Article: What's in a name? Rhode Island is debating whether to change its official name, which reminds some residents of its slave-trading past.(NATIONAL)

Rhode Island's full name doesn't appear on its state flag or license plates. You won't see it on road maps or welcome signs. But the state's formal name--State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations--is a reminder for some residents of the state's prominent role in the slave trade.

Defenders of the name say that the word "plantation" did not have a negative connotation when Rhode Island was founded in 1636, and that it referred to the state's fanning settlements. But the colony's economy did thrive on the slave trade in its early years. In what was known as the triangle trade, Rhode Island imported molasses from the West Indies to distill into rum, traded the ...

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