Media Contact: Theresa Guzman Stokes

401-847-6832

Rhode Island Black Heritage Society 

http://www.littleoctober.com/

RHODE ISLAND BLACK HERITAGE SOCIETY RECEIVES GRANT TO DEVELOP DOCUMENTARY ON HISTORY OF SLAVERY, EMANCIPATION AND REPARATIONS CONNECTING RHODE ISLAND WITH 

WEST INDIES AND AFRICA.

Newport, RI – The Rhode Island Committee For the Humanities has awarded the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society a grant for script development to produce the documentary, “Legacies of Slavery and Freedom: A Family Journey through the Atlantic World.” Once completed, the film will document the history of enslavement and emancipation across the African Diaspora and confronts modern questions regarding reparations by telling the story of Ottobah, an enslaved African boy whose family built a new life in Colonial-era America.

The documentary will include historic images family papers, heirlooms, and published historical accounts from Ottobar’s direct descendants, as more than two and a half centuries of history unfold from the 18th century Trans-Atlantic trade from the West African coast and the slave plantations of Jamaica, to the formations of free African heritage communities in early America. More importantly, the story puts a human face on the complex history of slavery, freedom, and reparations. In preparation for the documentary, an educational web site has been created to introduce the public to the story. 

The grant has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act economic stabilization plan.

About the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society 

The Rhode Island Black Heritage Society formed in 1975 is one of the oldest African American historical organizations in America. Constituted for the purposes of collecting, preserving and interpreting materials relating to the history of the African Heritage people of Rhode Island.

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