PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Providence has assembled a group of historical groups and community leaders who over the course of four months will create a public education program that details the history of Black and Indigenous people in the city.
The initiative announced Tuesday is the first part of the truth telling and reparations process that Mayor Jorge Elorza launched in July.
“In order to plan a truly equitable future for our city, we need to know our history and reconcile our truths,” Elorza said in a statement.
Groups including the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, Rhode Island Historical Society, and the 1696 Heritage Group will work with the city’s African American Ambassador Group Truth Telling Committee to collect and analyze historical documents and artifacts.
They will look at the history of the city through the enslavement and genocide of African heritage and Indigenous people; examine discriminatory state and municipal laws; and examine the continued impact of slavery, Indigenous genocide, racial discrimination, and displacement, the statement said.
The goal is to create a program that will be used to supplement the curriculum in city schools.
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