Discovering Thomas White: One Man's Flight from Slavery to Freedom on the Sea

Name: Discovering Thomas White: One Man's Flight from Slavery to Freedom on the Sea
Start: 2026-04-25T09:30:00-04:00
End: 2026-04-25T11:00:00-04:00
Location: Smith's Castle, North Kingstown

Cynthia Elder joins History Professor Charlotte Carrington-Farmer and student researcher Rachel Cabral from Roger Williams University for a presentation on the newly discovered narrative of Thomas White, who escaped from a life of slavery and found freedom on the seas as a ship's cook.

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Time & Location

Apr 25, 2026, 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM

Smith's Castle, North Kingstown, 55 Richard Smith Dr, North Kingstown, RI 02852, USA

About the event

To register for this event, visit the Smith's Castle website.

Hidden away for more than 150 years, a 40-page hand-stitched document was discovered on the back porch of a Barrington home two years ago. The words, written in fading ink from the 1800s, reveal the story of a 15-year-old boy named Thomas White who succeeded, against all odds, in emancipating himself from enslavement. Supported by a network of abolitionists between Maryland and Boston, he went on to become a ship's cook and travel the world. This document has been the focus of a continuing research effort to place Thomas White's story in context with the historical record and to seek out his living relatives, if they exist. This presentation will lift the curtain on Thomas' remarkable life and delve into the central research questions.

The speakers include:

Novelist and nonprofit leader Cynthia Elder, whose family found the document in her…

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