RISHM in the News
Featuring a recap of our 250th Juneteenth Celebration, details on our walking tour and more. Summer 2026 Edition…
Special Newport Juneteenth Celebration 2026 edition with the event schedule, vendors and performers….
This morning on “The Rhode Show” we welcomed Charles Roberts, Founder/Executive Director of Rhode Island Slave History Medallions, as he chatted with Brendan Kirby about the upcoming Fourth Annual Newport…
RISHM’s expanded event on June 20 will feature a keynote from Secretary of State Gregg Amore, a reenactors’ parade, music and performances by Narragansett, Pokanoket and other artists…
Featuring updates on our 2026 Juneteenth Celebration, our walking tour and more. Spring 2026 Edition….
Newport resident Charles Roberts spoke earlier this month at the seventieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women….
Featuring updates on Charles Roberts speaking at the United Nations, our walking tour and more. Spring 2026 Edition….
Charles L. Roberts delivers a powerful address at the UN on the need to confront gender inequality as a barrier to Africa’s progress and development….
Featuring our updates on the George T. Downing Maquette unveiling, our walking tours, upcoming events and more. Winter 2026 Edition….
Featuring our updates on the George T. Downing statue, our walking tours, upcoming events and more. Fall/Winter 2025 Edition….
With every name, event, and era, we highlighted stories of resistance and resilience, ensuring the contributions of our ancestors of color weren’t lost to time….
The “Fragility of Freedom” is something we must never take for granted…
Featuring our upcoming Juneteenth celebration, walking tours and recent articles. Spring/Summer & Juneteenth 2025 Edition….
WUN readers’ exclusive peek into Indigenous & African-American History on Historic Hill…
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer.” – Harriet Tubman…
We will go farther, together….
Bagwell unveiled two art renderings of the planned sculpture of 19th century, Newport-based entrepreneur and activist George T. Downing….
No man, woman or organization, that is intended for good, is an island – Now is the time we need to stand together….
New York-based sculptor Vinnie Bagwell chosen to design and cast the first statue of a person of color in Newport…
Featuring recent events, appearances and our annual fundraising campaign. Spring/Women’s History Month 2025 Edition….
The legacies of the Black men and women who shaped our nation, as well as our own cities and towns, should always be celebrated, and never forgotten….
Newport-based RISHM is among the nonprofits that will share nearly $130,000 in grants from the Black Philanthropy Bannister Fund….
A celebration of song, dance, drumming and history was presented by the Rhode Island Slave History Medallions project on Feb. 28 at Newport Craft Brewery….
Between 1700-1800, Rhode Island merchants sponsored 1,000 slave voyages bringing over 100,000 Africans to our port cities for forced labor…
A celebration of song, dance, drumming and history will be presented by the RISHM project on Friday, Feb. 28 at Newport Craft Brewery….
This morning on The Rhode Show we welcomed Charles Roberts, Founder and Executive Director of Rhode Island Slave History Medallions….
The great grandchild of slaves, George T. Downing became one of the most recognized business and civil rights leaders in 19th century America…
Check out the latest news and updates from RISHM. Featuring recent appearances and our annual fundraising campaign. Black History Month 2025 Edition….
Markers represent a different type of time capsule, one that all of us can appreciate and learn from and are typically free public works of art and commemoration….
I view MLK Day as both a personal and public day of reflection on his legacy. His words still guide me, especially in moments of ethical dilemma….
Check out the latest news and updates from RISHM. Featuring recent appearances and our annual fundraising campaign. Winter 2024 Edition….
RISHM attended the unveiling of a new portrait of Roger Williams: Trailblazer of Religious Freedom by artist Jennifer Gilliooly Cahoon….
The local NAACP branch is collaborating with RISHM to erect a monument at Touro Park and Bellevue Avenue to honor George T. Downing….
Rhode Island Slave History Medallions (RISHM) was invited to make an appearance at the 2024 NAACP Awards Dinner….
The Newport City Council is planning to consider the addition of a new statue in town honoring abolitionist and activist George T. Downing….
Check out the latest news from RISHM including our recent events and Newport Black History Walking Tours. Fall 2024 Edition….
Rhode Island Slave History Medallions (RISHM) has participated in several community events recently, view the gallery for pictures….
Rhode Island Slave History Medallions (RISHM) invites the public to attend a free, family-friendly celebration of our new national holiday, Juneteenth (Freedom Day) that will be held Saturday, June 15th…
The voices of tradesmen and women, ropemakers, masons, and carpenters inform a new tour and exhibit, illuminating the history of early Black Americans and its ongoing impact in Rhode Island….
RISHM’s Newport Black History Walking Tour was featured in the Boston Globe! Follow the link on this page to read the full article….
The second annual Newport Juneteenth celebration promises to be bigger and better than the year before, possibly serving as a test run for other large celebrations that could come to…
Rhode Island Slave History Medallions (RISHM) invites the public to attend a free, family-friendly Juneteenth (Freedom Day) celebration on Saturday from 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. at Eisenhower Park on historic…
RISHM is inviting the public to celebrate Black History Month at a program honoring Black abolitionist and church founder Peter Quire on Sunday, February 25 at 3PM….
Rhode Island Slave History Medallions (RISHM) invites the public to attend a free, family-friendly celebration of our new national holiday, Juneteenth (Freedom Day) that will be held Saturday, June 15th…
Colonial Newport comes alive by remembering the lives of enslaved and free Black Newporters….
RISHM is a statewide public awareness program committed to marking those historic sites connected to the history of slavery in Rhode Island….
Newport celebrates Juneteenth and living history with two days of events….
Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history….
Community members and students gathered at Rogers High School for the 53rd annual Black History Month Assembly on Feb. 16….
The Senate today passed a resolution introduced by Sen. Linda Ujifusa to commemorate the contributions of the Black Revolutionary War soldiers of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment (also known as…
RISHM is inviting the public to celebrate Black History Month at a program honoring Black abolitionist and church founder Peter Quire on Sunday, February 25 at 3PM….
Watch our video from Newport’s 1st Annual Juneteenth Celebration….
RISHM presents the award-winning documentary film “Bonnie Blue: James Cotton’s Life in the Blues.”…
Thanks to a major grant from the RI Foundation, a new RISHM digital archive website is currently underway. Please bear with us this year as we transition to our new…
Trinity Church was founded in 1698 as a mission of the Church of England. Early parishioners included slave owners and traffickers, such as George Gibbs II, who is interred in…
In 1653 settler-colonists laid claim to “Sowams,” the ancestral home of the Pokanoket. Though the Pokanoket never relinquished their claim, settler-colonists soon occupied the land, including modern-day Barrington….
Historic New England’s Casey Farm is located on the ancestral homeland of the Narragansett people. By 1755, soon after this house was built, 19% of people in South County were…
Potowomut is known by the Narragansett as their sacred meeting and hunting grounds. Beginning In 1680, African and Indigenous people were enslaved by the Greene family to steward the land…
William Ellery Channing’s was impassioned public speaker who became known as the “Father of Unitarianism”….
On August 28th 2021, RISHM provided the community with a family-friendly gathering of BIPOC traditions and colonial history at Patriots Park in Portsmouth, sponsored in part by RISCA, BankNewport, the…
On June 21, at the DeWolf Tavern, DeWolf family descendants, Dain and Constance Perry screened the documentary “Traces of Trade, a film tracing their journey back to African with nine…
At Linden Place, We Acknowledging the Land of the Enslavers George and James DeWolf, Blessed by the Algonquin, Pokanoket Wampanoag tribes with historic documentation from Roger Williams University….
Over 100 enthusiastic fans attended the Medallion Installation Ceremony in Jamestown on May 22, 2021….
The Medallion at Patriots Park was featured on the evening news – “A new, innovative project is shining a light on the hidden history of Rhode Island.”…
View a video showing RISHM’s MLK Day of Service activities in 2021!…
This dedication featured remarks by RISHM director Charles Roberts, Smith’s Castle Vice-president and Education Committee chairperson Robert A. Geake and members of their education committee….
Documentation recognizing RISHM put forward by Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea….
Rhode Island ruled the slave trade. For more than 75 years, merchants and investors bankrolled 1,000 voyages to Africa….
“Though I am gone, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe.” John Lewis, July 17, 2020…
“Your Vote is Precious; Almost Sacred. It is the Most Powerful Nonviolent Tool we have to Create a More Perfect Union”, the late Congressman John Lewis. A True #AgentOfChange….
On July 23rd 2020, a RI Slave History Medallion was placed at the original historic buildings on Bowen’s Wharf formerly known as the Stevens Ship Chandlery (now the Sail Loft)…
In Memory of Mayor Paul Gaines – First Black Mayor of Newport, RI & First Black Mayor in New England. Mayor Paul L. Gaines (April 20,1932 – June 25, 2020),…
Everything you need to know about Juneteenth….
Read the Spring 2020 RISHM Newsletter, featuring an article about the Medallion Installation at Patriots Park….
A letter from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse congratulating Charles Roberts, Director of RISHM, for his work in educating the public about Rhode Island’s involvement in the slave trade….
Congressman Cicilline’s Commemoration November 2019 at Patriots Park, Portsmouth, RI….
The Rhode Island Slave History Medallions Project will install its first medallion plaque on Aug. 25 at Patriots Park in Portsmouth. Carved by Allison Newsome of Warren, and designed by…
Bells will ring across the United States on Aug. 25 to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival in Virginia of captive Africans who through their forced labor helped establish…
The Black Regiment, also known as the First Rhode Island Regiment, played a critical part in the Revolutionary War, engaging in significant battles at Fort Oswego, New York, Saratoga, New…
Though the practice ended two centuries ago, reminders of Rhode Island’s long involvement in the international slave trade remain. Some are hidden, some not….
The Rhode Island Slave History Medallion was displayed at the lecture held by the Newport Historical Society at the Colony House on Wednesday….
A letter from Congressmen David N. Cicilline to Charles Roberts, Director of RISHM….
Charles Roberts, Director of RISHM, discusses the difficult realities of driving while black in America….
Take a tour of Rhode Island’s historic locations through the Rhode Island Slave History Medallion project….
