The "Tide Taken at the Flood": The Black Suffrage Movement during the Dorr Rebellion in the State of Rhode Island (1841-1842)

This essay by Caleb Troy Horton provides a brief history of the African American community in Providence, Rhode Island, and its involvement in the Dorr Rebellion. The essay recounts the actions of the Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society, its members, and Rhode Island Black leaders—headquartered in Providence—during the conflict that ultimately, through their agency, granted Black men suffrage in the 1842 Rhode Island State Constitution (a.k.a. the Law and Order Constitution) enacted in May 1843.

Publication date: 29 June 2026