1445 Wampanoag Trail, Suite 203, East Providence, RI 02915-1019 | (401) 433-0044 | info@riheritagehalloffame.com
By Ken Dooley J. William Middendorf has worn many hats, including Secretary of the Navy, United States Ambassador to the Netherlands, United States Ambassador to the Organization of the American States, United States Ambassador to the European Union, head of a CIA transition team, and advisor to Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy
Further back than any reader of today can recollect, Providence was once home to one of the nation’s more important sporting venues. Before the Dunk or the Rhode Island Auditorium were built, and even before the appearance of nearby Massachusetts sports centers like the Seekonk Speedway (“Action Track of the East”) and Gillette Stadium in
By Michael Levesque Most Rhode Islanders recognize the strong relationship between their state and professional baseball at major and minor league levels. Few, however, are aware that this connection extends to the professional Black teams in the Negro Leagues during the age of racial segregation in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. In those years, African
By Russell Desimone Further back than any reader of today can recollect, Providence was once home to one of the nation’s more important sporting venues. Before the Dunk or the Rhode Island Auditorium were built, and even before the appearance of nearby Massachusetts sports centers like the Seekonk Speedway (“Action Track of the East”) and
Leonard Bacon, a poet, translator, critic, and professor, was born on May 26, 1887, in Solvay, New York, the son of Nathaniel Bacon and Helen Hazard. He grew up at his mother’s familial estate in Peace Dale, Rhode Island. He came from a family of Congregationalist ministers, including the clergymen relatives for which he was
Adin Ballou was an American proponent of Christian nonresistance, Christian anarchism, and Christian socialism. He was also an abolitionist. During his long career as a Universalist and Unitarian minister, he tirelessly advocated for the immediate abolition of slavery and the principles of Christianity. His prolific writings promoted the nonviolent theory of praxis (or moral suasion). Adin Ballou was born in Cumberland on April 23, 1803,
By Michael Levesque Everett Gardiner Weeden Jr., or Tall Oak, was a member of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe stated that Weeden was “a documented descendant of the Mashantucket Pequot, Narragansett, and Wampanoag tribes.” Tall Oak dedicated his life to the education and advocacy of Indigenous rights. Weeden’s traditional name, Tall Oak, was given to
By PATRICK T. CONLEY The Irish Catholic Influx For those immigrants who arrived in Rhode Island from the 1820s onward–most of whom were Irish Catholics–the Civil War was an Americanization test. These newcomers espoused a religion that many in Rhode Island considered alien, with the immigrants allegedly loyal to a foreign potentate–the pope of Rome.
By Patrick T. Conley This essay is an expanded version of a talk delivered on President’s Day, 2005, at Mount Hope Farm in Bristol. I intended to dispel the myth that George Washington slept there while president. I also made a plea to my hosts that they call the home on this site “the Senator
By Dr. Patrick T. Conley This year marks the 500th Anniversary of Giovanni da Verrazzano’s historic New World voyage and a European’s first visit to Rhode Island. This fact should not go unnoticed! Verrazzano (1485-1528) was an Italian explorer and navigator who sailed in the service of France. Although the exact place and date of
By Larry Reid The war ended abruptly for John Watkins, a decorated WWII fighter pilot, after three of his five brothers were killed in combat, and Watkins was restricted to desk jobs. Only the Sullivan family, with five brothers killed, suffered a greater loss in WWII. His decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross and the
By Ken Dooley The Brown Bombers football team was founded in the summer of 1935 by Herschel “Rip” Day, a Black athletic promoter in Harlem. The team was named in honor of the rising young heavyweight boxing contender, Joe Louis. There had been several black professional teams in Harlem of modest caliber in the early
This essay is an expanded version of an address delivered on Veterans’ Day, November 11, 2012, to Infantry Lodge Associates at the Squantum Club, East Providence, at the invitation of Brigadier Generals Richard J. Valente, commanding, and Thomas M. Frazer, administrator; delivered again at the Fabre Line Club on December 12, 2012. Rhode Island’s observance
Leonard Bacon, a poet, translator, critic, and professor, was born on May 26, 1887, in Solvay, New York, the son of Nathaniel Bacon and Helen Hazard. He grew up at his mother’s familial estate in Peace Dale, Rhode Island. He came from a family of Congregationalist ministers, including the clergymen relatives for which he was
The recent USA newspaper special “Paradise Lost” (Sunday, September 22) laments the loss or decline of America’s bird population. Rhode Island has shared in this avian attrition, the most notable example of which was the eradication of the passenger pigeon. The passenger pigeon was more abundant than any American mammal or bird. It numbered in