PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The smallest state has the longest official name: “State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” but that may change soon.
A push to drop “Providence Plantations” — which critics say conjures up images of slavery — advanced further than ever late last week when the House voted 70-3 to let residents decide whether their home should simply be “State of Rhode Island.” The Senate passed a similar bill, but one chamber must pass the other’s version before it goes to voters next year.
Rep. Joseph Almeida, an African-American, said, “It’s high time for us to recognize that slavery happened on plantations in Rhode Island and decide that we don’t want that chapter of our history to be a proud part of our name.”
Opponents of the name charge argue that “plantations” was used to describe any farming settlement. Rhode Island merchants did, however, make fortunes off the slave trade. Slaves helped construct Brown University.
