Slavery and Freedom Series

September 27, at 7 PM 

United Congregational Church 

Professor Linford Fisher

“New England Slavery in an Atlantic World”

Free and Open to the Public – Sponsored by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities

As part of a year-long project honoring the 200^th anniversary of the end of slavery in Little Compton, the Little Compton Historical Society is hosting a speakers’ series featuring authors and historians with expertise on slavery and freedom in New England. The series is made possible by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities and will run through February, 2017. Each event is free and open to the public.

The Historical Society is pleased to welcome Linford Fisher as its next speaker on Tuesday, September 27, at 7 PM at the United Congregational Church on the Commons.  Dr. Fisher, Associate Professor of History at Brown University, writes and teaches on religion, Native Americans, and slavery in colonial America. During his talk he will help place slavery in Little Compton and the surrounding areas into the context of the wider Atlantic World.

Dr. Fisher is the author of The Indian Great Awakening: Religion and the Shaping of Native Cultures in Early America (Oxford, 2012) and the co-author of Decoding Roger Williams: The Lost Essay of Rhode Island’s Founding Father (Baylor, 2014), with J. Stanley Lemons and Lucas Mason-Brown. These books will be available for purchase before and after his talk and are now available for borrowing at the Brownell Library in Little Compton. Dr. Fisher is currently working on a book-length project on Indian and African enslavement in colonial New England and several select English Atlantic islands, including Bermuda, Barbados, and Jamaica. His course at Brown University entitled “Enslaved, Slavery in the Atlantic World” inspired the Historical Society’s Director, Marjory O’Toole, to begin her research on local slavery, indenture and freedom and prompted the Historical Society to explore the topic throughout the year with a book, a special exhibition, school programs and this speakers’ series.

The next two talks in the series are:

On Friday, October 21 at 1 PM, at the Little Compton Historical Society, Kevin Ryan, President and CEO of Covenant House International will speak on the persistence of slavery today in the United States and across the globe in the form of human trafficking especially as it pertains to the young people seeking help from Covenant House shelters in the United States and abroad.

On Wednesday, November 2 at the United Congregational Church on the Little Compton, Commons at 7 PM, Keith Stokes will present “American Irony—Slavery & Religious Freedom in Colonial Newport.” Mr. Stokes is the co-founder of the 1696 Heritage Group.