he goes on to labor away for Williams without pay for years to come, making it one of the first instances of slavery in Rhode Island history. Now, it is important to note that the pequot war captives are not only distributed to English households. Since the Narragansett tribe sided with the English during the war, they too are allowed to claim some of the Pequot people as servants. However, the life the Pequots live with the Narragansetts differs vastly from those who live with the English. Although not exactly treated as equals, they are incorporated into the tribe in a far more humane manner. The Narragansett Sachems are known to give these non-combatants houses, goods, and even land to grow crops on. They balk at the idea of treating these individuals as slaves. But nonetheless, many are not so lucky and unfortunately most are sent to live with the English. As the years pass, new towns emerged around north sett bay and a stabilized economy is developed, enabling even more of Rhode Island’s earliest settlers continue to purchase these captives as elves.Then, shortly after becoming a colony, something remarkable happens, something that acts as a blimp of hope in this primarily dark tale. In 1652, the colony’s government, led by Samuel Gorton, somebody you might remember from season 1, passes a law making life-long slavery illegal. They do so by stating that no person can be bound in servitude for longer than ten years. This law is an extremely radical act as it is the first ban on slavery in American history. Because keep in mind that at the time slavery is not seen as a moral wrong that needs to be made right. Nobody in America is shouting from the mountain tops that enslaved people must be emancipated. instead it’s simply a part of life. It’s an institution that’s as old as time and one that’s been adopted by societies throughout the world. Places like Greece, Rome, ancient Egypt, China, Sub-Sahara Africa, Europe and even in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans were all known to have slaves. This might lead you to ask; what could’ve inspired these early Rhode Islanders to pass such an incredibly progressive act? Unfortunately, I’m not exactly sure but if I had to guess it was probably tied to how they interpreted the bible. But either way, the law is an incredible piece of legislation and something that should be admired. It once again proves just how progressive some of the early Rhode Island colonists were. Unfortunately, legislation passed but not enforced is nothing more than words on a piece of paper and that’s exactly what the law amounts to. At the time of the law being passed, the Rhode Island Colony is in shambles and the government has split in two. There’s one government that controls the towns of Providence and Warwick, the one led by Samuel Gorton, while another controls the towns of Newport and Portsmouth. Because of this, the island towns completely ignore the law and even many on the mainland give it little respect. To make it worse, the law only prevents black and white people from being enslaved. It says nothing about the indigenous people. And so, as the colony continues to grow, so do the number of enslaved people purchased by those early Rhode Islanders, albeit slowly. Then, with the final quarter of the century having just begun something happens that drastically increases the number of enslaved indigenous people living in the colony. Following decades of rising tensions between the English and the tribes of New England, a war breaks out between the two parties in 1675. The conflict is known as King Philip’s War, or as it’s also called Metacom’s Rebellion, and it forces the Narragansett and Pokanoket people to take up arms against their English neighbors. If you’re interested in learning more about this tragic event then listen to episodes 8 and 9 of season 1 but for now just know that King Philip’s War decimates southern New England. English Towns and indigenous villages throughout Rhode Island are burnt to the ground and the Rhode Islanders once peaceful coexistence with the Narragansett and Pokanoket people becomes a thing of the past. When the dust settles, and the English end up victorious, the people of Rhode Island find themselves looking for payback. Even Roger Williams, the man who was banned from Massachusetts partially due to his willingness to defend the rights of the Narragansett and Pokanoket people, has found himself forever changed by the war. And so, with this revenge driving their decision making, the people of Rhode Island decide that the Narragansett and Pokanoket people deserve the same treatment as the Pequot Captives decades earlier. This marks an important transition in our story as it will thrust many of the people who originally inhabited the land we now know as Rhode Island into a life of slavery. As we revisit Providence on a summer day in 1676, we witness this period of anger and resentment and learn about how the founder of Rhode Island played a leading role in enslaving the same people he once worked so hard to defend.
Scattered throughout the town of Providence are the ashes and burnt wood from the buildings that were destroyed during King Philips’s War. The conflict was so destructive that not one of the 50 or so homes or small shops that once stood along present day North and South Main Street survive today. Such a fate was not unique to Rhode Island’s first town as other places like Warwick, Wickford, and Pawtuxet were also raided by Narragansett warriors, an act of retaliation soured on by English’s decision to ruthlessly massacre hundreds of Narragansett people at the great swamp in present day South Kingstown. Not surprisingly, all of this fighting has filled the colonists with anger, an emotion that can be seen on Roger Williams’ face as we revisit him in the town he founded decades earlier. Williams, no longer the spry and hopeful man that he was during the Pequot War, is now an elderly man who's been hardened by the way things have turned out between the colonists and local indigenous people. Any hope he had of the two parties living together in harmony has evaporated completely. Surrounding Williams are the citizens of Providence who at the moment are furiously glaring at a group of Narragansett people who were taken prisoner during the war. On this summer day, Williams and his fellow townsmen are meeting to determine what type of punishment these indigenous people will face. Williams will play a major role in this decision as he’s the head of the Committee that’s tasked with the fate of indigenous war captives. With resentment filling their hearts, the people of Providence shout at the Narragansett people tied up in front of them. The fact that the meeting must take place at a tree by the water due to all of the town’s buildings having been burnt to the ground only further inflames the citizens. In the midst of all the shouting, one of the male colonists walks up to an injured Narragansett warrior standing quietly in the back of the group. Without saying a word, he tensely inspects the warrior from head to toe while circling his weakened body. Then, as a look of both astonishment and anger emerges on his face, the colonist begins to point at the warrior and tells the people of Providence that it’s him! This is the man, who just months earlier, helped lead the raid on their town. Without taking even a moment to question the man’s accusation, the people of Providence become even more enraged and start to crowd around the warrior. As the English continue to threaten the Narragansett people, Williams realizes things are getting out of hand so he attempts to calm the people down. He tells them that he will set up a court to review the warrior's involvement in the war. When that court eventually takes place, the warrior will be found guilty and will be executed by firing squad. And as for the other Narragansett prisoners who had no involvement in the war, even those far too young or old to be of any harm, Williams and his committee determine that they too must pay for the damage their warriors have done. Therefore, by the end of August, the committee agrees to have these individuals sold off into servitude and the proceeds distributed amongst the people of Providence. The amount of time in servitude ranges anywhere from 7 to 30 years, depending on the person's age at the time. With their fates now determined, the captives are rounded up onto a ship Captained by Williams’ son and shipped off to Newport where they are sold to either other colonies or Rhode Islanders themselves. Overtime, more and more Narragansett people are captured and the number of indigenous captives working in Rhode Island continues to grow. To add insult to injury, many of the Narragansett people are sold to Rhode Island families moving to an area that had been ruled by the Narragansett tribe for generations. These colonists are a group of wealthy locals who want to use this land to support their agricultural goals. Eventually, these Rhode Islanders will become extremely successful in their endeavors. They will create massive plantations that span throughout present day Washington County and develop the largest slave society in New England. But while we wait for that story to develop, we’ll fast-forward 20 years and take a look at a ship docking in Newport Harbor. The vessel’s arrival thrusts us into the darkest depths of this xxx tale and marks the beginning of a time when Rhode Island’s connection with slavery is at its strongest. Follow me as we watch the little colony around Narragansett Bay become largest trader of enslaved Africans in American history.
It’s a May afternoon in 1696 and inching its way into Newport harbor is a ship captained by Thomas Windsor of Boston, Massachusetts. The ship is known as the “Seaflower” and unbeknownst to its Captain it’s arrival will represent a turning point in Rhode Island history. As Captain Windsor begins docking the Seaflower against one of the wharfs, the people of Newport pass the ship without giving it any attention. Over the past several years, Newport’s economy has flourished so the sight of a merchant vessel is anything but uncommon. However, the locals find themselves becoming increasingly interested in the Seaflower when a group of 47 enslaved Africans are escorted off of the ship. With more and more locals turning their attention towards the Seaflower, the men in shackles are lined up in an orderly fashion while Captain Windsor keeps a close eye on their whereabouts. These men are certainly not the first enslaved Africans the people of Newport have ever seen as enslaved blacks have been working in Rhode Island for decades. But these men, the ones now standing wearily on a Wharf in Newport, are different. Unlike the enslaved people in Rhode Island who are the offspring of black or indigenous families already living in New England, these enslaved people have come directly from Africa, giving the Rhode Islanders face to face with the horrors of the slave trade. With the men and women in shackles clearly beaten down by the suffocating and highly unsanitary conditions they’ve been living in for the last several months, the locals find themselves shocked to see just how damaging the trip from Africa has been to their bodies. With food and water having been scarce on their journey, the ship’s crew hoarded this vital resource while only giving the enslaved men and women enough nutrients to survive. Because of this treatment, many of them now struggle to stand upright as they wait to be escorted off the dock. But nonetheless, these poor individuals are seen as nothing more than a piece of property so they receive no sympathy from the locals. Instead they are bid on by the colony’s wealthiest businessmen and planters who have just arrived at the wharf. Eventually, 14 of the captives are purchased for 30 to 35 British pounds while the rest will be forced to march across miles and miles of public roads so that they can be sold in Boston. The arrival of the Seaflower is a moment that some consider to be the beginning of Rhode Island’s direct involvement in the international slave trade. And now that they’ve started, they won’t look back for over a century. The colony takes the next step forward just four years later when 3 ships departing Newport become the first slaving vessels to leave from Rhode Island. Then, throughout the first two decades of the 18th century, the colony’s merchants continue to test the profitability of these human trafficking activities. As these ships return to from their journeys and their profits are analyzed, the merchants are thrilled to see just how substantial of a return they’ve received on their investments. Beforelong, a growing amount of capital is thrust into the enterprise and by 1725 the colony is fully engulfed in the slave trade. It gets to the point where almost every job in Rhode Island is in one way or another tied to this business. It begins with the colony’s wealthiest individuals, men who use their excess capital to fund the voyages. These leading citizens employ shipbuilders, sailmakers, and ropemakers to construct these slaving vessels, enabling coastal towns like Newport to become a bustling epicenter for the American slave trade. But the reach of the slave trade isn’t just confined to the coastline as it expands into the hinterlands as well. Farmers located in South County cultivate a wide range of goods that are sent out on these slave voyages. And to go along with those agricultural goods is a drink that’s become quite popular on the African Coast, Rhode Island rum. The spirit is in such high demand with African slave traders that distilleries begin popping up everywhere around Narragansett bay, eventually growing to 33 in total. And since barrels are needed to transport the rum a growing number of cask makers are employed as well. Finally, When the slaving vessels are built and goods ready to go, a Captain and crew is hired to sail the vessel while a person known as a supercargo manages the goods on board. Once the ship leaves Rhode Island it begins its journey by heading southeast to West Africa where rum will be exchanged for enslaved Africans. Then, those enslaved people, along with the goods from Narragansett Country, are brought back west to the caribbean where they are exchanged for molasses. Finally, the ship retruns home where any remaining enslaved Africans are sold and the acquired molasses is used to create more rum that will once again be used in the slave trade. Due to the triangular route taken by these ships, the trade has aptly become known as the triangle trade. And while today we shun the idea of profiting off this despicable form of commerce, in 18th century Rhode Island nobody but a few radical Quakers has any issue with the business. Instead, they find themselves addicted to the highly profitable trade, leading Rhode Island to become more embedded in it than any other colony in America. To prove just how much of a leading role the colony takes in the slave trade, here are some astonishing statistics. And please, if you remember one thing from this episode let it be these stats as they do more to illustrate Rhode Island’s ties to slavery than any scene I could create. From 1726 to 1775 Rhode Island completes 506 slave trading voyages while all of the other colonies combined complete just 178. During that same time period Rhode Island brings back over 57,000 enslaved Africans to the Americas while all of the other colonies combined bring back fewer than 24,000. Or if you want to look at it another way, from 1726 - 1775 America’s smallest colony is responsible for about 70% of the slave trading activities done by the American colonies. Rhode Island plays such a dominates role in the slave trade that historian Jay Coughtry has argued that the North American trade in slaves should really be called the Rhode Island trade in slaves. And since some of these enslaved people make their way back to Rhode Island the colony finds itself not only benefiting from trading enslaved people but from the free labor they provide as well. To learn more about the lives of these poor individuals, we’ll travel to a place we know today as South County but at the time is commonly referred to as Narragansett Country due to the fact that the region was once ruled by the Narragansett people. While there, we’ll visit the Narragansett Planters, the same people who acquired Narragansett captives from King Philip’s War so they could work the land their tribe used to rule. Only now, these wealthy farmers primarily rely on the labor of enslaved africans. By meeting the Narragansett Planters, we give ourselves a more complete understanding of just how tightly intertwined 18th century Rhode Island was with the institution of slavery.
Situated along the shores of Narragansett Bay, on a piece of land known as Cocumscussoc or what we refer to today as Wickford, is the Updike family plantation in North Kingstown. The plantation and its endless miles of farmland has been passed down in the family for over a hundred years. It began when one of the Updike’s relatives, Richard Smith, moved to the area in the 1630s so that he could set up a trading post alongside Roger Williams. Unfortunately, his trading post was burned down by Narragansett warriors during King Philip’s War so his son, Richard Smith jr., was forced to rebuild it in 1678. As the years passed, so many additions were added to it that it became known “Smith’s Castle”. And thanks to the tireless efforts of the Cocumscussoc Association, this historic building still stands in North Kingstown today. Eventually, Smith passed away childless in 1692 so the trading post and land it sat on was donated to his nephew, Lodowick Updike. Lodowick went on to turn it into a thriving plantation which he passed onto his eldest son, Daniel. And as we visit Smith’s castle on a painfully warm summer day in 1750 we see Daniel Updike looking out towards a group of 5 enslaved men working on his plantation. In all, Daniel owns 19 enslaved people, making him one of the wealthiest Narragansett Planters in all of South County. Scattered throughout the region are numerous other farms owned by Narragansett planters that are also worked by enslaved men and women. In fact, there are so many enslaved people in South County that about 30% of the County’s population is enslaved. Because of the large number of enslaved people in this area, as well as cities like Newport and Providence, 10% of Rhode Island’s population is enslaved. To put That statistic into perspective it’s insightful to know that the New England colony with the second highest percentage of enslaved people is Connecticut with just 3%. After observing the men working in the field for a few more minutes, Daniel Updike decides that he’s had enough of the sweltering heat so he heads inside. Unfortunately, the enslaved people baking under the relentless sun have no such option so they continue on with their work. One of these men is Prince Updike. Prince, like many of the other enslaved people owned by Daniel, has been given the family name and will pass it down to his children for generations, a pattern adopted by other slave owners like the Hazards, Robinson’s, and Potters. With his cheaply made shirt drenched in sweat and his muscles aching from the back breaking labor that’s been forced upon him, the nearly 40 year old Prince takes a moment to catch his breath. As he stretches out his back and tilts his head side to side, he hopes that he can for just a moment alleviate some of the soreness in his body. While directing his vision north and south, he scans the miles and miles of farmland all around him. The Updike's plantation spans over 3,000 acres and consists of 5 different farms extending all the way from north to Quidnessett and down south to Hamilton. Prince and the 18 other enslaved people on the plantation work hard throughout the day so that the Updikes can produce cheese, crops, and a breed of horse known as the Narragansett Pacer, all of which will be shipped out and sold in the slave trade. And so although this painful truth paints a bleak picture there is some hope to be found. Eventually, Prince goes on to be emancipated from his life of slavery and moves to Newport where he works as a chocolate grinder. He manages to become so economically successful that when he dies in 1781 the wealth left by his estate affords him a handsome gravestone built at the Stephen’s shop, a stone inscription business that’s still in operation today. Princes grave also still stands today and can be seen by visiting “God’s Little Acre” in the Newport burial ground. And like Prince, Other enslaved people go on to be emancipated as well; some gain their freedom when their owners choose to emancipate them upon their death, others enslaved people manage to save enough to buy their own freedom, and one particularly brave group gains their freedom by joining the first Rhode Island regement during the revolutionary war. To learn more about the latter group listen to this season's episode about the battle of Rhode Island. But of course many are never emancipated and instead spend their entire life living as a slave; a truth that although hard to hear is one that not all are willing to accept. Because right around the time the Revolutionary War is beginning, one of Rhode Island’s citizens has a revelation that opens his eyes to the evils of slavery. His name is Moses Brown, and this devout Quaker from Providence is about to go on a crusade against this evil institution. Moses and his fellow abolitionists will go toe to toe with some of slavery's most ardent supporters and for a moment it’ll look as though the abolitionists will find a way to break Rhode Island’s ties with slavery once and for all. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case. The state's leading citizens will not only break laws so that they can continue trafficking enslaved Africans but will become industry leaders in yet another business that supports this horrific institution, enabling Rhode Island to keep its ties with slavery alive right up until the outbreak of the civil war. But that’s a story for next time, on part 2 of this two part bonus episode of The Story of Rhode Island Podcast.