Rhode Island's formal name is 'the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.'

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

There's a move now to change that

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo signed an executive order Monday that could change the state's official name to exclude a portion that has ties to slavery.

The state's official name is "the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," and the "Providence Plantations" portion has come under scrutiny in the aftermath of protests following the death of George Floyd.

Raimondo signed executive order 20-48, which addressed the slavery ties and puts the issue as a referendum on the ballot in November.

-snip-

Rhode Island's official name includes "Providence Plantations" after the name of a settlement founded in 1636 by Roger Williams that now includes the state's capital city, according to the state government's website.

Although Rhode Island passed a law in 1652 banning African slavery, it was never enforced and the state later "played a leading role in the transatlantic slave trade," according to the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University in Providence.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/rhode-islands-formal-name-is-the-state-of-rhode-island-and-providence-plantations-theres-a-move-now-to-change-that/ar-BB15QDgt?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=DELLDHP

[Docreed2003]

1. Love Rhode Island dearly, lived there for several years.

Many people are not familiar with the history that RI played in the slave trade. Places like Bristol became famous for their blacksmithing, which was responsible for making shackles and chains for many newly arrived slaves.

[bdamomma]

6. and I think I can

remember reading that on South Water Street there were underground tunnels for slaves to escape. I could be off base.

I found this article seems pretty interesting.

As an ex-pat from Rhode Island, I still love my home state.

http://www.rihs.org/assetts/files/publications/1984_May.pdf

[Docreed2003]

7. Very cool, thanks for sharing!

Rhode Island definitely has a complex fascinating history with good/bad/& in between. I miss RI so much and have many great friends there!

[Blue_true]

15. Your description of Rhode Island applies to pretty much all of our noted

historical figures, they were people that lived lives of often stark contradiction. That is why I believe statues of everyone but confederate figures should stay up, WITH plaques detailing their dark elements. Confederates don't warrant statues or any note other than for their treason, afterall, we don't have statues and plaques of Benedict Arnold erected about the country.

[Docreed2003]

18. Very true...agree as well.

[Totally Tunsie]

34. My first foray in living as a RIer was during my college years in Providence.

The Bryant College dorms were mostly large old, stately Colonials.

As such, our laundry facilities were in the dingy basement in one of several rooms, some of which were hidden behind locks that hadn't been opened in years. Our housemother was easily swayed by our curiosity as to what was behind those doors, and one day allowed us to break off the locks and explore.

What we found was AMAZING! Behind one door was a stonewalled hallway off of which were about eight cells. Each cell had an open doorway and a hole next to it as a window onto the hallway. Each had nothing other than a stone bench within. The only light came from a small basement window at the end of the hall. It was quite a decrepit scene.

We took our curiosity to the RI Historical Assoc. and did some digging amongst centuries old Planning Maps for the City and were able to determine when this area was constructed. During our search, we discovered that these houses had been used as an important part of the Underground Railroad through which slaves were transported to their freedom in Canada.

It was quite a find (for us, anyway), but I don't recall the information leading to any significant "news" at the time. We graduated a couple of months later and all went on our way to the new, rather than the old.

Some of those homes are still there, on Young Orchard Avenue, Providence. They became the property of Brown University when Bryant moved its campus to Smithfield and Brown expanded its campus.

[Cicada]

2. Correct: Rutgers The State University of New Jersey

Gimme an R, gimme a U goes on for a while

[2naSalit]

3. Not to mention the Rhodes part.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. If you're thinking of Cecil Rhodes, there's no connection.

[2naSalit]

5. Well...

I stand corrected, thanks for that!

[cabot]

8. I thought it was Providence Plantations because

Roger Williams and his followers wanted greater religious freedom and moved from MA to RI, thus "planting" a new religious group - similar to the Ulster Plantations.

[bdamomma]

9. found this

Origin of the name

Its official name is State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which is derived from the merger of four Colonial settlements. The settlements of Newport and Portsmouth were situated on what is commonly called Aquidneck Island today but was called Rhode Island in Colonial times.

and this

PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS, RHODE ISLAND AND. The Providence Plantations were the first white settlements in Rhode Island. The clergyman Roger Williams, banished by the General Court of Massachusetts Bay for propagating "new and dangerous opinions," founded the Providence Plantations in June 1636.Apr 15, 2020

[cabot]

13. Thanks!

[Blue_true]

16. I find it ironic that a country founded on religious freedom would

try to prevent the practice of any religion..... oh, wait, that was par for the course, as today's islamaphobia attests to.

[Ex Lurker]

10. Exactly. Plantstion is not a term exclusive to slavery

There's a huge soybean plantation near where I live. It's owned by Dutch conglomerate and was established long after the end of slavery.

[cabot]

12. Exactly..and there are coffee plantations in SA

"Plantation" isn't exclusive to slavery. I don't know...it kind of seems stupid to change the name due to someone's misguided belief that the term plantation is exclusive to slavery.

[bdamomma]

14. Very true

about what you said the term "plantation" is not exclusive to slavery.

But why erase all evidence of how cultures were treated poorly then we would not repeat the same in history??? Or we must know our past to move to the future? Does this make sense?

[Blue_true]

17. The word does not belong in a state, county, city or town name in this country, given

it's history.

[whistler162]

36. Okay so using that logic neither

does Benjamin, Jemima, Butter, Worth, Uncle, Aunt, etc. etc. etc.

[cabot]

20. I get what you're saying (I think)

But in this instance, the term "plantation" had nothing to do with slavery. It was simply the "plantation" of a religious group.

[bdamomma]

21. .....

noted.

[cabot]

24. Thanks

I'm a bit of a word nerd. I can understand and appreciate how people might be uncomfortable with the word, but still...I'm a nerd. Have a great night!

[Bucky]

26. Thank you.

In English "plantation" does generally connote a cash crop economy (so Rhode Island’s full name was already an anachronism by the mid-1700s). Sewing up thread pointed out the coffee economy in the Caribbean is often referred to as plantations. They didn't use slavery per se after the 1830s, but like most cash crops, they did depend on horribly abusive labor practices to turn a profit.

So while changing the name RIPP right now because of racial oppression is historically ignorant and a little bit frivolous, it's also mostly harmless. and it does send a signal that the American people want to do something symbolic to break with the ugliest part on our past.

Perhaps it might eventually lead to doing something substantive to move towards a better future.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. Well, it's a plantation of an ethnic (ie European) group among the Native Americans

'Providence Plantation' is one of the examples the OED uses for this definition:

" A settlement in a conquered or dominated country; a colony. Also in extended use. Now historical.
Chiefly with reference to the colonies founded in North America and on the forfeited lands in Ireland in the 16th-17th centuries; also with reference to the ancient colonies of Greece, etc."

1705 in Early Rec. Town of Providence (Rhode Island) (1903) XVII. 201 The which tree..is a bound Marke betweene the sd. two Plantations of sd. Providence & Warwick.

Perhaps the Native Americans are the ones to ask how they feel about the name.

[LiberalFighter]

11. Wow! Didn't know that.

[Blue_true]

19. I would wager that 98% of the people that live there didn't know either.

They will do the right thing if they overwhelmingly vote to just have "Rhode Island" as the name. Put that issue into the rear view mirror and don't look back.

[cabot]

23. But in this instance it has nothing to do with slavery

I have no dog in the fight - I'm Canadian. But to change the name of something, anything, based on a misguided belief that the word means one thing and one thing only is a bit nonsensical.

But, in the end, it is up to the people who live in the state. If they want the change, they'll vote for it. In the end, it isn't the biggest issue in the world, and it is certainly not worth anyone getting overly upset about. If they want to get rid of the three-syllable albatross, then they should. C'est la vie.

[Blue_true]

25. Because of the legacy of slavery, "Plantation" has a bad vibe in this country.

Better for them if they chose never to deal with it again.

[treestar]

37. All of it has a vibe of

"let's make it look like we are doing something" but doing these shallow things that don't really affect the problem.

[Totally Tunsie]

33. It will be interesting to see what transpires when this does go for a vote (again).

In 2010, this very topic was a ballot issue and was soundly defeated because RIers liked the distinction of the name. However, with the changes in today's climate, a turnaround could be quite possible.

Even though Gov. Raimondo has signed an EO for the name change, it will still need to be voted on by our electorate in order to become official.

[lame54]

22. Tear it down

[Bucky]

27. RIP: RIPP

Viva RI!

[Marrah_Goodman]

29. My state

[JCMach1]

30. Not what it means at all... Religious groups who.colonized

Thought of themselves as 'planted'. The original.account of the Plymouth Colony was called, "Of Plymouth Plantation"...

[kwassa]

31. The most important part is remembering Rhode Island's part in the slave trade.

Speaking as a graduate of RISD.

" By 1774, the slave population of Rhode Island was 6.3 percent, nearly twice as high as any other New England colony. In the late 18th century, several Rhode Island merchant families began actively engaging in the triangle trade, most notably the Browns for whom Brown University is named. In the years after the Revolution, Rhode Island merchants controlled between 60 and 90 percent of the American trade in African slaves.[14] In the 18th century, Rhode Island's economy depended largely upon the triangle trade; Rhode Islanders distilled rum from molasses, sent the rum to Africa to trade for slaves, and then traded the slaves in the West Indies for more molasses. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Rhode_Island#Slavery_in_Rhode_Island

[appalachiablue]

35. James DeWolf, slave trader, merchant and Rhode Island Senator

stands out for his business craft, crime and inhumanity. ~ We enjoyed a brief summer trip to Newport, seeing the water, boats, some of the Gilded Age 'cottages' and Hammersmith.

- New England Historical Society. 'James DeWolf, the RI Senator Who Murdered a Slave and Got Away With It.' James DeWolf died the second richest man in America after accumulating a fortune from buying, selling and – in one case – murdering slaves.

...11,000 Slaves. Upon his return to Rhode Island, James DeWolf amassed power and wealth. He served 17 years as a Rhode Island state senator, and in 1821 he was elected to the U.S. Senate. All the while he continued his slave trading, usually with his family. His father had started importing slaves in 1769 and his nephew George continued the tradition until 1820. The DeWolf family is estimated to have brought 11,000 enslaved people to the United States.

James DeWolf also owned sugar and coffee plantations in Havana, a rum distillery and a mill. He and his family started the Bank of Bristol and a company to insure slave ships. In 1809 he invested in the Arkwright Manufacturing Co. During the War of 1812 he fitted out privateers that captured 40 British ships worth more than $5 million. When he died in 1837 in New York City he was believed to be the second wealthiest man in the United States.

His daughter Abby married Charles Dana Gibson; their grandson, also named Charles Dana Gibson, the artist who created the Gibson Girl. His descendant Katrina Browne directed a documentary about her family’s slave trading heritage, Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North. (See the trailer for the film here.) This story was updated in 2020. https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/james-dewolf-ri-senator-murdered-slave-got-away/

[Amy-Strange]

32. R.I. drops 'plantation' from state documents

-

R.I. drops 'plantation' from state documents

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo has issued an executive order stripping the word "plantation" — a loaded term associated with slavery — from official state documents and symbols.

The state seal, found on government buildings and the state letterhead, includes an anchor, the word "hope" and the phrase "the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."

"We can't ignore the image conjured by the word 'plantations,'" Raimondo told reporters Monday in announcing the order. "We can't ignore how painful that is for Black Rhode Islanders to see that and have to see that as part of their state's name."

[SNIP]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/r-i-drops-plantation-from-state-documents/ar-BB15SHQI?ocid=msedgntp
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