Under the leadership of the Rev. Liz Lerner Maclay, the First Unitarian Church of Providence approached its 300th anniversary in 2020 with a determination to learn more about the involvement of early church members in slavery and the business of slavery during the 18th and 19th centuries. While the Covid 19 pandemic slowed the initial investigation somewhat, the work was resumed in earnest in 2022 when public historian Traci Picard was engaged to work with church member Peter Laarman in an extended look into the extensive church records held by the R.I. Historical Society as well as other archival sources. Over the course of three years. a picture emerged of very direct church member involvement in every aspect of the business of slavery: direct slave trading, rum distilling for the purpose of purchasing human beings, provisioning of Caribbean sugar plantations, domestic enslavement in Providence homes and businesses, the manufacture and sale of the coarse garments purchased by Southern planters to both clothe and stigmatize enslaved laborers on cotton plantations, and heavy investment in slavery-dependent cotton processing industries during the first half of the 19th century.

Researchers also learned that slavery-derived fortunes enabled an all-male business arm of the church, which was initially founded as the First Congregational Society of Providence, to accumulate considerable property on College Hill and elsewhere and also to influence public opinion and public policy significantly by way of church member involvement in political leadership, law, and journalism. Despite becoming Unitarian in doctrine in 1821, the church stood firmly on the side of anti-Abolitionism, as many of its members enjoyed fortunes tied to Southern slave-picked cotton with some even owning plantations in the Deep South.

All of these research findings were reported in a 150-page scholarly book published in 2025 under the title A Church in a Triangle. The release of the book was accompanied in May 2025 by the opening of a related exhibit in the church Parish House and by a panel discussion and performances featuring Dr. Christopher West, Len Cabral, and Rose Weaver, among others.

The church is now in the process of developing comprehensive anti-racist learning resources rooted in historical understanding and also in Unitarian principles for both youth and adults. With support from the RI 250 Commission, the church is also developing a graphic novel treatment of the little-understood but crucial role of Caribbean sugar, in the form of molasses obtained from non-British sources, in fueling revolutionary fervor during the 1760s when the Crown moved to restrict this illegal trade. The graphic novel will be titled “Sugar Rush: The Caribbean Roots of Rhode Island’s Rebellion” and is expected to be available for use in high school and college courses by Fall 2026.

Copies of A Church in a Triangle may be ordered by contacting the First Unitarian Church office.

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