Bristol Historical & Preservation Society’s Timeline of Enslavement in Bristol Project Wins Prestigious 2023 AASLH Award of Excellence
Nashville, TN, and Bristol, RI – The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) congratulates the Bristol Historical & Preservation Society, of Bristol, RI, for receiving an Award of Excellence for The Timeline of Enslavement in Bristol, RI. The Award of Excellence is part of the AASLH Leadershi p in History Awards, the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation of state and local history. It is the first time in more than four years that a RI project has been honored.
Funded by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities and by a local anonymous donor, The Timeline of Enslavement in Bristol, RI is a 56 foot-long strip of fabric that lists in chronological order the names of those who were enslaved in Bristol, Rhode Island, between 1680 and 1808. All those identified occupy their own space on the timeline, regardless of how much or little is known about them. The approximately 600 entries represent approximately 475 enslaved individuals in total.
The Timeline was born from the desire to tell the history of enslavement in Bristol in a way that broke long-standing barriers that have blocked this history from being told or encouraged its misinterpretation. Bristol, RI, served as the center of the notorious DeWolf family’s slave trading empire between about 1800 and 1835, but as the Timeline showed, enslaved people were present in the town from its founding in 1680.
The timeline format was a deliberate choice designed to present facts that were both indisputable, such that the deniers could no longer deny, and minimally interpreted, so as to empower those wanting to tell their own story.
The Timeline benefitted from a high level of community support and counts among its supporters the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, a major funder of the project (rihumanities.org), the East Bay BIPOC Research Project (ResearchBipocHistory.org), the Warren Middle Passage Project (warrenmpp.com), the Department of History and Cultural Studies at Roger Williams University (rwu.edu) and Linden Place Museum (lindenplace.org).
Grant funding from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities funded the creation of four fabric versions of the Timeline that accommodated a wide range of display options. The Timeline is frequently seen in prominent public spaces in Bristol, RI, and is available for display upon request.
A video version of the Timeline is available at
and at
researchbipochistory.org/timeline.
For more information about the Bristol Historical & Preservation Society, please contact them at 401-253-7223 or go to www.bhpsri.org
This year, AASLH is proud to confer fifty-one national awards honoring people, projects, and exhibits. The winners represent the best in the field and provide leadership for the future of state and local history.
The AASLH awards program was initiated in 1945 to establish and encourage standards of excellence in the collection, preservation, and interpretation of state and local history throughout the United States. The AASLH Leadership in History Awards not only honor significant achievement in the field of state and local history, but also bring public recognition of the opportunities for small and large organizations, institutions, and programs to make contributions in this arena.
For more information about the Leadership in History Awards, contact AASLH at 615-320-3203, or go to aaslh.org
About The Bristol Historical & Preservation Society
The Bristol Historical & Preservation Society seeks to stimulate interest in the history of Bristol, Rhode Island, through education, research, and the collection and preservation of historic objects.
Our current exhibit, Bristol Veterans and the Evolution of Military Funerary Rites, examines what happens when a soldier dies in combat, presents the history of local Veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice, and explores how the practices of caring for our military dead have changed alongside changing tactics of war.
For more information about the BH&PS, visit