Echoes from the Attic - by Akeia de Barros Gomes (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An accessible, softcover volume which takes up the unfinished conversation about what it is to be a descendent member of the Black Community in Newport, RI, and beyond, today.

The Newport Center for Black History is housed in the city's oldest documented home at the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House (ca. 1697). The title, Echoes from the Attic, comes from the discovery of a nkisi, a spirit bundle found under the floorboards of the house during its restoration; the bundle is the springboard for this new publication which features contributions from scholars, and from members of the Descendent Community in Newport. Moving beyond the the Gilded Age and stories of Black wealth and enterprise, there are also stories of slavery, of resistance--Newport was a haven for those escaping enslavement on the Underground Railroad--and of regeneration and persistence.

About the Author

Rebecca J. Bertrand is the Executive Director of the Newport Historical Society.

Kaela Bleho, MA, is the Newport Historical Society's Director of Digital Collections.

Zoe Hume is a doctoral candidate in Museum Education and Visitor-Centered Curation at Florida State University.

Kimberly Conway Dumpson, ESQ, CFRE, is the fourth great granddaughter of Isaac and Sarah Ann Conner Rice.

John M. Rice, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and the second great grandson of Isaac and Sarah Ann Conner Rice.

Akeia de Barros Gomes, PhD, is the Director of the Edward W. Kane and Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History at the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House in Newport and a Visiting Scholar and Adjunct Lecturer at the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University.

Anthony Bogues, PhD, is the Brown University Asa Messer Professor of Humanities and Critical Theory, Professor of Africana Studies, Director of the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, and Professor of History of Art and Architecture at Brown University.