Season 2 of Slatersville documentary now complete: ‘Buried’ history in Episode 8 premieres on Labor Day

NORTH SMITHFIELD – In his documentary telling of 200 years of history of the first planned industrialized mill village in the United States, Director Christian de Rezendes has learned that some aspects of the past are easier to discuss than others.

Much of the series is marked by interviews of locals cheerfully recalling an idyllic childhood growing up in the village of Slatersville, where community life blossomed around the work life that tied everyone together at the Slatersville Mill.

And so we have the central concept – and conflict – that gives a title to Episode 8 of the award-winning series Slatersville, America’s First Mill Village: “The Power of Nostalgia.”

Nostalgia, notes one subject who speaks on the matter, has the power to wash memories clean, taking out the sorrow, pain and inequities to leave us with only a feeling of wistful fondness.

It is carefully, delicately and without judgement that de Rezendes delves, however, into the darker side of Slatersville’s past, reminding us that the experience of life in the mill village was not the same for everyone.

“Slatersville is representative of what society in the mill villages throughout the Blackstone Valley were like, racially and culturally,” said de Rezendes.

The episode is one of two that covers a period following World War II, an industrious era of American history marked by optimism and prosperity, where everyone knew their neighbors, and children could roam the streets without fear, at least until the lights came on and it was time to go home.

In Slatersville, residents lived in what the director describes as four distinct areas, based on religion, language, class and race.

Management and higher ups lived in homes along Green Street on what was then known as, “Governor’s Row,” stately buildings surrounded by open space, many of which remain standing today, whose residents faithfully attended the nearby Protestant church every Sunday.

Just down the hill along Main Street were the laborers, families of immigrants – mostly French Catholics who attended Saint John’s Church.

On School Street, tenement houses were occupied by a second group of immigrants in the village of Forestdale, known then as, “Portuguese alley.”

The members of these groups stuck mostly with their own, having not only different religious institutions, but also separate barbers, scouting troops and more. A single police officer maintained order between the factions, taking on the role part time for years while holding a second, full time job – at the mill, of course.

Further away on the outskirts of the village lived the Curliss family, known for decades as Slatersville’s only family of color.

de Rezendes tackles head on the racism that family encountered, showing maps, news articles and more that identified the dam just beside the Curliss homestead with a derogatory racial slur. Photos from the era show that minstrel shows were a popular form of entertainment at the time, where white actors costumed in black face mimicked African American culture.

Often held as fundraisers for a church, social group, scouting troop or fire department, minstrel shows in Slatersville were a frequent form of entertainment on the stage at Kendall Dean School throughout the 1950s.

For those who might be tempted to think that the shows were just innocent fun, understood within the context of the time, de Rezendes documents the history of the Ku Klux Klan in the region, with stories of a more secret past and of violent crimes brushed off at the time by local law enforcement. Some 8,000 people attended a KKK rally in Foster in the 1920s, and there’s evidence of many more such gatherings in and around the Blackstone Valley.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s pre-war New Deal improved life for many Americans, making housing more affordable, but also actively discouraged black families from living in white neighborhoods. Inequitable lending and hiring practices led to more segregation, and in 1949, more than two thirds of industrial firms in Rhode Island would not hire black people in any capacity.

Town native Arthur Curliss worked for decades as a clerk and record keeper at the Slatersville mill. At one point, he took a job at another nearby factory in hopes of increased wages, but was fired just a few months later after the owner visited the business and saw the color of his skin.

Even in 1960, when the population of North Smithfield had grown to around 7,600, only 30 residents identified themselves as non-white.

“If you were a kid growing up in Slatersville in the 1950s, you didn’t know any of this,” notes one narrator in Episode 8. “These stories were buried, and you lived inside this racially engineered bubble. Everyone else was white, just like you.”

Known as the region’s only black family, the Curlisses actually had a blend of black and Nipmuc ancestry, and for one member, fights over race were the daily norm. Football proved to be his saving grace after famed Burrillville Coach Tom Eccleston helped him overcome obstacles as a teenager, serving as his mentor.

de Rezendes tells the difficult tale with help from RI Black Storytellers and RI Slave History Medallions.

“I think it it goes into a dark history of the village that some people might rather have buried,” he said of the episode.

The topic of racism and cultural division leads to some uncomfortable moments captured in interviews with those who lived through the period. de Rezendes notes that the dam beside the Curliss home, identified even on official maps using the N-word, kept coming up during interviews – and then his subject would trail off or go silent.

“Other people didn’t know what to say, or would bring it up and than back away from it,” he said.

Once he decided to address the topic, “The general response was ‘do you really have to go there?'”

“It had to be covered,” said de Rezendes. “We have to – have to – explore the racism in the mill villages. It’s what’s going on around the mill. There was a ton of content around it. I’m just trying to show how life was at the time.”

In the sequence, it is Bruce Curliss who perhaps sums it up best.

“Let’s remember it’s a past,” Curliss says. “If we repeat it, then there’s a problem.”

Episode 8 includes footage taken in nine states, and segments of various interviews held between 1994 and 2024.

“Time was a huge factor in making the episode come together in one piece,” de Rezendes said. “As the series evolved, I slowly understood how to put all of this within the proper context.”

The dedicated time and focus is part of what makes both the episode and the larger series compelling – even to those without a particularly strong interest in history.

“The ultimate truth of it, for something this large, the audience needs to be pulled in with the same level of interest I had in making it,” said de Rezendes.

“I’m very happy with it,” he said of Episode 8. “I’m very proud of it.”

The episode exploring cultural divides is just one of three that now comprise season 2 of the series. Episodes 1 through 5 premiered on Rhode Island PBS in 2022 and this time, the North Smithfield-based filmmaker hopes to reach an even broader audience. While the information is not yet able to be released, de Rezendes said audiences can expect exciting news soon regarding where they’ll be able to view the full season.

In the meantime, Episode 8 will premiere on Monday, Sept. 2 at 3:30 p.m. at the Museum of Work & Culture at 42 South Main St. in Woonsocket. The event is free and open to the public, and those who hope to attend can reserve a seat here.

de Rezendes will also be in Whitinsville, Mass. on Saturday, August 17 and at Old Slater Mill in Pawtucket on Sunday, Sept. 1, showing short segments from episodes 7 and 6 at special events.