Rhode Island History and Identity
Rhode Island is small, but it punches above its weight in history and identity. This page is an evolving hub for posts that explore how the Ocean State became itself: Indigenous roots, centuries of migration, industry and invention, faith and freedom, and the places where those stories still show up in plain sight.
If you are new here, you can also start with our list of places to go and things to see in Rhode Island, then come back and wander through the themes below.
Start Here: Founding, Freedom, and the Rhode Island Way
Rhode Island’s identity is shaped by choice, independence, and a long-running habit of doing things our own way. The best part is how those ideas echo in everyday places you can visit now.
Rhode Island in the Semiquincentennial
The Semiquincentennial marks 250 years since American independence. Rhode Island’s story reaches both earlier and further than 1776, from resistance and print culture to the May 4 Act of Renunciation and its long aftermath.
Explore the Rhode Island in the Semiquincentennial series →
Indigenous Roots and Living Continuity
Rhode Island history begins long before Rhode Island. Indigenous nations and communities continue to shape culture, stewardship, and identity across the state. This section centers continuity in the present, not only the past.
Migration, Neighborhoods, and the Rhode Island We Recognize
So much of Rhode Island identity lives in neighborhoods, family stories, and the places that anchor them. Sometimes history is grand. Sometimes it is a restaurant closing, a storefront changing hands, or a corner you can still picture exactly as it was.
Museums, Memory, and the Artifacts That Make History Feel Real
If you love the feeling of a tangible connection, this is your section. Rhode Island museums and historic collections hold the kind of details that make you stop and say, “Wait, that happened here?”
