A REMARKABLY POIGNANT event occurred earlier this month at a time and in a place that few anticipated.

After a daylong conference focusing on Samuel Slater and the rise of the mill village in the Blackstone Valley, presented by the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor and Slater Mill on Nov. 2, an evening reception was held at the newly restored Slaterville Mill.

Under the developer’s banner reading “Modern Living,” James T. Campbell, chairman of Brown University’s Slavery and Justice Committee, held a small group spellbound with his measured account of the critical connections between New England textiles and the infamous American slave trade.

Dr. Campbell began his talk by recounting the tragic voyage of the slave ship Sally, in 1764, commanded by Esek Hopkins and owned by the four Brown brothers, prominent Providence merchants.

There was nothing unusual about a slave ship departing Rhode Island, the professor noted. Rhode Islanders, in fact, dominated the North American share of the African slave trade, mounting over a thousand slave voyages in the century before the abolition of the trade in 1807, and scores more illegal voyages thereafter. The Sally’s voyage was deadlier than most, however, and at least 109 of the 196 Africans that Hopkins purchased on behalf of the Browns perished, some in failed insurrections, the balance through disease, suicide, and starvation.

After a day full of celebration paying homage to the genius of American technological innovation, Dr. Campbell provided a stunning context. Nowhere was New England’s continuing economic dependency on slavery more dramatic than in Rhode Island, which came to rely on the plantation South, not only as of source of raw materials, but also as a prime market for its goods.

In particular, Rhode Island textile manufacturers carved out a niche in the production of “negro cloth,” the cheap material sold to Southern plantations as clothing for slaves. Rhode Island manufacturers had also cornered the market for slave blankets, bagging (the sacks used to harvest cotton), and brogans (ill-fitting shoes provided for Southern slaves).

While the learned Brown professor certainly knew it, he chose not to mention that Slatersville represented a massive state-of-the-art mill village that amassed a fortune specializing in the intentionally degrading “negro cloth.”

As Dr. Campbell continued to outline the ways in which the rise of New England mills went hand in hand with the bourgeoning interests of Rhode Island slave traders, he could not have realized the impact his words had on those who wished to keep these events separate.

The Industrial Revolution’s origin story in Pawtucket is currently undergoing a renewal process of its own. Getting our history correct represents a critical part of building new communities in the shadows of our darkened industrial heritage. Even a cursory look back suggests a far more complex past than is commonly acknowledged. Although Pawtucket was certainly not a vacuum when Samuel Slater arrived here with his primary investor, Moses Brown, to capture the water power, nothing after their arrival stayed the same.

Environmentally, socially, and politically, the city and the entire Blackstone Valley became permanently affixed to a brutal global pursuit that would forever define its own standing.

While there are those who would wish to sidestep the Blackstone Valley’s connection to a rampant slave and drug trade (rum), the truth is that this admission represents an essential first step. The mindset that fostered the growth of African slavery marks an important starting point to understand the class and cultural conditions established throughout the Valley and beyond. It was a model that did not hesitate to exploit children or to find new forms of social control, as in the isolated mill town of Slatersville.

America’s Industrial Revolution might have begun within a few miles of Providence’s elites, but there was never the intention to extend their privileged world onto the banks of the Blackstone. A different history would unfold here, and we are not yet in a position to fully grasp the responsibility for unintended consequences. As we continue to grapple with the story of our own backyard, we are uncertain about what we are celebrating, and whom.

As dispassionate as Dr. Campbell was during the formal part of his presentation, his closing comments shook the room. As if uncertain of the true significance of his invitation to speak to a group heralding the singular genius of Slater, he congratulated the gatherers for their acknowledgment of history.

This might seem entirely unnecessary since historical scholarship has long drawn the important connection between “the lords of the lash and the lords of the loom.” Yet the Slavery and Justice Committee was not content with a review of Rhode Island’s slave-trading history. Equally important to its study were the ways in which contemporary society deals with past wrongs.

His praise for those who organized the event and insisted on his inclusion suggests that Pawtucket and the Blackstone Valley were exceptional in their truth seeking. Reconciling our proudest accomplishments with the human cost they entailed took a giant leap forward on a night no one expected, and in a place where ancient wrongs give way, not only to modern living, but also to modern understanding.

Richard Kazarian Jr. is a historian and art and antiques dealer who lives in Pawtucket.