Presentation by Christine Jackson of Providence. Ms. Jackson will share stories, photos, and artifacts from her family, which descended from Bristol Underwood. He was an African American man enslaved on the Underwood Farm (later known as the Brazil Farm) on East Shore Road in Jamestown in the 18th century.
Bristol Underwood was born into slavery in 1773 to John and Clarissa Carr. Ownership of the enslaved family had passed between Quaker families to Benjamin Underwood, another Quaker. He was freed sometime after 1782.
Newspapers described Bristol Underwood as “a colored man of Herculean frame.” Contemporaries identified him alternatingly as Black, Negro, or "mulatto". After his death, his daughter revealed that Underwood's enslaved mother was Narragansett.
Christine Jackson traces Underwood's Indigenous and African American heritage within her family in Rhode Island.
The Jamestown Historical Society sponsored this event, which is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.