Opinion: America’s rethinking of history is getting ahistorical – By Bonnie Kristian (The Week) / June 25 2020
The state commonly known as Rhode Island is still officially named “Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” but the last three words of the phrase won’t appear on state documents going forward. The reasoning, as Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) explained at a news conference Monday, is that “plantation” is suggestive of slavery. “We can’t ignore the image conjured,” she said.
It’s true “plantation” conjures an image of slavery in the Old South. That is certainly what comes to my mind. But that is demonstrably not what the word means in the name of Rhode Island.
And shouldn’t that matter? When we’re rethinking American history, shouldn’t the actual history inform our agenda? Activism in the name of a more honest and just reading of history — particularly activism, like this, with the stamp of official approval — must be concerned with truth. If it isn’t, it chances replicating some of the very ills it seeks to eradicate.
The Rhode Island case is striking because of how directly the historical record contradicts the modern connotation. Providence Plantations was founded by Roger Williams, a Baptist theologian who was remarkably anti-racist by the standards of his day. Williams called a “solemn lie” the notion of European discovery and claim of land already occupied by Indigenous people. When he founded Providence Plantations after being run out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his “dangerous opinions” on religious liberty, Williams purchased the land that would become Rhode Island from the Narragansett Indians and established a haven for dissenters.
Continue to article: https://theweek.com/articles/921866/americas-rethinking-history-getting-ahistorical
