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We’ve all heard of Rhode Island. It is the smallest state in the United States and is located in the northeast. But did you know that Rhode Island is not the official state name? That was news to me, too. However, Rhode Island will soon be the official name of the state Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo announced an executive order that will remove a racially-charged phrase from the state’s name.
So, if Rhode Island is not the official state name, what is?
The official name is Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which is something the state has been trying to change for the last three decades.
“This morning I signed an executive order removing the phrase Providence Plantations from gubernatorial orders and citations, all executive branch agency websites, all official correspondence, and state employee pay stubs and paychecks,” said Raimondo, who is the state’s first female governor, according to NPR.
“We can’t ignore the image conjured by the word ‘plantation,’ We can’t ignore how painful that is for Black Rhode Islanders to see that and have to see that as part of their state’s name.”
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How did “Providence Plantations” become a part of the state name? Per the report:
It was the theologian Roger Williams — an advocate of religious tolerance and the abolition of slavery — who, as the founder of the Rhode Island colony in the 17th century, is believed to have included the Providence Plantations phrase in the name of what was then a newly established British colony. At the time, the word “plantation” referred to a new settlement and didn’t connote an agricultural estate cultivated by slaves.
However, the farms in the state eventually turned into plantations that were similar to those in southern colonies and Rhode Island dominated the slave trade in North America with a higher proportion of slaves in its population than any other northern colony.
It seems safe to say that the name change is long overdue.
