African American Studies Commons^™

The Proceedings Of The Free African Union Society And The African Benevolent Society: Newport, Rhode Island 1780-1824, William H. Robinson

Faculty Publications

Known among the black community of Newport, Rhode Island for the almost 200 year life of their existence, the manuscripts of the Proceedings of the African Union Society, and the Proceedings of the African Benevolent Society have only recently been "discovered" and used by professional historians concerned with illuminating the colonial American experience, especially the colonial black American experience. Presented to the safekeeping of the Colored Union Congregational Church in 1844, where they remained until, that church dissolving in 1963, these proceedings were then handed over to the Newport Historical Society, where they have been housed ever since.

These manuscripts …