African American Civil Rights in Rhode Island

Union Congregational Church Newport
This building was erected in 1871 for the Union Congregational Church in Newport. The church traces its roots to an organization founded in 1780 as the Union Society of Free Africans and other Free Colored People of Newport.

The Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission is engaged in an ongoing project on the history of African American civil rights in Rhode Island. Collaborators have included RIHPHC, Rhode Island Black Heritage Society (RIBHS), and Rhode Island Historical Society (RIHS).

RIHPHC hired a preservation consultant to complete a statewide survey of sites associated with the pre-20th-century struggle for African American civil rights in Rhode Island and to prepare an individual National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for one related property.

Recent phases of the project are funded by an Under-represented Communities Grant from the National Park Service. Work is underway to nominate the Pawtucket home of a civil rights pioneer to the National Register of Historic Places. The next effort will focus on the preparation of a Multiple Property Documentation Form as well as National Register nominations for four properties related to the theme of African American Civil Rights.

The new effort will build off and expand upon an earlier project to document and interpret African Americans’ Struggle for Civil Rights in Rhode Island in the 20th Century. Collaborators included RIHPHC, Rhode Island Black Heritage Society (RIBHS), and Rhode Island Historical Society (RIHS).

The following materials were created for that project: