The Thirteenth Amendment: The Rhode Island Connection

Roger Williams University Faculty Dr. John Parillo and Dr. Debbie Mulligan will lead a lecture discussing Rhode Island’s role in the abolitionist movement and how passage of the Thirteenth Amendment impacted the state.

John Parrillo, an adjunct professor in the Department of History & American Studies, will discuss official Congressional documents of the 1780s that disclose the heroic efforts of Rhode Island’s David Howell and William Ellery as champions of abolitionism. Debra Mulligan, an associate professor in the Department of History and American Studies, will consider the motive for Rhode Island’s passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which on the one hand solidified the state’s social order, but on the other, set in motion the seeds for future discontent between the African-Americans and the Irish Catholic immigrants.

This is part of a series of Roger Williams University sponsored programs held in conjunction with the traveling exhibition: “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War” on display in the University Library from September 23 to October 31.

For more information on that exhibit, please visit http://library.rwu.edu/lib/events/lincoln-traveling-exhibit/.

When: October 1, 2014 at 4:30 p.m.

Where: Roger Williams University Library: Mary White Tefft Center

1 Old Ferry Road, Bristol, RI 02809

Cost: Free

More info: http://pdq.rwu.edu/events/thirteenth-amendment-rhode-island-connection