If you wish to discuss any of the issues raised in this event, please come to our table in Memorial Park at any point in the evening.
ACT ONE: A Thousand Ships, A Thousand Libations
6:30pm WaterPlace Basin
Join us and pour one of 1,000 water bottles into the river as a libation ritual, in the lights of the burning braziers. Each bottle represents a slaveship voyage that left from this state.
ACT TWO: Remembrance and witness
7pm Leaving from next to Waterplace restaurant, WaterPlace Basin
A torchlit procession will travel to significant downtown sites and bear witness to this city's relationship with the slave trade and its connected industries. Follow the torches after the libation and join the procession.
ACT THREE: Reflection and Celebration
8pm Triangle of trees, Memorial Park
A triangle of trees is surrounded by chains, representing the “triangle trade” that existed between Rhode Island, the coast of Africa and the plantations in the Caribbean. Come to watch and participate in the burning of the chains, and place one of a thousand luminaria inside the triangle, in memory of the victims of the trade.
8:30pm World War I Monument, Memorial Park
Learn about Rhode Island’s complex involvement with the institution of slavery, as actors bring to life voices from our state’s past.
The event is dedicated to the memory of Professor Rhett S Jones.
Epilogue: Symposium
12 - 3pm October 5th, John Nicholas Brown Center, 357 Benefit Street
The John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage at Brown University will host a symposium that examines public engagement with Rhode Island's involvement with the institution of slavery, and interrogates the challenges involved in presenting these issues through civic ritual and public art.
