Newport Gardner's Anthem: A Story of Slavery, Struggle, and Survival in Early America

by Edward E. Andrews, Brian P. Craig (Narrator)

Newport Gardner's Anthem explores the remarkable life of Occramer Marycoo, an enslaved African who went on to become one of early America's most important Black leaders. In the mid-eighteenth century, Marycoo was taken from West Africa to Newport, Rhode Island, where he was forced into racial bondage and given a name that symbolized the power that his new city and new enslaver held over Newport Gardner. In this powerful book, Edward E. Andrews pieces together newspaper articles, church records, letters, and Gardner's own writings to tell the story of his life.

After acquiring his freedom via a winning lottery ticket in 1791, Gardner became a kind of Founding Father for Newport's free Black community. He established and led several Black benevolent organizations that helped the community navigate the complicated waters of freedom as Rhode Island slowly began the process of emancipation. He became a popular educator to young Black Newporters, and also emerged as a key religious figure, serving as a long-standing pillar of Newport's First Congregational Church and later founding an independent Black church in the 1820s. His final act was leading a group of about three dozen Black New Englanders to Liberia, in hopes that a new start in Africa would be better than the discrimination they faced in America.

A richly textured account, Newport Gardner's Anthem tells the story of a forgotten Black leader while exploring the new, but tragically limited, opportunities for formerly enslaved people in the post-Revolutionary world.

1 pages, Audio CD

Published October 21, 2025

Reviews

[Michael Dean Edwards]

Edward E. Andrews has written an outstanding example of how history is written. I find little of even minor mention depicting any shortcomings. Even the brief overview of Native American slavery finds its place. This study of the surviving context and patterns of life for young Africans facing the Middle Passage and a lifetime of bondage as Chattel, as slaves, in the major port for the slave trade in the American colonies.
Newport Garner’s story represents the highest traditions of storytelling. Outststanding, informative, and effective as history for New England and Rhode Island’s roles in forging the end of the British colonial pperiod and the early days of the American Republic.
Five Stars ***** for Newport Gardner’s Anthem by Edward E. Andrews, with great narration by Brian P. Craig for the audio book.

[Sarah]

I learned a lot. The telling would've benefited from a bit more editing--it got somewhat repetitive.