MARJORY O’TOOLE, managing director of the Little Compton Historical Society, discusses its recent exhibit, “If Jane Should Want to Be Sold,” which won the Innovation in the Humanities award from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities. LCHS will be honored on Oct. 5 at the Celebration of the Humanities event for its work to build understanding through proximity, the theme for this year’s celebration.
What’s the premise of the Little Compton Historical Society’s “If Jane Should Want to Be Sold” exhibition and programming? “If Jane Should Want to Be Sold” was a yearlong public-history project carried out by the LCHS to share the community’s forgotten black history with the public. ... Today Little Compton is very much a white community. Fewer than 1 percent of its residents identify as African-American or Native American. That was not always the case. In 1755, 10 percent of the town’s population was of African or Native descent, and the majority, though not all, were subject to some kind of bondage. We as a community, a state, a region, have forgotten or even purposely misrepresented the histories of New England’s people of color since before the Civil War. This project restored the true stories of 250 people of color – enslaved, indentured and free – to Little Compton’s local history.
Why is it important for historical societies to elevate the often lesser-known stories of people of color? Like many local communities, Little Compton had some “slave stories” that passed down through the generations but when we looked at the primary sources, these stories fell apart. Most were written to convince readers that slavery in New England was small in scale and better than slavery in the South. By re-examining these old stories, we’ve discovered they are full of inaccuracies and purposeful censorship. A great example is the story of Nat and Cate. Our old history said their master gave them their freedom. In reality, his will stated Nat and Cate could have their freedom only if they could each raise the [bond] the town required whenever a slave was freed. Cate could not raise the money and so was inherited as property by her master’s son. Cate found this intolerable and, even though she was elderly, ran away. Cate’s real story paints a much more accurate picture of Northern slavery.
What steps should we take to preserve our state’s history while preventing whitewashing in its retelling? An excellent way to rediscover forgotten histories is for each community to scour their local primary sources for references to historic people of color. ... There are records – about a 1,000 of them for Little Compton – but they can be hard to find. An 18th-century white man is likely to have a birth record, a marriage record, an inscribed gravestone, a will and a deed. A black man from the same period is likely to be listed as property in a probate inventory, but he may also have a marriage record, a baptismal record, a military record, or a manumission, and it’s important that we do an exhaustive search of the primary sources to portray his life accurately.
What is LCHS’ relationship to the Council for the Humanities? This project, which included a special exhibition, a book and a variety of public programs, was generously funded by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities. Because of RICH’s support, we were able to create a quality project that has received three major awards: the New England Museum Association Award of Excellence, a Leadership in History Award of Merit from the Association for State and Local History and RICH’s Innovation Award. The RICH award is especially meaningful because of our decade-long relationship with the council.