Nick Figueroa, who heads a committee seeking a change in the state name, at a news conference Wednesday.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

PROVIDENCE — Supporters of a plan that would give voters in next year’s general election the opportunity to strike the phrase “and Providence Plantations” from the state’s formal name, launched a public awareness and education campaign Wednesday.

The legislature still has not given final approval to bills that would place the question before voters statewide, although leaders say that approval is likely.Backers say there is much work to be done if they are to persuade Rhode Island voters that the word “plantations” conjures up enough negative images of the state’s involvement in the slave trade to warrant a name change.

“When I see that word ‘plantations,’ I start thinking about slavery. I start thinking about the injustices,” said Sen. Harold M. Metts, a Providence Democrat and a bill sponsor. “… It’s not about guilt. For me, it’s about healing.”

Metts stood in an East Side church basement Wednesday alongside House sponsor and fellow minority caucus member Joseph S. Almeida, and a small, but dedicated group of supporters and volunteers including local residents and representatives from the Urban League of Rhode Island and Progreso Latino, at a news conference to kick off their campaign.

Once a version of the legislation passes both chambers of the legislature, as Assembly leaders indicate is likely to happen when they return this summer, the coalition will unveil a Web site and begin raising the money needed to educate Rhode Islanders about the coming referendum.

Looking ahead, the group acknowledges it could face a tough fight. While the issue has received national media attention, it is hard to calculate the sentiment of voters in the Ocean State.

Defenders of “The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations” have stayed in the background, voicing their opposition mostly on talk radio and on a projo.com survey. But if the debate on the House floor was any indication, there have been hints of uneasiness. The House overwhelmingly passed a version of a bill authorizing the referendum, but several members said they didn’t ultimately plan to vote in favor of the change at the 2010 polls, conceding they supported the bill out of respect for Almeida.

Before incessant rain forced it indoors, Wednesday’s news conference was to be held next to the statue of Rhode Island founder Roger Williams in Prospect Park, a move meant to symbolize the melding of the state’s many histories.

The significance of the gesture was not lost.

“We do not dispute the fact that Roger Williams named this area Providence Plantations without malice,” said Nick Figueroa, a Providence resident who heads a voluntary committee working on the naming issue. But the word plantations, much like the symbol of the swastika –– once a religious symbol but better remembered for its association with the Nazi party –– has taken on an entirely different meaning, Figueroa submits.

Educating Rhode Islanders about such a sensitive issue will be a grass-roots effort, he and others acknowledge. The group has no funding as of yet, and no game plan for fundraising. Its Web site, www.voting4rhodeisland.org, isn’t expected to be functional until at least August.

Where it is short on money however, it is long on hope, and also on time. Advocates will have more than a year to get the word out.

“We’re not about changing history, we’re about adding to it,” said Almeida. “We’re saying not just blacks and Latinos but all people need to be proud of their state, never forget their history, but let some of their history go.”

cneedham@projo.com