Woonsocket Radio News Room

A new guide, "On The Rhode to Freedom" created by the nonprofit group, Stages of Freedom, is a roadside guide to African American sites in Rhode Island.

 

Spearheaded by co-founder Rob Dimmock, the guide "explores the rich and compelling contributions of African Americans on the landscape and cultural heritage of Rhode Island." Many of the sites featured in the guide can be found right here in the Blackstone Valley. Here are a few examples taken from the guide.

 

  • Woonsocket - Woonsocket City Hall, 169 Main Street. Built by abolitionist Edward Harris, this site hosted Abraham Lincoln's unprecedented second visit to Rhode Island in March 1860. He spoke to a packed audience, defending his position that the nation could not endure half slave and half free. (See plaque located in entryway.)
  • Cumberland - Abolitionist Elizabeth Buffum Chace moved to Valley Falls in 1839 when her husband, Samuel, took over management of the Valley Falls Mills on the Blackstone River. There in the Currier House (no longer standing) they established the main stop on the Underground Railroad in Rhode Island. 
  • North Smithfield - Banneker Industries, 582 Great Road. Named for the great Black mathematician, Benjamin Banneker, Cheryl Snead founded Banneker Industries, a world-class provider of supply chain solutions, specializing in third and fourth-party logistics services, in 1991.

 

The Project is funded by RI Humanities and is truly full of interesting information and couldn't be more timely. As Dimmock noted in an article published by the Valley Breeze, “We really do feel like now is the time to recognize black lives have always been here, and continue to be here. And here are ways to touch those lives that came before us in a powerful and meaningful way." Read on.

 

Former President Trump returns to court in New York City this morning for his criminal hush money trial. Jurors will again hear testimony from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker who has explained this week how he protected Trump from negative stories leading up to the 2016 presidential election while smearing Trump's opponents. Also today, former President Trump's claim that he can't face prosecution for anything done while in the Oval Office if he's not first impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate goes before the Supreme Court.        Arizona's House of Representatives has voted to repeal a Civil War-era abortion law. State Democrats successfully pushed through a bill that repeals the 1864 that banned nearly all abortions. The bill now heads to the state Senate where it is expected to be passed early next month. The Arizona Supreme Court revived the law earlier this month with it set to go into effect as early as June.        Dozens of people have been arrested following a protest at UT Austin. People gathered on the South Lawn yesterday to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza. Students were told to walk out of class by the Palestinian Solidarity Committee of Austin. By the time it was said and done, 34 arrests were made.        President Biden's campaign will continue to use TikTok despite the recent bill that could lead to its ban. On Wednesday, the President signed a foreign aid package that also laid the groundwork to ban TikTok in the U.S. The same day, a Biden campaign official told reporters that TikTok is still "one of many places we're making sure our content is being seen by voters."        A reported associate of Sean "Diddy" Combs is pleading not guilty to drug possession in a Florida court. Brendan Paul was charged yesterday in Miami with felony cocaine possession. The former Syracuse basketball player was arrested last month on the same day federal agents raided two of the music mogul's homes.        Teen births in the U.S. are at a record low. A new report from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics says about three-a-half-million teen births were recorded in the U.S. in 2023. That's down two percent from the year before, and follows a general decline in teen births over the past ten years.        

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