What's in a name? Name change, memory-work, and symbolic resistance in Rhode Island

Rhode Islanders voted in 2020 to remove the phrase Providence Plantations from the state's official name despite overwhelmingly rejecting an identical ballot measure in 2010. Drawing on intersecting literatures on critical toponymies, memory-work, and issue framing, we argue that the 2020 ballot measure succeeded where the 2010 measure failed because of three interrelated factors. First, the ongoing memory-work of racial justice advocates in Rhode Island and beyond significantly altered the repertoire of acceptable narratives, images, and symbols available to Rhode Island's political elite between 2010 and 2020. Second, the intense Black Lives Matter protests in May and June 2020 represented a critical juncture that gave supportive Rhode Island politicians the opportunity to reintroduce the name-change ballot measure under the broader banner of reckoning with systemic racism in the United States. Finally, activists and supportive politicians learned from the mistakes of 2010 and in 2020 mounted a more organized public advocacy campaign framed around contemporary racial justice issues designed to persuade Rhode Island voters to adopt the name change.