Newport Gardner's Anthem

Newport Gardner's Anthem unveils the extraordinary journey of Occramer Marycoo, an enslaved African who transformed into a pivotal leader in early America. Captured from West Africa and forced into bondage in Newport, Rhode Island, Marycoo—renamed Newport Gardner—eventually secured his freedom through a lottery win in 1791. As an educator and prominent religious figure, he greatly influenced Newport's free Black community, establishing an independent Black church and assisting a group of New Englanders in their emigration to Liberia. Through a meticulous assembly of historical documents, Edward E. Andrews illuminates the life of this overlooked leader and the limited opportunities facing formerly enslaved individuals in the post-Revolutionary era.