God’s Little Acre: America’s Colonial African Cemetery preserving history in stone – Part 1

Have you ever heard of God’s Little Acre? Today you are in for a treat! In this episode of the World Footprints podcast, we have the privilege of interviewing Keith Stokes, advisor to the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society.

We met Keith in Newport, Rhode Island in a section of Newport’s Common Burial Ground known as “God’s Little Acre”—recognized as the oldest and largest colonial African burial grounds in the United States. Dating from the late 1600s, “God’s Little Acre” holds the graves of over 300 enslaved and free Africans and provides insights into their lives through the commemorative images and words etched into stone markers.

Keith takes us on a walk around the cemetery and keeps us captivated by the many underrepresented stories revealed by the stone markers.

“Slavery is how we got here. It tells you a little about who we are as a people.”

–Keith Stokes

This episode represents Part 1 of a two-part series.  

What You’ll Hear in this Episode:

[04:59] The Common Burying Ground [07:12] The beginnings of a benevolent society in Newport [11:08] Newport’s connection to the slave trade [13:58] God’s Little Acre is not the story of slavery [15:40] “History is about power” [17:44] Difference between markers of the enslaved and markers of free Africans [20:00] Who is Pompey Brenton? [21:18] Slavery in New England [24:27] Meaning behind the colonial names given enslaved Africans [26:04] Previewing Part 2 of God’s Little Acre podcast

Notable Quotes:

“The common burying ground represents possibly the earliest successful experiment of racial class integration in the Americans.”

“Slavery is not black history. Black history is how our ancestors survive and thrive despite slavery or what my grandmother told me as a boy. Slavery is how we got here.”

“This bearing ground here represents a testament of the survivability of African heritage people who arrived despite the worst circumstances put a place upon them.”

“History is about power. White folks, white institutions use history to justify the power that they either have, or they’re willing to seize and have. We need to use our black history as a sense of entitlement, power, and identity.”

 

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COVER: God’s Little Acre, the colonial African burial ground in Newport Rhode Island. Photo by Kenneth C. Zirkel CC 4.0