Stages of Freedom Offering Reward for Stolen Gravestone Plaque
A bronze plaque was stolen from the gravestone of Edward Mitchell Bannister, a nineteenth-century artist and one of the founders of the Providence Art Club.
Edward Mitchell Bannister’s gravestone in the North Burial Ground prior to the theft of the plaque. (Photo courtesy of Stages of Freedom)
A bronze plaque has been stolen from the North Burial Ground gravestone of one of Providence’s most celebrated citizens, and a local museum is offering a $5,000 reward for its return.
Stages of Freedom, a Providence organization that preserves local African American history and fundraises for swim lessons for youth of color, announced the theft Thursday afternoon. According to the organization, the theft was discovered this week, with the presumed motive to sell the metal for scrap.
“This is an unholy act, entering a sacred space and desecrating one of the city’s most important memorials to Black excellence,” says Ray Rickman, a former state lawmaker and executive director of the organization.
The plaque was placed in 1975 on Bannister’s grave in the North Burial Ground following a fundraising and design campaign led by Mahler B. Ryder, the first tenured Black professor at the Rhode Island School of Design. Bannister was born in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1828 and settled in Providence around 1870. He received acclaim for his paintings and was the first African American artist to win a national award for his painting, “Under the Oaks.” He was married to Christiana Carteaux Bannister, herself a prominent resident and business owner renowned for her activism and philanthropy. (Rhode Island Monthly’s Bannister Awards are named for Christiana Carteaux Bannister.)
In recent years, Edward Bannister’s legacy has been celebrated in Providence. Last fall, a group spearheaded by the Providence Art Club unveiled a statue of Bannister sketching by the Providence River. Stages of Freedom, founded by Rickman and Robb Dimmick, has frequently celebrated the legacy of the Bannisters and is planning a companion plaque dedicated to Christiana on the other side of the river.
The organization announced Thursday it is offering a reward of $5,000 for the safe return of Bannister’s gravestone plaque. According to Stages of Freedom, police and all scrap shops have been notified to be on the lookout for it. Anyone with information leading to the plaque’s recovery is asked to call 421-0606 or email stagesoffreedom@aol.com.
The gravestone without its plaque. (Photo courtesy of Stages of Freedom)
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