RI will vote on trimming longest-in-nation state name to cut association with slavery
RI will vote on trimming name to cut slavery tie
By RAY HENRY | Associated Press | Oct 28, 09 7:13 PM CDT in
US
Rhode Island voters will decide next year whether to shorten the state's longest-in-the-nation formal name because of its association with slavery.
House lawmakers approved a resolution Wednesday calling for a statewide referendum on whether to trim "Providence Plantations" from the state's official name. The vote will be held during the general election in November 2010.
Senate lawmakers earlier approved the legislation.
Officially, Rhode Island is called "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." Some African-Americans have argued that name conjures up painful images of slavery in a coastal state whose captains once grew wealthy off the slave trade.
Historians have argued the phrase "plantations" refers only to colonial settlements, not farms using slave labor.
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