US cathedral may become museum to the slave trade

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Episcopalians in Rhode Island are planning to open what would be the nation's only museum centered on the trans-Atlantic slave trade, with a focus on the church's role in its history and the sometimes-buried legacy of slavery in Northern states.

The museum is planned for the Cathedral of St. John, a now-closed church where slaves once worshipped. Rhode Island was the starting point for 1,000 slave-trading voyages, 60 percent of the total launched from North America.

Bishop Nicholas Knisely (NEYZ'-lee) says there hasn't been enough attention on the role of the church and the North in slavery.

The diocese is working with descendants of a prolific slave-trading family and Brown University, which has grappled with its own connection to slavery.