Echoes from the Attic: Stories of Slavery and Freedom-Making in Newport, Ri

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.

Edited by Akeia de Barros Gomes

Contributions by Rebecca Bertrand, Kaela Bleho and Zoe Hume, Akeia de Barros Gomes, Kimberly Conway Dumpson and John M. Rice, and Anthony Bogues

With stories from members of the descendant community in Newport

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 191727324X
• ISBN13: 9781917273244
• Release Date: May 2026
• Publisher: Giles
• Length: 128 Pages