Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice

When the Providence Preservation Society initially sought to sell a historic building in March, its past as the site of Providence's first newspaper and a boarding house was noted. However, there was no mention of the enslaved individuals who had lived and worked there. Traci Picard, Simmons Center Senior Research Assistant, was brought in to dig deeper into the building's history.

Picard's research revealed significant details, including that two generations of enslaved women, Ingow and her daughter Fanny, lived in the household. Her findings also dispelled the idea that the building's former owner, Carter, was an abolitionist.

Instead, Carter participated in the slave economy by printing flyers for runaway slaves while also publishing abolitionist materials, underscoring the complex relationship between business and slavery at the time. Now, with Picard’s 17-page report completed, the building is once again up for sale, but with a fuller understanding of its ties to slavery and its deeper historical significance.

Around 200 years ago, the area near the Rhode Island State House and the train station was home to a working-class neighborhood called Snowtown. It’s largely forgotten today, but a team of researchers is trying to change that. Globe RI’s Carlos Muñoz talks to two members of the Snowtown Project research team - Heather Olson and Traci Picard, Simmons Center Senior Research Assistant. They say they're aiming to "put those people back into the imagination, as real as people who matter."

The Commemoration Lab, The Department of Art, Culture and Tourism (ACT,) and the Rhode Island Historical Society (RIHS) are commissioning nine creative practitioners to interrogate the ways that Providence residents construct and share memory and culture. Simmons Center Senior Research Assistant, Traci Picard, has been chosen as Writer in Residence for this project.

Growth made Rhode Island’s capital city vibrant, but multicultural, working-class neighborhoods were sacrificed in the process. Traci Picard, a Simmons Center Walking Tour Guide, historian, and graduate of the JNBC Public Humanities program at Brown University is also a researcher for the project.