The John Brown House Museum — Attraction in Providence

The Benefit Street tour starts from the John Brown Museum. You have to book advance and it is a good way to find your way around the historic sites of Providence. Geographically, the tour covers a distance from about the middle of Benefit Street down to the northern end of the street; and historically it roams from the earliest settlers right up to the modern day. The history of Brown University, and the mega rich Brown family who set it up, are inevitably a big part of the story. The family patriarch John Brown features prominently and our guide didn’t shy away from Brown’s less than proud history of slave ownership. There’s also a visit to the Providence Athanaeum, site of some Edgar Allan Poe scandal, and a tour of the First Baptist Church of America, which looks exactly as you would hope a New England church to look. The tour does take a very long time and our teenager was getting a bit fed up at the end, but it was interesting and we...

The house isn’t simply a monument to an old white man and his family (and his class, gender, race, lifestyle) like I feared it would be. You can see that if you choose to. The home is objectively beautiful aside from its context, but as curated the museum was so much richer than that! Brown was placed within his larger cultural context, making for a deeply meaningful experience. I learned about his role in the triangle trade, the people who built the home and worked in it, about its subsequent ownership, and its role within the larger RI historic preservation community. The museum helped me to examine my role in the building of luxury homes and the cultural implications of it. I’m grateful for...

I unexpectedly enjoyed the John Brown House Museum. As a Black female, I ignorantly believed that I would feel uncomfortable or unwelcome. So far from the truth. It was fun reading the plaques under each exhibit and analyzing how those times connnected to the present or my own life. My favorite part was the section on John Brown's involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. I also thoroughly enjoyed the conversations the staff and I engaged in. They were able to answer any question I asked and extremely open to feedback on how they could continue to make the museum culturally appropriate for all. I recommend everyone...