Category: Rhode Island Heritage Series

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

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 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

By Larry Reid Musical prodigy, concert pianist, and educator Raymond Thompson Jackson, Jr. became the first African American, first musician, and youngest person at that time to be inducted into The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame (1966). He was born on December 11, 1933, in Providence, Rhode Island. His mother and father were beauticians

By Ken Dooley Ruth C. Hussey was a film, stage, and television actress who primarily played witty, sophisticated professional women and strong, noble wives. Hussey appeared in forty feature films. She was a beautiful brunette, standing about five feet, five inches tall, and a reliable actress who projected grace, poise, and intelligence. Those qualities made

By Russell DeSimone Edward M. Fay spent his life in the entertainment industry as a violinist, conductor, vaudeville impresario, poet, and motion picture theater owner. He owned at least six different theaters between 1928 and 1977 and was called by the Providence Journal the “Dean of Rhode Island Entertainment.” He was born in South Providence

By Michael Levesque Thomas Eadie enlisted in the Navy in July 1905, shortly after he’d turned 18. Trained as a gunner’s mate and as a diver, he remained in the service until 1913, when he moved to Newport. He married Margaret Gerrie of Newport, and they had a daughter named Marion. Eadie returned to the

By Patrick T. Conley Two centuries before English novelist Charles Dickens created Ebenezer Scrooge, who dismissed Christmas with a disgruntled “bah-humbug,” the early New England settlers had done the same. The popular depiction of a New England colonial Christmas is a fairy tale, In 17th century New England, Christmas was not even a holiday, let

In 1980 the courts of Bristol and Providence counties were merged, and since then all cases from Barrington, Warren, and Bristol have been heard in Providence.  Biweekly sessions of the state traffic court continued in the Bristol Statehouse for a few years thereafter, but by 1986 the only user and occupant of the deteriorating building

Patrick T. Conley delivered this speech to Bristol High School graduates in 1976. Every high school graduate of any year, of any state, will benefit from the wisdom and advice from Rhode Island’s Historian Laureate. I am honored to have been asked, in my capacity as state Bicentennial chairman, to address you on the occasion

A world-renowned doctor, medical researcher, and leader in medical education, Dr. Stanley M. Aronson was a co-founder of Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island and served as a mentor to generations of physicians and medical students. Besides his medical roles, Dr. Aronson was perhaps best known to Rhode Islanders for his weekly columns in

Pat Conley Each nation’s meteoric rise Implies the certain dread demise Of the very one that fickle Fate Had chosen first to elevate. Proud Egypt, Babylonia Assyria then Greece Enjoyed a transitory reign Ere their domination ceased. Resplendent Rome attained the crest Controlling all by force of sword Till corrupted from within It bowed before

In 1954, John Foster Dulles, President Eisenhower’s first secretary of state, named Dr. Henry Wriston as chairman of a public committee on personnel to reorganize the State Department and its Foreign Service. At the time, many State Department officials whose duties concerned foreign policy were under the civil service system. They were not required to

By Mike Levesque Ellison (Tarzan) Myers Brown got off to a fast start in the 1936 Boston Marathon until John Kelley caught him on a hill at the 20-mile mark. Kelley overtook him at the last of the Newton hills, a gradually rising slope near Boston College. Passing Brown, Kelly patted him on the back.

By Larry Reid The origins of Mother’s Day as celebrated in the United States date back to the 19th century. Before the Civil War, Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia helped start “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs” to teach local women how to properly care for their children. Another precursor to Mother’s Day came from the abolitionist and suffragette Julia

Dr. D. Scott Molloy If George M. Cohan had been more truthful in Yankee Doodle Dandy, he would have reported his birth date as July 3, and not the “born on the Fourth of July” claim reported in his song.  Admittedly, his truthfulness would have reduced its punch. A birth certificate from St. Joseph’s Roman

By Russell DeSimone Though it is the most famous race in the United States, not all great horses run in the Kentucky Derby. Seabiscuit only displayed his greatness at an older age. In fact, Seabiscuit lost his first 17 races, was considered lazy, and was bought for $8,000 in 1936. Everything turned around after he

By Ken Dooley Her Irish friends would agree that Isabelle Ahearn O’Neill, a stage and screen actor of the silent film era, a suffragist, and the first woman elected to the Rhode Island Legislature, died most appropriately on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1975. The resolution passed by the Rhode Island House of Representatives recognizing

John F. “Jack” McGee, an aviation pioneer and one of Pawtucket’s most famous sons, was born in 1885 in Central Falls but spent most of his life in Pawtucket. He attended public school in Pawtucket and worked in many odd jobs as a youth. A machine shop job led to a chauffeur’s position with a wealthy

By Russell DeSimone It would not be easy to list the highlights of Doris Brennan Weir’s athletic career without omitting some accomplishment, title, or record. She was simply among the finest female swimmers in the world. It would have been perfect if this brilliant young lady could have completed her competitive career by performing in