the Role of Bristol and Rhode Island in the SlAVE TRADE
Traces of the Trade (Video)
https://www.tracesofthetrade.org
This is a fascinating documentary about descendants of the DeWolf family and their efforts to understand the legacy of their ancestors’ work.
Click HERE to rent the Traces of the Trade video on Vimeo.
Traces of the Trade may also be available on DVD at your local library.
Transatlantic Slave Trade Database
A comprehensive database of transatlantic slave voyages from 1514 to 1866.
Brown University’s Report on Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Brown University
https://slaveryandjusticereport.brown.edu/sections/slavery-the-slave-trade-and-brown
Commissioned in 2003, this report looks at Brown University’s historical relationship to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade.
Research BIPOC History
https://www.researchbipochistory.org
A grassroots effort centered in Birstol, RI, researching, recognizing, and honoring the history, humanity and contributions of the enslaved people who resided in Bristol. See the Timeline and maps which give detailed information about enslaved and free Africans and their descendants who lived in Birstol, RI.
DeWolfe Tavern, Bristol, RI
https://rishm.org/bristol-county/bristol/dewolfe-tavern-bristol
An in depth account of the historic DeWolfe Tavern and its place in the history of slavery in Bristol.
Providence Journal, December 5, 2020
A brief discussion of the history of Bristol's and the DeWolf family's involvement in the International Human Trade by local historian and Director of the Bristol Historical and Preservation Society, Catherine Zipf.
Rhode Island, Slavery, and the Slave Trade
Essay on Rhode Island's historic role in the Transatlantic slave trade, from early 17th Century to the Civil War.
By Joanne Pope Melish, Associate Professor Emerita, History Department, University of Kentucky
By Keith Stokes and Theresa Guzman Stokes
The examination and documentation of the role of the City of Providence and State of Rhode Island in supporting a “Separate and Unequal” existence for African heritage, Indigenous, and people of color.
Sister Organizations
Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project
https://www.middlepassageproject.org
A national organization leading activities of communities connected to the Transatlantic Slave Trade throughout the United States in recognizing this aspect of their histories and in building memorials to commemorate these events.
Newport Middle Passage Port Marker Project
https://newportmiddlepassage.org
A grass-roots organization founded to create a memorial marker to Newport Rhode Island’s role in the Middle Passage.
UNESCO Routes of Enslaved Peoples
https://www.unesco.org/en/routes-enslaved-peoples
An international project to support scientific research and education concerning the the history of slavery.
The Rhode Island Slave Medallions Project
Documenting places and people in the history of slavery in Rhode Island. Find maps and information about locations documented by this project.
Books on Slavery and new england
In Slavery's Wake
Paul Gardullo, Editor
The companion book to a groundbreaking exhibition at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, this powerful collection of essays brought to life with 170 color illustrations investigates the intertwined legacies of slavery, freedom, and capitalism. In Slavery's Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World frames the history of slavery in a global context to show how it created systems of oppression that continue to shape the world today. Compelling essays from key historians and scholars trace the contemporary resonances of slavery but also the history of freedom-making, from abolitionism to enslaved and colonized people asserting their humanity to the Black Lives Matter movement.
This important work includes a contributing essay by Bristol Middle Passage Project board member Sherri V. Cummings.
Dark Work: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island
By Christy Clark-Pujara
Clark-Pujara draws on the documents of state, business, organizational, and personal records of enslavers and the few first-hand accounts left by enslaved and free black Rhode Islanders to reconstruct their lived experiences and describes the leading role that Rhode Island played in the slave trade.
Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds: A History of Slavery in New England
By Jared Ross Hardesty
In this concise yet comprehensive history, Jared Ross Hardesty focuses on the individual stories of enslaved people, bringing their experiences to life. He also explores larger issues such as the importance of slavery to the colonization of the region and to agriculture and industry, New England's deep connections to Caribbean plantation societies, and the significance of emancipation movements in the era of the American Revolution.
Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery
By Margaret Ellen Newell
Newell reveals a little-known aspect of American history: English colonists in New England enslaved thousands of Indians. Massachusetts became the first English colony to legalize slavery in 1641, and the colonists’ desire for slaves shaped the major New England Indian wars. Newell explains how slavery linked the fate of Africans and Indians. The trade in Indian captives connected New England to Caribbean and Atlantic slave economies.
New England Bound
By Wendy Warren
This book links the growth of the northern colonies to the slave trade and examines the complicity of New England’s leading families, demonstrating how the region’s economy derived its vitality from the slave trading ships coursing through its ports. It explains the way in which the Atlantic slave trade drove the colonization of New England and brings to light the lives of the thousands of reluctant Indian and African slaves who found themselves forced into the project of building that city on a hill.
American Slavers: Merchants, Mariners, and the Transatlantic Commerce in Captives, 1644-1865
By Sean M. Kelly
Engaging with both African and American history and addressing the trade over time, Kelley examines the experience of captivity to offer a portrait of enslavement in the regions of Africa frequented by American ships. Kelley also provides a social history of the two American ports where slave trading was most intensive, Newport and Bristol, Rhode Island.
Inheriting the Trade
By Thomas Norman DeWolf
A memoir about one family’s quest to face its slave-trading past and an urgent call for reconciliation.
James DeWolf and the Rhode Island Slave Trade
By Cynthia Mestad Johnson
An unsettling story of corruption and exploitation in the Ocean State from slave ships to politics.
Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery
By Anne Farrow, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank
Three journalists researched the often hidden role that New England states played in the institution of slavery in the United States.
The Slave Ship: A Human History
By Marcus Rediker
Award-winning scholar Marcus Rediker shines a light into the darkest corners of the British and American slave ships of the eighteenth century.
Articles From The Newsletter
Echoes of the Past: Environmental Struggles and Resilience in Bristol's History
April 2025
By Sherri V. Cummings
Hidden Roots: African and Native American Knowledge in the Soil of New England
May 2025
By Sherri V. Cummings