The Preservation Society of Newport County, in partnership with the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, is proud to present the exhibition "Gilded Age Newport in Color" taking visitors back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries when African heritage families were active members of a new type of urban setting - the resort community.
Newport's earliest African heritage doctors, dentists, teachers, hospitality entrepreneurs and elected officials appeared during the Gilded Age. Visitors will learn how African heritage entrepreneurs leveraged their commercial enterprises to promote economic security and advance their political interests by hosting numerous African heritage social and political gatherings that ran the broad spectrum of political rallies and became the foundation for the later 20th-century civil rights movements. Additionally, these entrepreneurs built wealth to invest in and advance civic, recreational, social and political interests for all people of color.
On view at Rosecliff March 15 to June 30, 2024.