The Brown family's connections to slavery and the slave trade are not just the focus of the University's ongoing historical inquiry - correspondence between brothers John and Moses Brown about slavery prompted one Los Angeles-based journalist to write a book about their relationship.
Last night, Charles Rappleye, author of "Sons of Providence: The Brown Bothers, the Slave Trade and the American Revolution," recounted a sibling rivalry he argues illustrates Rhode Island's debate over the slave trade in the era of the American Revolution.
A former editor of alternative news magazine LA Weekly and author of "All American Mafioso: The Johnny Roselli Story," Rappleye addressed community members and some students in Salomon 001 as part of the John Hazen White lecture series sponsored by the Taubman Center for Public Policy.
A drive past the historic Nightingale-Brown House on Benefit Street first sparked Rappleye's curiosity about the Brown family. Rappleye's brother, NBC 10 television news reporter Bill Rappleye, relayed the story of the Brown brothers and their opposite positions on slavery. While John Brown was involved in the slave trade, his abolitionist brother Moses sought to end the slave trade and slavery in Rhode Island.
Though the Brown family's ties to slavery would soon surface in the national media after the 2003 creation of the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, Rappleye said he was unaware of the University's own inquiry into the subject and signed his contract with Simon and Schuster one week before the committee was announced.
"When I first heard the story of the Brown brothers, I didn't know there was a slave trade (in Rhode Island), and I found it really fascinating," said Rappleye, who spent two years researching the book.
Despite the coincidental timing of the committee's creation and Rappleye's book deal, the two projects concentrate on distinctly different aspects of the Brown family's story. Instead of focusing on the University's ties to slavery, Rappleye's book examines the brothers' personal relationship.
"What I found most compelling was the story of two brothers, sharing the same background, same values and still coming down in two opposite poles over the issue of slavery," he said.
Rappleye described John Brown's associations with the slave trade as a "purposefully conscious legacy" and said a 1786 letter from John to Moses Brown demonstrated John Brown "clearly believed the slave trade was his best and only avenue" for paying off debts in Europe.
"If slavery was a moral crime, John Brown was certainly guilty," Rappleye said, though he added John Brown's investment in the slave trade was not unusual or particularly large in historical context.
"Were it not for his brother Moses, John's role in the slave trade would have been all but forgotten," he said, adding that Moses' efforts to end the slave trade in Rhode Island "ignited a heated rivalry" with his brother.
"It's hard to escape the notion that (John Brown's) motivation was more personal than political," Rappleye said as he detailed the brothers' competing efforts on the slavery issue. "(John) simply could not abide the idea that Moses would set the tone of moral discourse in Rhode Island."
But during the question-and-answer session, Rappleye faced pointed questions from some audience members skeptical about his research and decision to focus on the sibling rivalry.
Assistant Professor of History Seth Rockman, who has helped coordinate student research for the slavery and justice committee, said Rappleye's illustration of the Brown brothers' sibling rivalry as a driving force of the conflict over slavery in Rhode Island was limiting.
"Those aren't the facts that academic historians are interested in," Rockman said. "It's great he has this strong narrative and a great hook, but for academic historians interested in structures and in the complexity of human experience, (his explanation of sibling rivalry) wouldn't be accepted as viable or plausible."
But Rappleye said his book is not an exercise in historical scholarship.
"I'm a storyteller, I'm looking for stories that resonate with people," he told The Herald. He said he expects historians will respond to "a book like this" with criticism. Still, he urged readers to check his sources and verify that he knows what he's writing about.
Ray Rickman, a former state representative for College Hill and self-described amateur historian, said he helped Rappleye locate "hidden sources" for the book.
"I think he knows his stuff about the Brown family," Rickman said of Rappleye, "but that's as kind as I wish to be."
Moses Brown's writings suggest he held a more complicated view of blacks than Rappleye's talk might have suggested, Rickman said. "(Moses) didn't have a high view of black people," he said.
Three direct descendants of the Brown brothers sat in the audience and politely commented to each other about the speech. Angela Brown Fischer, who lives in Newport, said she had not read the book but found Rappleye's talk a fair account of the brothers' story.
Rappleye's lecture made only minimal reference to the slavery and justice committee and included little discussion of the University's history.
"I have to say, I tried to stay away from that," Rappleye told The Herald.
Though lectures on slavery and the University's founding family are typically sponsored by the slavery and justice committee, Darrell West, professor of political science and director of the Taubman Center, said Rappleye's book related to "public affairs," the focus of the White lectures.
Despite Rappleye's focus on the brothers, he said their story illustrates the complexity of slavery's history in early America and enriches broader discourse on the topic.
Referring to the content of past lectures sponsored by the committee, Rockman said, "I'll be darned if we haven't that conversation 15 times over."
