The Bristol Timeline of Enslavement
Since 2021, extensive primary source research into the history of enslavement within Bristol, RI, by researcher Courtney Garrity has identified a total of 491 enslaved or likely enslaved African, African-American, and Indigenous People who lived in Bristol between 1680 and 1808.
During this period, more than 104 families, including judges, farmers, captains, merchants, and members pivotal to the town’s founding, owned enslaved people. The earliest document located so far dates to 1689 - a mere nine years after the founding of the town - when the inventory of the estate of Capt. Nathan Hayman valued “his negro woman” at £12.
This research has made it clear that Bristol’s involvement in the business of slavery and human trafficking was far more extensive that of the entire DeWolf family - the one family openly discussed in relation to Bristol and its history of enslavement.
This data has since been presented as The Bristol Timeline of Enslavement, a fabric banner spanning 56 feet that names each enslaved or likely enslaved individual, creating a visual record of each individual identified in Bristol’s recorded history at the first moment they appear in the written record.
Though the timeline presented an impactful and physically interactive dataset, it was felt that there was more to be done outside of locating and proverbially reshelving the data. From this, the Bristol Enslaved and Free Person of Color Database was born and as of June 2023 currently holds 1,197 entries in a twenty-four-factor base searchable Airtable database that includes source transcriptions and images. Visit The Bristol County Enslaved History Database page for more detailed information.
Courtney Garrity is a community historian studying the history of enslavement and emancipation in early Bristol, Rhode Island. Having completed her Bachelor of Arts in History at Roger Williams University, she has spent two semesters working with the Rhode Island Slave History Medallion and a year interning with the Bristol Historical & Preservation Society.
Graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2022, she was also the recipient of the President’s Core Values Medallion, the Ronald J. Davis Memorial Award, and the Herodotus Award for excellence in departmental work and service.
Courtney is currently working to expand her research and is in the process of writing an article for peer review publication. She is a candidate for a master’s in history at Providence College.