Research BIPOC History

07/06/2024

Douglass' 1852 speech has been likened to a symphony in three acts: his praise of the Founding Fathers, his description of the horrors and injustice of slavery, and his hopes for an America where all are free. Join this program, learn how his sentiments resonate even today, and add your voice to the discussion. July 7th, 2 pm, Linden Place, 500 Hope Street in Bristol RI. Free, and no RSVP is necessary. Rain or shine.

06/19/2024

If you cannot watch this special today June 19th at 9:30am, there is a link to the video that will be livestreamed and then available on demand. We are blessed to work with both Dr. Field and Professor Greenridge on our research project and are grateful for their support and insight.

Tune in to ABC News Live tomorrow at 9:30 am ET for a special 10 Million Names segment in honor of Juneteenth. Our 10 Million Names Chief Historian Dr. Kendra Field and Scholar's Council Member Dr. Kerri Greenidge will be commenting live on the 10 Million Names Project and its impact.

Watch the segment tomorrow morning on ABC News Live during the 9:30-1p:00am/ET half hour. You can tune in by visiting one of ABC’s various streaming partners, such as Hulu, or you can watch it on the website: https://hubs.ly/Q02ClllJ0

More about the history of Juneteenth:
https://hubs.ly/Q02Cl0Hr0

05/16/2024

Thank You to the Bristol Senior Center for hosting and to the Friends of the Rogers Free Library for funding. The history of the community that African descended people built along Wood Street in Bristol is compelling. And the memories of those present at this event of living in the same area were captured as part of our project. Thanks also to our volunteer researchers of Research BIPOC History for the ongoing studies.

05/10/2024

We are honored to report that our proposal to present a session was accepted by SHEAR, and we will be heading to Philadelphia this July. Submissions to cover a variety of topics were encouraged, including those that would reflect the diversity of the past and expand the narrative to include Black and Indigenous histories.

The 45th annual meeting of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic (SHEAR) will also mark the 250th anniversary of the meeting of the First Continental Congress at Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia. Multiple segments of the program will provide attendees the opportunity to analyze the contingency of 1774 and other turning points in early American history.

05/01/2024

Take a "Walk" through History - and New Goree: May 15 at 10:30am at the Senior Center and June 5th at 6 pm at the Bristol Sports Club. Free, but an RSVP is required as space is limited.

How do people choose a place where they would like to live? How do they build a neighborhood and a community? Let's take a no-sneakers-required walk along Wood Street in Bristol, from the comfort of a chair.

Before the Portuguese, the Italians, and the Irish, the free black community of Bristol settled in what was named "New Goree" in the late 1700s. Learn about the leaders of the community who built a church, and a school, and elected their own governor--and paved the way for later immigrants to the area.

After the slide show and Q&A, we'll have 10 reservations available for anyone who would like to videotape a brief memory of living or working or worshipping in this area. Bring a memento that reminds you of that time you would like! Sign up when you RSVP.

If more than 10 people sign up, no worries--we'll have an 'overflow' day of recordings at the Rogers Free Library at a date to be announced.

RSVP on the Rogers Free Library website or right here on our page or at

Welcome, we are a grassroots effort dedicated to researching, recognizing, and honoring the history, humanity, and contributions of the enslaved people who resided in Bristol, RI from its founding in 1680 to the Civil War. Led by a passionate group of community volunteers, our project strives to pro...

04/19/2024

UPDATE to our March 11 post: We are delighted that we have hired our Outreach Coordinator, thanks to a Springboard grant received from Tisch College/Tufts University. We thank everyone who took the time to apply. Details about the progress on the work our grant will support will be shared going forward.

03/28/2024

The Timeline of Enslavement in Bristol appears not only as a searchable database, but also as a 56 foot long cloth banner. Both contain almost 500 names. Close to 100 are identified as “Indian” or “Indian woman.” During this Women’s History Month, we honor the indigenous women who were enslaved during the time frame of our research, 1680 to 1808.

The original Algonquian people who inhabited Sowams, the area that surrounds Bristol, are known as the Pokonoket, which means the ‘place of the cleared land.’ They were called the Wampanoag, ‘people of the first light’, by the Colonists. In the years after what is now called “King Philip’s” War (1675-1676), the Sowams area was taken by Plymouth Colony and the indigenous population was either enslaved or moved to Deer Island or other reservations.

An indigenous woman named “Bette” appears multiple times in the primary source records. In May 1748, William Pearse “appeared in Council and prayed for relief for Bette, an Indian woman being an inhabitant of the town”, The Town Treasurer was ordered to deliver to said Pearse “an old shirt belonging to Saml Gridley deceased and also to procure…(illegible)…to make her a shift.”

Eunice LeFavour is another Indigenous woman who is documented on the Timeline. In the January 6, 1755 record of Bristol Wills and Inventories there appears this entry: “I give to my three grandchildren Daniel, Annah and Elizabeth Lefavour all and everything that was their father Timothy Lafavour’s estate…And also [I] give to them the Indian boy called Bond and the Mulatto girl called Anne both born of Eunice, their father’s Indian slave.” This record reveals not just Eunice’s story but those of her two children, who were also of Native descent. It is hoped that ongoing research will uncover more information about Eunice, Bond and Anne. To learn more about the Pokonoket and the Sowams Heritage Area, follow this link: https://sowamsheritagearea.org/wp/sowams-heritage-area-project.

03/22/2024

Women's History Month - we honor Louisa DeWolf Munro.

During this Women’s History Month, we honor Louisa DeWolf Munro. Born somewhere in central Africa around 1800, her village was attacked and she was captured, enslaved, and transported to the Americas. When she was about 10 years old she was purchased by Henry DeWolf. The DeWolf family brought an estimated 11,000 enslaved people to the Americas as part of the Triangle Trade.
DeWolf took Louisa to Charleston, South Carolina to study with the famous pastry chef Sally Seymour, who was enslaved to Thomas Martin but had been freed by this time. Around 1812, after her training, Louise was brought to DeWolf’s house in Bristol to work in the kitchen.

In 1835, Louisa married Carrington Palmer Munro, whose mother was an enslaved African and whose father was white. They moved into a house at 698 Hope St.; later, the couple built the one standing there now. However, Louisa continued to work for the DeWolfs. It is not known if she had been freed or was ever paid for her work; the records uncovered to date are silent on this matter. More research may uncover information on Louisa’s later years.

Carrington Palmer Munro married again after Louisa died. It is interesting that another Munro woman became known for her culinary skills. In an article published in the Bristol Phoenix in 1997, Ms. Evelyn Carter of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society published her memory that the daughter of Carrington Palmer Munro and his second wife Annie, Henrietta - known as Etta - had a reputation as a fine cook and baker. “Her biscuits were so light they almost flew away.”

-- This narrative is thanks to Catherine Zipf of the Bristol Historical and Preservation Society and her research on Louisa DeWolf. Ms. Zipf's original article was published in the Providence Journal in 2021.

03/22/2024

During this Women’s History Month, we honor Louisa DeWolf Munro. Born somewhere in central Africa around 1800, her village was attacked and she was captured, enslaved, and transported to the Americas. When she was about 10 years old she was purchased by Henry DeWolf. The DeWolf family brought an estimated 11,000 enslaved people to the Americas as part of the Triangle Trade.
DeWolf took Louisa to Charleston, South Carolina to study with the famous pastry chef Sally Seymour, who was enslaved to Thomas Martin but had been freed by this time. Around 1812, after her training, Louise was brought to DeWolf’s house in Bristol to work in the kitchen.

In 1835, Louisa married Carrington Palmer Munro, whose mother was an enslaved African and whose father was white. They moved into a house at 698 Hope St.; later, the couple built the one standing there now. However, Louisa continued to work for the DeWolfs. It is not known if she had been freed or was ever paid for her work; the records uncovered to date are silent on this matter. More research may uncover information on Louisa’s later years.

Carrington Palmer Munro married again after Louisa died. It is interesting that another Munro woman became known for her culinary skills. In an article published in the Bristol Phoenix in 1997, Ms. Evelyn Carter of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society published her memory that the daughter of Carrington Palmer Munro and his second wife Annie, Henrietta - known as Etta - had a reputation as a fine cook and baker. “Her biscuits were so light they almost flew away.”

-- This narrative is thanks to Catherine Zipf of the Bristol Historical and Preservation Society and her research on Louisa DeWolf. Ms. Zipf's original article was published in the Providence Journal in 2021.

03/15/2024

During Women’s History Month, we honor Rose, who appears on the Timeline of Enslavement in Bristol in the year 1718. In that year one of the founding proprietors of Bristol, Nathaniel Byfield (1689-1733), son of Reverend Richard Byfield of Surrey, England, purchased Rose, age about 13, who had just been brought to Bristol from the West Indies. Although he had a home on the aptly named Byfield Street, it is most likely that Rose lived on Byfield’s land on Poppasquash Neck.

Nathaniel Byfield freed Rose at his death in 1733. His original will, recorded in the Suffolk County, Massachusetts Wills and Probate Records (Bristol was still a part of Massachusetts at that time) states: “She hath with great pains and diligence learned to read and attained to considerable knowledge in religion….I am persuaded to believe that she truly fears God, which obliges me to set her free….”
There was, however, one stipulation. “I order her to render to my son and daughter Lyde for six months after my decease faithful and cheerful service….”

In the Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts there is a record of the marriage of "[Warren?] negro Servt to John [Barton] & Rose negro servt to Col. Byfield" married by Mr Charles Chauncy 3 March 1729, Boston, MA. Researcher Wayne Tucker of the Eleven Names Project (www.eleven-names.com) is conducting ongoing research in partnership with the City Archaeology Program, which has released a publicly available list of known enslaved people in Boston. The life of Rose while in Boston is part of the effort.
To learn more about that program follow this link: https://www.boston.gov/departments/archaeology/boston-slavery-exhibit

03/11/2024

Research BIPOC History (RBH) in collaboration with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (SMFA) is looking for an Outreach and Communications Coordinator.

The Outreach and Communications Coordinator will be involved in convening the RBH project’s Descendant Advisory Council and working with them to formulate and enact the best methods for descendant outreach. The coordinator will then employ these methods to co-design community workshops and outreach programs. As outreach is part of the Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology of this project, the coordination of outreach will be particularly important in understanding how Descendants and stakeholders are engaging with the research material; the Outreach and Communications Coordinator will be on the front lines of this process.

A full job description is attached including time commitment, salary, and how to apply.