By Kelly Ding
Senior Staff Writer | The Brown Daily Herald
March 3, 2026 | 3:36am EST
The exhibit is on display at the R.I. State House until March 22
On display at the Rhode Island State House through March 22, the “Owning Our History” exhibit focused on the history of slavery at the First Unitarian Church of Providence draws on the book-length report, “A Church in a Triangle,” written by Rev. Peter Laarman ’70 and Traci Picard MA’23.
Rev. Elizabeth Lerner Maclay, a minister at the First Unitarian Church of Providence who spoke at the exhibit’s March 2 reception, said the church started having conversations about its historical involvement with slavery leading up to the institution’s 300th anniversary.
According to Maclay, “nobody knew about the church’s history in regards to race and slavery, and that was an unacceptable situation.” She called this gap a “big, empty spot of (the) church’s identity.”
