Gilded Age Newport in Color Exhibition

“Gilded Age Newport in Color” at Rosecliff is taking visitors back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries when African heritage families were active members of a new type of urban setting – the resort community.

The exhibition explores an important chapter in American history when African heritage families could unite and promote their economic and social well-being through self-reliance, entrepreneurism, political advancement and cultural interchange,” says Theresa “Soni” Guzmán Stokes, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society. “Rhode Island’s Black Heritage Society has drawn from its over 9,000 linear feet of collections representing an African heritage experience that dramatically marks African heritage excellence. As best described by Booker T. Washington, America’s leading civil rights advocate of the Gilded Age, ‘Success always leaves footprints.'”