Welcome to the Neighborhood: Mapping Black Providence 1940s–1970s is the inaugural exhibition of the African American Museum of Rhode Island, tracing the vibrant community life Black Rhode Islanders built across Fox Point, Lippitt Hill, University Heights, and South Providence during one of the city's most consequential periods of growth and change. Between 1940 and 1970, Black residents created churches that doubled as meeting halls, clubs with names like Die Jungen Maedchen and the Irreproachable Beneficial Association, and recreational programs the city refused to provide. Drawing on the photographic archive of Omar Bradley and the meticulous records of groups such as the Providence Urban League, the exhibition offers an intimate, grounded portrait of Black community infrastructure at its most organized and alive. The exhibition highlights what Black Providence made on its own terms, from the ground up. Welcome to the Neighborhood invites visitors to look closely at that work, and to ask what we are building now.

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