Dr. Henry Snow gave a talk on the afternoon of Wednesday, Nov. 19, about the significance of Black Americans in dock work prior to the American Revolution and their role in spurning the start of the war.
Snow’s talk, entitled “‘Posterity Will Curse My Memory’: Enslaved Sailors, Terrified Merchants, and the Making of Rhode Island’s Revolution,” was the third and final of a series of talks given in the basement of Walter Childs Wood Hall during the Fall 2025 semester. The free events were sponsored by the UConn History Department.
“The goal here basically is to look at the relationship between the Revolution and the abolition of the slave trade and ultimately slavery,” said Snow. “What I’m particularly interested in here is the relationship between revolution, abolition, and a mechanization, as interconnected labor development.”
Snow is an adjunct professor at UConn in the history department who received his Ph.D. from Rutgers. Snow has written two books, both of which are still in the publishing process. The second of those two books that will be released, “Enemies of Order: Labor and Power at the Atlantic Dockside,” was the focus of the lecture.
While the event was sparsely attended, with about 10 to 15 people in total, those who did show up stayed engaged throughout the entirety of the hour-long presentation.
Snow concisely moved through his information at a rapid pace. Topics that Snow touched on included Black people’s roles in revolutionary protesting as members of interracial groups, Black exploitation in dock work and how this impacted the Atlantic Slave Trade. A particular focus was placed on the town of Newport, R.I.
“Colonial Newport was not so much a space between land and sea as it was a part of the sea that happened to be dry enough for humans to inhabit it,” said Snow. He also mentioned the fact that Newport’s size meant that many different classes lived in close proximity to one another.
The only interruption came when a low power notification appeared on his slideshow. Minutes later, the computer that they were borrowing to display the slides ran out of battery.
“It said your battery is low, but I figured usually you have a little bit of time after that,” said Snow in a humorous tone as he and the organizers of the talk worked quickly to correct the problem.
It was smooth sailing after that, with Snow closing out his presentation with no further interruptions and proceeding to open the floor to questions.
“The important body of work on Black Americans’ presence in the revolution needs to be a foundation for new work analyzing their causal significance in it,” Snow said.