Atlantic Voices in Colonial Newport: Rethinking Trade, Religion, and Culture in Early North America

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US we will begin the public component of this afternoon with the multilingual letters found at the Newport Historical Society, one in English, Spanish, and Portuguese in an effort to think of all of these languages as early American languages.

In dialogue with the Pell Center’s mission of upholding democracy, and complicating the narratives of what is early America, we are hosting a panel discussion to consider the influence of Aaron Lopez in context with colonial New England and specifically Newport, his contact with the transatlantic triangle trade, as slave trader, and Sephardic Jew who was denied naturalization in RI due to his religious identity. We will put this in context with the broader dynamics of the western Sephardic Diaspora from Newport, Portugal, the Caribbean, Africa, and Amsterdam. 

Panelists include:

Gabriel Rocha, Brown University

Oren Okhovat, Yale University

Emily Colbert Cairns , Salve Regina University

Dan Syndacker, PhD Johns Hopkins

Isabella Meier, Salve Regina class of '27

Joseph Weisberg, Brandeis University

Please note: This program is available both in-person and virtually. When registering, be sure to select the appropriate ticket option.