Rhode Island Slave History Medallions - Jamestown Slavery - East Ferry Wharf, Jamestown, Rhode Island - Rhode Island Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

An unassuming -- and appearing incomplete - granite marker on Connanicus Avenue in Jamestown, Rhode Island, belongs to the Rhode Island Slave History Medallion project. The organization recounts the history of slavery across several sites around the state, as described on its website:

"Slavery was the global economic engine prior to its abolition and Rhode Island’s role in this business of slavery was significant. By marking sites throughout the state that are connected to that past, we hope to make that history easily accessible by telling a more complete story of the cultural and economic development of the State of Rhode Island."

Placed in a small, semi-circular garden between East Ferry Memorial Square and the Jamestown Newport Ferry building, this two-foot-tall by one-foot square monument has a cast bronze plaque mounted to its angled upper face. The metal tablet has a low relief design made of "RHODE ISLAND SLAVE HISTORY" text in the lower/ square portion and a winged angel's face in the upper/ semi-circular part. Aside from an empty cavity on the south face of the monument that takes on the shape and depth for another, smaller plaque, there are no distinguishing elements...except for a square QR code etched on a piece of bright stainless steel that is adhered to the center of the top plaque.

Activating the code with a cell phone camera leads to an thorough, 2,500 word account online. The Jamestown Slavery segment, written by Peter Fay of the Jamestown Historical Society, retells in great depth, many stories of West Africans and Native Americans who were captured and enslaved. The time frame spans 1638 through the early 19th century.