Plantation Built: Slave Shipping in Eighteenth-Century Rhode Island

This project is part of Shaheen’s broader dissertation, which aims to uncover how the transatlantic African slave trade shaped both the shoreline and urban plan of port cities on the Atlantic periphery. Though most port cities of the early modern and colonial period included a similar suite of features including fortifications, wharves, and storage facilities, each city’s architectural emphasis was determined by their particular investment into the slave trade. Newport, RI’s continental preeminence in slave ship building manifested in their economy and built environment. This project looks at the remaining elements to better situate the US within the global network.