Join co-authors Peter Fay and Valerie J. Southern for a special evening and presentation on their new book, A Peaceful Patch of Earth: Blacks in Jamestown, Rhode Island, in a Time of Racial Turbulence in America, 1850–1920.

Through a vivid narrative focused on the rustic island of Jamestown in Narragansett Bay, the authors reveal a carefully researched, previously unacknowledged history of the island’s Black community. More than just a local history, the book connects Rhode Island directly to pivotal national movements in the struggle for freedom and civil rights—from Underground Railroad activity in Newport to the training of nearly 2,000 Black Civil War soldiers on Dutch Island.

Highlights of the discussion include:

• James Howland: One of Rhode Island’s last survivors of slavery.

• The Champlin Family: Their journey from bondage to establishing Jamestown’s first Black-owned farm and becoming its first Black voters.

• National Connections: The broader arc of Black America before and after the Civil War through a local lens.

A Q&A session and book signing will follow the presentation.

Co-hosted by Bristol Historical and Preservation Society