Robert A. Geake is a public historian and the author of fifteen books on Rhode Island and New England history, including From Slaves to Soldiers: The First Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution. Other books include A History of the Narragansett Tribe: Keepers of the Bay, Native and New Americans, New England’s Citizen Soldiers: Mariners and Minutemen, Fired A Gun at the Rising of the Sun: The Journal of Noah Robinson of Attleboro in the Revolutionary War, and a work in progress to be titled The Battle Off The Field in the American Revolution.
The author and historian has had the privilege of participating in the symposium at Valley Forge entitled African Americans in the Philadelphia Campaign and the Valley Forge Encampment of 1777-1778 sponsored by the Valley Forge National Park Service (NPS) and The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). He has also given his presentation “In League with Liberty: The Persistence of Patriots of Color and the Formation of the Black Regiment in the Continental Line” to libraries and historical societies, including the Institute of the American Revolution in Washington, D.C. Most recently he completed an extensive timeline of the formation and service of the First Rhode Island Regiment for the Battle of Rhode Island Association’s website:https://battleofrhodeisland.org/highlights-of-the-timeline-of-the-1st-rhode-island-regiment/
Mr. Geake served two terms as President of The Cocumscussoc Association which maintains Smith’s Castle, an historic house museum in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, and continues as Chair of the Association’s Education Committee. While chair of that committee, adult educational programs began and were expanded to include the seminars “Roger Was Here” in 2019, which brought scholars on Roger Williams together to discuss his life and legacy, and “Anchored in Rhode Island: The Slave Trade and Reckoning with Our Past”, held in 2023.
He also serves on the advisory board of the Rhode Island Slave History Medallion project, and was responsible in organizing the effort to place a medallion on the grounds of Smith’s Castle.
As a public historian, Mr. Geake is a contributor to the blogs smallstatebighistory.com, rifootprints.com, and most recently, The Cocumscussoc Review on smithscastle.org. His essay on Rhode Island and The American Revolution is among those contributed to EnCompass, online tutorials for the Rhode Island Historical Society and the Rhode Island Department of Education.
