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"LIFE AND TIMES DURING R&B ERA:  THE RI EMANCIPATION DAY CELEBRATION

 By Ed Coates, ED.D, Oral Historian

 

     August is fast approaching. For the RI Rhythm & Blues Preservation Society the month is a time to observe the state designation of the month of August as the RI R&B heritage month and to recognize the traditional August 1st  Rhode Island  Emancipation Day. During the R&B era in the state, Classic R&B played a significant role in the local celebration of the Emancipation proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 3, 1862.

 

In 2010, this day is a largely forgotten special day in RI that was traditionally celebrated by local Americans of African descent (Blacks) with a blues music filled picnic comprised of a coalition of church congregations on/about August 1^st each year leading up to and during the R&B era. Completely unrelated to the Emancipation Day celebrations held in Providence by various groups from the Caribbean islands, the local celebration was a church inspired event held at available recreation areas around the state and nearby Massachusetts until the late 50s.

 

During my childhood some 78 years ago, Emancipation Day in RI was a very special day in the Black Community. This was the day the community celebrated the spirit of living free in an anti-slavery state with a family picnic sponsored by the local churches.

 

Although it is unclear as to the actual day of the first celebration, it was an annual event that appeared to be linked to the first recorded Emancipation day in the state that dates back to August 4, 1849.  According to the “Daily Transcript and Free Soil Advocate” found by the State of RI Historical Preservation Heritage Commission, “the proceedings of the day cannot fail to give new impulse to the spirit of anti-slavery among our Colored citizens”.  This “spirit” was passed on from generation to generation under the American flag, in the form of a family picnic after church on Sunday each year to celebrate the day. These picnics swelled over time into an annual neighborhood church event, and eventually blossomed into a statewide event organized by a group of churches in Providence every year. The RI Emancipation day celebration became a vibrant tradition.

 

The tradition was reinforced when the RI General Assembly passed the Negro Emancipation Act in 1784.  This act “freed children of slaves when men became 21 and women 18”.  However, it was the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln and issued on January 1, 1863 that elevated the tradition to the level of a badge of honor. Black families living in RI chose over time to embrace in the celebration even more so after the 1863 Proclamation was signed. However, for reasons unclear, a decision was made to keep the month but change the day of celebration from August 4^th to August 1^st, or on the Sunday as close to August 1st as possible.  According to the story passed on from my ancestors, January was “just too cold to have picnics”.

 

Although Emancipation Day was never declared an official RI state holiday, the day was traditionally observed and celebrated like a holiday by the local Black Community at picnic grounds and later amusement parks that had picnic grounds and a dance hall.  The celebration was a happy, exciting and highly anticipated annual event that provided plenty of socializing, food, fun, gospel singing, music and dancing for the adults. 

 

As the event became more organized over time, Black churches around the state usually coordinated and met in Providence at one church like the historic Congdon Street Baptist Church (Founded in 1874). From there they would depart to the selected park for the day using various forms of transportation available at the time. The selected park was usually Crescent Amusement Park in Riverside RI, built in 1895. Crescent Park, famous for its Alhambra Ballroom and shore dinner hall with its clam cakes, chowder and watermelon, was the most popular destination for the event. The Ballroom would jump to live music from sun down to the late evening. The music was played by jump blues big bands and the R&B bands during the era. Emancipation Day helped to keep the classic music alive.  One location used in the early 1800s was the Mashapaug Pond “Grove” in West Elmwood. Other lesser used locations  after 1895 was the short lived Vanity Fair amusement Park, Riverside, RI, Rocky Point, Goddard Park and Lincoln Park in Dartmouth, MA.

 

As the Black population and culture in RI became an unintended casualty of the

 Diversity movement starting around the 60s, so began the death of a 159 year old local Black tradition in celebrating the day and the valuable role it played in promoting and preserving the blues music art form in the state.

 

It is because of the strong root that exists between R&B and the local Emancipation day celebration that RIRBPS chooses to recognize annually, the unique local tradition, its connection to the R&B heritage and its cultural contribution, before this very special day and its history is rewritten and completely forgotten.

 

 

LONNIE GASPERINNI:

 

Photographer Unknown