Rhode Island Slavery Legacy Prompting Name Change

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.

Rhode Island's unwieldy name reflects its turbulent colonial history, a state that consisted of multiple and sometimes rival settlements populated by dissidents.

Banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his unorthodox religious views, minister Roger Williams set out in 1636 and settled at the northern tip of Narragansett Bay, which he called Providence Plantations. Williams founded the first Baptist church in America and became famous for embracing the separation of church and state, a legal principle enshrined in the Bill of Rights a century later.

Other settlers made their homes in modern-day Portsmouth and Newport on Aquidneck Island, then known as the Isle of Rhodes.

In 1663, English King Charles II granted a royal charter joining all the settlements into a single colony called "The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." The name stuck. Rhode Island used that royal charter as its governing document until 1843.

Opponents of the name charge argue that "plantations" was used at the time to describe any farming settlements, regardless of slavery.

Rhode Island merchants did, however, make their fortunes off the slave trade. Slaves helped construct Brown University in Providence, and a prominent slave trader paid half the cost of its first library.

Still, Stanley Lemons, a professor emeritus of history at Rhode Island College, said changing the state's name ignores the accomplishments of Williams, whose government passed laws trying to prevent the permanent servitude of whites, blacks and American Indians.

"There are different meanings for this word," Lemons said. "To try to impose their experience on everyone else wipes out Roger Williams."

Comments

[Jessica Watkins]

03:47 PM on 06/28/2009

It amazes me that how so many years later people that weren't even slaves are trying to change a name of a state. Yes, granted the name has some slavery in its background, but its also not why the name was given to the state so why try and change it? Other states have slavery in thier background and yet arent fighting trying to change thier state name, why? cuz it's not gonna happen, so get over it.

[damilitantone]

05:06 PM on 06/28/2009

Just because it might not happen doesn't mean that folks shouldn't bring this issue to light. It may be a quixotic attempt to redress old grievances, but people have a right to at least try. While I probably wouldn't try and deal with all of these issues, the historical record has holes in it that need to be filled whether folks want do the right thing or not. My great-grandmother (born 1902) who died in 2000 was the daughter of a slave so the time lapse is not as great as some would like to suggest both her mother (1863-1945) and her grandmother (1831?-1914) were born on a plantation.

[damilitantone]

05:16 AM on 06/28/2009

I've already mentioned the U.S. Government's posthumous recognition og Confederate General Robert E. Lee in 1975, 105 years after his death. How about the Marquis De Lafayette from Wiki:

Lafayette was again granted honorary United States citizenship by Congress in 2002. The Order of Lafayette was established in 1958 by U.S. Representative Hamilton Fish III, a World War I veteran, to promote Franco-American friendship and to honor Americans who fought in France. The frigate Hermione, in which Lafayette returned to America, has been reconstructed in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So you see the U.S. Government finds the time to reach back in history to grant various types of edicts, even as far back as 225 years in the case of Lafayette. The argument that the past is the past and no apology or redress of slavery is appropriate rings hollows when one is presented with the facts.

[StrtAheadJzman]

08:38 PM on 06/27/2009

Does Legislator Almeida have a track record concerning more substantive matters. I suppose the recession has not hit his district too hard. A glance at a dictionary could have cleared up any confusion in seconds.

[StrtAheadJzman]

08:31 PM on 06/27/2009

I just learned about the "controversy" via this article. Does Rhode Island legislator Almeida have a track record on more substantive matters? Looks like an old fashioned political misdirection ploy to me.

[waffe]

07:50 PM on 06/27/2009

Who even knew this was the name. I never even once learned this in school and I took A.P. History.

[pup sydney]

07:47 PM on 06/27/2009

This is ridicoulous. why don't we ban outright the word plantation since we see only ONE meaning in it?
Or the word Indian? etc There has to be common sense, where will this stop?
What a waste of time.

[bdaved]

09:22 PM on 06/27/2009

You said "waste", which means "kill", and it bummed me out. And you said "will", which reminds me of George Will, and now I'm really depressed.

[henrypapillon]

07:44 PM on 06/27/2009

How about changing the name to Freedom Island? Look what it did for French Fries ! Now they are Freedom Fries and nobody ever worries about eating too many any more.

[SneathLane]

07:17 PM on 06/27/2009

But, the word "plantation" doesn't mean "land worked by slaves", it just means "land under cultivation". There are still lots of plantations in the USA - many of them were never worked by slaves, and those that were have have not been worked by slaves for a very long time.

Equating plantations with slavery is just ignorant. That's like saying the word "bricklayers" should be banned because so many slaves were forced to work as bricklayers, or the word "cottage" should be banned because many slaves were housed in cottages. Planting crops in the modern world does not have anything to do with slavery, although the place they are planted is sometimes called a plantation. It's a more common word in British English, but it's still valid in American English.

Slavery was and is a disgusting abuse of fellow humans. But this plantation kerfuffle is just demontstrating how inadequate our educational system is, and how poorly history is taught.

[bino]

04:38 PM on 06/27/2009

"opponents argue it's an unnecessary rewriting of history that ignores Rhode Island's tradition of religious liberty and tolerance". This country's history of "religious liberty and tolerance" has an immense body count, it's stunning the degree of self deception it would take, to not see that. Like wise, it's only the descendants of slave owners who have created a fictional reality to shield themselves from the actions of their family members who could have a problem with this change. These are the people who you will hear say such thing as "This is the greatest country in the world!" when they have never been a citizen of any other country. Oh, and my favorite "George Bush is a good christian man!"...... Self deception - the great American pastime.

[Ipanema]

06:53 PM on 06/27/2009

I am proud to be a Rhode Islander; the first entity in North America to declare independence from the darn British colonizers, to abolish slavery, to deal with Indians with respect and honor, to allow the opening of the first Synagogue in the United States and the first State to contribute troops to the Union, when President Lincoln requested help against the Confederat rebels. Mr. Almeida belly-aching about the "Providence Plantation" words in the State's official name is total lack of historical prespective and sheer nonsense. After all, Roger Wiiliams was a far-seeing Christian who had nothing in common with the Puritans who ruled the Bay Colony back then and who, in the name of God, committed the miscarriage of justice at the Witch Trials at Salem. We should all thank Roger Williams for being the father of the concept of separation of State and Church, and I am a Presbyterian!

[Diane Reid]

08:47 PM on 06/27/2009

I am so glad to be out of there! It took Hispanics to intrgrate federal hill! The Italians hated the blacks! Warwick, West Warwick heck the whole state of RI! Hooray for the Hispanics! What the blacks couldn't do the Hispanics are doing it.

[LMPE]

02:51 PM on 06/27/2009

Aren't there lots of cities with "squaw" in their names? Shouldn't those get changed?

[KayDGee]

03:05 PM on 06/27/2009

In sports: The Washington Redskins, the Atlanta Braves,the Cleveland Indians... offensive to native Americans. To a lesser extent, the New England Patriots might also be a thorny subject to the British. The list could go on forever. Legislators don't think through their brilliant ideas and then it takes on a life of its own, as has happened in RI. We no longer have the luxury of money or time to undo major injustices or unfathomable disrespects of the past; or even the just plain pettiness. I agree with Slvrfox - We are one radio loudmouth away from an ethnic cleansing of sorts in this country.

[blindjester]

03:28 PM on 06/27/2009

Exactly. I loved it when Squaw Peak in Phoenix was renamed Piestewa Peak (and Squaw Peak Parkway got changed, too) in honor of a woman who died in Iraq while serving in the army.

It was especially appropriate because she was a member of the Hopi tribe of Arizona.

They maybe should have waited the five years (I think it's supposed to be five) but I believe everybody's heart was in the right place.

[JulieSA]

06:01 PM on 06/27/2009

I'm usually not in favor of name changes, but it's kind of neat they renamed it for Lori.

[slvrfox857]

02:48 PM on 06/27/2009

Is the US going to be like the Balkan states, still fighting the same "civil war" 600 years from now? Or the middle east, still fighting the same religious wars 1000 years from now. Get over yourselves and move on! It's part of our history, a shameful part, but all this angry rhetoric doesn't help anyone, it just wastes energy and keeps the negative feelings going.

[HisPetGoat]

02:37 PM on 06/27/2009

Good thing they aren't thinking about calling it the "State of Providence Plantations".

[hotbytes]

01:08 PM on 06/27/2009

Slavery or not the American history cannot escape the fact that the US is indeed a slavery country - still to this day, only in a hidden form.

Farmers in America still practice slavery. It's a hard work to do farming. But the hard work isn't done by the American farmers themselves but by slaves from the illegal migrant workers mostly from Mexico. By this exploitation, the American society as a whole is paying for the white American farmers in more ways than one. First, American farmers are heavily subsided (getting all kinds of tax breaks). Second, they use cheap labor while keeping the larger profit margin. Many of the farm lands are owned by only a few. It's capitalism at its best! Third, the illegal immigrants have become a burden to the American society in terms of out-of-control gang-related problems and financial burden on welfare and free medical care for these illegals. They cross the border illegally, then pump out babies (from multiple and sometime unknown fathers). The more babies, the more free (welfare) money to them. This explains why the so-called Hispanic population in the US has jumped so high in recent years. And now, they are talking about getting social security for the illegals as well! The white American farmers are behind this deterioration of the country, all because of their GREED.

[newworldman777]

01:44 PM on 06/27/2009

This tired old complaint about unwanted Latinos entering this country sounds a lot like the centuries-long complaints of my Native American ancestors about the unwelcomed immigration of throngs of Western Europeans into our land. Since they arrived, this land has gone downhill, with overpopulation, pollution and environmental devastation everywhere. Your complaints are similar to ours, but just as our complaints fell onto deaf ears, I suspect that yours will as well. So sorry. Get used to it, just like we did.

[KayDGee]

02:51 PM on 06/27/2009

Game, set and match. I imagine some hard working farmers (i.e., outside of the corporate fold) will have something to say; but yours is the definitive statement.

[bino]

04:09 PM on 06/27/2009

That comment made my soul smile

[ThomasMc]

12:43 PM on 06/27/2009

They should call it the teenie weenie state.

[napasonoma]

01:58 PM on 06/27/2009

Hysterical!

[henrypapillon]

07:47 PM on 06/27/2009

Will you pulleeez stay on your side of the partition and quit peeking over here?

[Boboday555]

12:36 PM on 06/27/2009

To claim the War of Southern Treason was not about slavery is like saying the 2004 election wasn't about gay marriage.

We Yankees have done a poor job of keeping the history of the War of Southern Treason straight.
Take a look at a slave-state history book and check out the War.
We Yanks are painted as animals while the secessionsits are painted as God Fearing Saints.
Its been going on since Reconstruction and we Yanks should be ashamed that we let them get away with it!!!
Its just another act of southern treason in my book!

[KayDGee]

12:56 PM on 06/27/2009

How old ARE you? I went to school in the "North" and the "South" and there was plenty of blame going all around. But that war ended 144 years ago. I don't recall, in any iteration of history books where Northerners were painted as animals. The exception in all was of Sherman's army, that marched through absolutely non-strategic areas stealing from, raping and starving the very people they purported to "free." Sorry, but even the most revisionist history has to have SOME basis in fact. Southerners today are portrayed as Dukes of Hazard, hillbillies - and in news coverage still looked down upon as intellectually inferior ("Bubba Games"). So stowe your indignation - It is baseless. BTW - "Yanks" is a British term... different war.

[UncleJimbo]

02:22 PM on 06/27/2009

I have to agree in most part with Boboday555! The South to this day is fighting the Civil War! All you have to do is listen to any Conservative Southern politican! I was USAF and heard plenty of Rebel stories! They just can't get over the fact they lost the War!

[Boboday555]

07:49 PM on 06/27/2009

What are you, five?
Yankees or Yanks is the term the defeated south gave we victorious Americans.
They still refer to we real Americans as Yankees or Yanks to this day.
The south is still fighting the War of Southern Treason...why just look at any hillbilly pickup truck and there it is for Y'ALL to see.
That filthy confederate flag is still treated as the south's banner.
A filthy banner udner which actual American soldiers were killed and they still wave it proudly down in the traitorous south!
And these slave-state pinheads are the same clowns squawking about an ammendment to protect the Stars and Stipes!
You want to outlaw a person's free speech rigths by preventing them from protesting their government by burnign the flag...then first make it illegal to fly that filth6y confederate flag!
After all...the confederate flag, the rag under which treaosn was practiced, is an afront to real American soldiers everywhere.
Spin that Yoda-Ray.

[JulieSA]

06:06 PM on 06/27/2009

You know southerners are disproportionately represented in military enlistment. You might want to join the 21st century get over that old war. I don't worry about it much myself.