Downtown Providence in Providence County, Rhode Island — The American Northeast (New England)
Styles
Styles remembers being a child in Wakefield, growing up in a small cottage near the ocean, with an outhouse at the back and a fire burning in the pot-bellied stove. He and his cousins would ride in the back of his grandfather's truck to Narragansett Beach, or run through the woods to dive into a fresh-water pond. It wasn't until he moved to Providence, in fourth or fifth grade, that he realized he was a Narragansett Indian. "When you're a kid you're just growing up. You don't know nothing about whether you're this or that." When he enrolled in school he was asked: What are you — Italian? Irish? He had to ask his parents how to answer the teachers' questions. "I didn't know what they were talking about."
He got through high school and went to trade school, learning to plaster and do drywall. He had a son. Now sixty years old, he lives in a small apartment in the North End, which he shares with two roommates.
Erected by The City of Providence Department of Art, Culture and Tourism.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Indigenous Peoples and Communities.
Location. 41° 49.34′ N,
this page online
Regionally, this marker is in Rhode Island’s Blackstone Valley and on Narragansett Bay. It is also in the American Northeast and in New England. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once one of the original Thirteen Colonies.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this location: Annye (within shouting distance of this marker); Veterans Memorial (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Chinatown on Empire (about 500 feet away); Fountain Street (about 500 feet away); Garden of Journey (about 600 feet away); First Universalist Church
More about this marker. Unfortunately, the marker has been defaced.
Credits. This page was last revised on February 8, 2023. It was originally submitted on June 21, 2020, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 179 times since then and 11 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on June 21, 2020, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
