entity

College of Rhode Island

Also known as: Brown University

Facts (10)

Sources

Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Brown University slaveryandjusticereport.brown.edu Brown University 10 facts

accountJohn Brown, the treasurer and a chief benefactor of the College of Rhode Island, returned to the African slave trade in 1795 by dispatching the ship 'Hope' to the Gold Coast.

accountIn 1787, Robert Carter sent his sons, John and George Carter, to the College of Rhode Island (now Brown University) with instructions that they were not to return to Virginia until after they had reached their twenty-first birthdays.

accountIn 1796, the Providence Abolition Society prosecuted Cyprian Sterry, a member of the College of Rhode Island's Board of Trustees and a prominent slave trader, for violating the 1794 federal law prohibiting the transport of enslaved people to foreign ports.

accountJames Tallmadge, a senior at the College of Rhode Island (Brown University), delivered an anti-slavery speech at the 1790 commencement ceremony.

claimThe Providence Abolition Society was founded by members of the College of Rhode Island's governing Corporation, including David Howell, who served as the society's president, and Thomas Arnold, who served as the society's secretary.

accountIn 1789, the Providence Abolition Society launched its first prosecution, which involved members of the College of Rhode Island's Corporation: David Howell acted as the prosecutor, while William Bradford, a former deputy governor and future U.S. Senator, served as the defense attorney.

measurementCyprian Sterry, a slave trader and member of the College of Rhode Island's Board of Trustees, sponsored approximately twenty African voyages in the two years preceding his 1796 prosecution by the Providence Abolition Society.

accountJohn Greenwood’s painting 'Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam' (c. 1752–1758) depicts ten men in a tavern with enslaved people; six of these men were future trustees of the College of Rhode Island (now Brown University), and two became governors of Rhode Island.

claimJohn Brown, a slave trader and treasurer of the College of Rhode Island, argued that trafficking enslaved people was 'right, just and lawful,' comparing the act of bringing a cargo of slaves to bringing a cargo of jackasses.

claimBenjamin Bourn and Ray Greene, who presided over and prosecuted the trial of John Brown respectively, were longtime allies of John Brown and had served with him on the Corporation of the College of Rhode Island.