Rickman Lecture Thursday — 19th Century Race Riots
Another installment of the Inspired Providence lecture series with former President of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society Ray Rickman — How Providence Became a City: the Impact of the Hardscrabble and Snowtown Race Riots of 1824 and 1831.
Early 19th century Americans viewed their world through the prism of the newspaper. . . . It was the newspapers that spoke about the tensions in the rapidly growing town of Providence between those with wealth and those without; the tensions between those who had steady employment and those that struggled to get steady employment; the tensions between the African-American neighborhoods and the rest of the town. All too often, these tensions played out in violent ways, as was the case with the race riots in Hardscrabble and Snowtown of 1824 and 1831. What was the impact of these uprisings on Providence and its ability to protect its citizens? Join us as Ray Rickman paints a picture of growing Providence, a burgeoning African-American population, and the role of local newspapers in creating divisions around race and class.
Sponsored by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.
6pm, Thursday, October 27, Old State House, 150 Benefit Street