Getting our research down on paper

Over the past year much thought has been given to how the Warren Middle Passage Project should continue providing information on the slave trade and the enslaved of Warren. With in-person presentations not possible, we considered virtual presentations. To be honest, however, we felt those online meetings do not allow for the response to and discussion of the issues that have arisen during past presentations of Finding Phebe: Uncovering the History of Enslavement in Warren. We also considered a virtual tour of those sites in Warren connected to the slave trade as well as places we know people were enslaved–we have identified more than a dozen. Again, not being able to have an in-person discussion during such a tour leaves a lot to be desired. For now, we are writing the biographies of those enslaved people we have identified, beginning with the six men who were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. We will keep you informed as we proceed. As Christy Clark-Pujara, author of Dark Work: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island, said in a lecture at John Carter Brown Library “History tells us who matters, who’s worthy, who’s contributing, who belongs.”