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Apparently Rhode Island's full name is "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." Vote to change the name will be in November.
- Thread starter ElectricBlanketFire
- Start date
I didn't know that. I live near the border of CT and RI in CT, so I can't vote, but I imagine they'll vote the correct way here. I like RI a lot.
States vs. Commonwealths is the most common use of the distinction.
Me: "This seems like something that has to be a legal technicality that they just never officially changed"
Me:
Me:
Is the origin for RI due to it being a slave plantation? Or was plantation just a more common term for land at the time regardless if slaves worked it?
Mmhmm, historically Providence Plantations refers to the small plot of land that the founder Roger Williams peacefully negotiated getting with the Narragansett Native Americans whom he was friends with. At the time it referred to farmland in 1636 and only a few families lived on it, but obviously RI would eventually become heavily involved in the slave trade and even of those very Narragansett Natives within the next couple of decades. So it definitely took on the connotation we all know it as today even though it wasn't the original intent
As someone who used to go to Rhode Island often with an ex girlfriend to see her family, A LOT of racists are going to be up in arms about this.
Good.
Good.
Good to know. Well, we'll see what the vote is. But based on the last attempt, it doesn't look promising.
the word "plantation" originally just referred to agricultural estates, not specifically ones that used slave labor. that connotation has long since been subsumed by the legacy of slavery. nobody will genuinely cry about this name change
It was the first colony to outlaw slavery, though. Rhode Island isn't all bad, just mostly bad.
Yeah, Rhode Island is just the actual island in the bay.
I've always thought it was a cool piece of trivia, but I guess it doesn't hurt to remove it if people have that instinctive reaction to the name - I guess it's hard to move away from that in the Americas in particular. I'd prefer actual structural changes but you may as well do the easy stuff first.
I've always thought it was a cool piece of trivia, but I guess it doesn't hurt to remove it if people have that instinctive reaction to the name - I guess it's hard to move away from that in the Americas in particular. I'd prefer actual structural changes but you may as well do the easy stuff first.
OP
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The reason I found out about this is because I overheard someone from Rhode Island complaining about the potential change.
Also, 78% of people voted against changing the name in 2010.
Rhode Island is extremely white and filled with people that sound like your racist uncle from Boston.
Plantation, at the time, was a generic term for any estate used to plant crops. Roger Williams, the person who founded Rhode Island, was an abolitionist. The name of the British colony was "The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation," and it seems like they just changed Colony to "State" during the American Revolution.
I get why people want to change the name given the connotations around plantation but the people who settled the actual Providence Plantation were some of the first abolitionists in America.
en.wikipedia.org
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Roger Williams - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
I'd actually dispute that, I'm pretty familiar with RI's colonial history and the law I think you're referring (1652's) said Africans were to be freed after ten years of slavery or once they turned either 18 or 21 I believe it was. It was essentially never enforced however and the law itself is nullified by the end of the 1600's. Took RI much longer to end slavery
We voted on this years ago and it failed by A LOT. It will probably fail again honestly. Rhode Islanders revel in being different and having such a long name is just one of those things people have latched onto. Honestly I don't care either way. The only time you hear the full name is in court or you see it on official documents. I'll vote to change it because it just makes sense to do so.
You expect a significantly different result in 2020?
It's a mix of the two actually. It's a weird crossbreed of NYC and Boston accents.
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As someone with a thick RI accent it's a mix of the two. I get people that think I'm from NY and MA equally.
Ah, sorry. I read your original post wrong then.
The perils of ESL.
Yeah. It leans a bit harder on New York. I had to work on losing mine back in the day. Once I went to a high school closer to the Cape, people just kept asking why I sound like an idiot.
The RI and southeastern MA accent is a lot different and closer to New York.
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Other than being non-rhotic I think my accent is more NY than Boston. I also get a lot of people who think I'm British when they hear me talk.
And where I'm from on CT shoreline in between, people don't have much of an accent imo. Not sure why
I was focusing on the 'racist' part.
I wouldn't call myself an expert of CT, but that has generally been my experience as well. It's kind of a phantom zone in between the two states.
Not all of RI has the accent. It tends to disappear once you get lower than Warwick. My wife is from Charlestown and doesn't have it. I'm from Cranston (the epicenter of it) and she constantly makes fun of me.
Oh yeah, like California's is "The State of California and Even the Northern Third That Everyone Forgets is There"
As a Rhode Islander, the name does not need to be changed because "Providence Plantations" is a reference to slavery. It is not.
It needs to be changed because it's way too long and nobody knows that it's our name anyways. The full name just amounts to a goofy answer to a trivia question. All it does is waste ink.
It needs to be changed because it's way too long and nobody knows that it's our name anyways. The full name just amounts to a goofy answer to a trivia question. All it does is waste ink.
Told my parents to vote for the change. I think it's just a silly name and needing so much history to explain it's origin is just silly. I do not think it will pass unless people campaign am for the change, most people would just like to keep the long name. I do wonder what proportion of RI folks know the story of the name, I know it as I was raised there and my history teacher in high school was a pro.
