The First Unitarian Church of Providence hosted the public to experience Owning Our History, a history-focused weekend which marked the publication of A Church in a Triangle, a book-length report on the involvement of early church members in slavery and slavery-related businesses that was commissioned in relation to the church’s 300th anniversary. The weekend featured a powerful new exhibit linked to the book’s findings that is curated by Dr. Christopher West, founding director of the African American Museum of Rhode Island (AAM-RI).

Articles were published in the Boston Globe, and The Providence Eye, which can be read by clicking on the respective links.

Worship Service centered on the theme of “No Turning Back!”

On Oct. 3, 2025, our church hosted an illustrated lecture by Brandon Nightingale, a Ph.D. student at Howard University who has independently traced his Georgia family roots to the white Nightingales of Providence. He was conducting this research at the same time our own researchers were investigating the Deep South sojourns of prominent church families during the late 18th and early 19th centuries: Nightingales, Bowens, Metcalfs, and others who acquired land and made business connections in the South, taking full advantage of the region’s slavery-based economy. Mr. Nightingale’s three-day visit to Providence was co-sponsored by the Providence Preservation Society and the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice at Brown University.

You can view his presentation here.

The book is here! Many of you have already ordered and received your copies of A Church in a Triangle: Race, Religion & Power in a Rhode Island Congregation, 1720-1850. Copies are still available, but they are going fast. Copies of A Church in a Triangle may be ordered by contacting the church office.

The Owning Our History project of the First Unitarian Church is generously supported by Washington Trust.