After taking a tour of historic College Hill given by Mr
Ray Rickman, I know I had to do my own research on these historic place and people. This area has always been an interest of mine. As I would stroll though the street looking and admiring these beautiful Victorian and Colonial homes, I would wonder who use to live there and what they were like.
As an African American, I wanted to know did they ever live in this erea. Well come to find out that there were quite a few. I wanted to know who they were.
One that has interest me first was, Mr Edward Mitchell Bannister.
He was born in Canada in 1828. His farther was black and his mother was white. He had a happy childhood until the death of his parents. Trying to make his own way he ended up in Boston in 1850,
He became a self taught artist at an early age. He lived in Boston, Mass. for some years and became apart of the Middle class community there. He was doing well in selling his art and married a fine business women named Christiana Carteaux. They married on June 10, 1857
This is a portrait done of her by her husband
Now, Christiana was born 1820 in Rhode Island. She was African American and Narragansett Indian.
This may have been why the couple moved to Providence, Rhode Island in 1870.
This lovely little home at 93 Benevolent was there home. Sad to say, today it is all boarded up sitting with no future. The couple never owned it right out and they had no children to inherit it.
One of this paintings, "Cows in Meadow"
Here in Providence, he was one of the founders of the Providence Art Club. In this photo you can see a silhouette of Mr Bannister on the wall.
Edward M Bannister (1828-1901)
After his death in 1901, the Providence Art Club created an exhibition of 101 of his paintings. Today, much of his work can be seen at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. and in Rhode Island at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design. In Providence, Rhode Island College's Art Gallery is named in his honor.
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