Women's history expert to speak at Jamestown library

In honor of Women's History Month, the Friends of Jamestown Library present author and University of Rhode Island history professor, Evelyn Savidge Sterne on Tuesday, March 18, at 7 p.m.

Professor Sterne will speak on the theme of her book, "Ballots and Bibles: Ethnic Politics and the Catholic Church in Providence."

By the mid-nineteenth century, Providence, an early industrial center, became a magnet for Catholic immigrants seeking jobs. The city created as a haven for Protestant dissenters was transformed by the arrival of Italian, Irish, and French-Canadian workers. By 1905, more than half of its population was Catholic. Rhode Island was the first state in the nation to have a Catholic majority. Civic leaders, for whom Protestantism was an essential component of American identity, systematically sought to exclude the city's Catholic immigrants from participation in public life, most flagrantly by restricting voting rights. Through her account of the newcomers' fight for political inclusion, Sterne offers a fresh perspective on the nationwide struggle to define American identity at the turn of the twentieth century.

This free program, sponsored by the Friends of the Library, will take place in the library's meeting hall, is for both teens and adults.