Aboard the Fabre Line to Providence: Immigration to Rhode Island

In an era when immigration was at its peak, the Fabre Line offered the only transatlantic route to southern New England. One of its most important ports was in Providence, Rhode Island. Nearly eighty-four thousand immigrants were admitted to the country between the years 1911 and 1934. Almost one in nine of these individuals elected to settle in Rhode Island after landing in Providence, amounting to around eleven thousand new residents. Most of these immigrants were from Portugal and Italy, and the Fabre Line kept up a brisk and successful business. However, both the line and the families hoping for a new life faced major obstacles in the form of World War I, the immigration restriction laws of the 1920s, and the Great Depression. Join authors Patrick T. Conley and William J. Jennings Jr. as they chronicle the history of the Fabre Line and its role in bringing new residents to the Ocean State.

Patrick T. Conley holds an AB from Providence College, an MA and PhD from the University of Notre Dame with highest honors, and a JD from Suffolk University Law School. He has published twenty-five books and dozens of scholarly articles on history, law, ethnic studies, religion, real estate development and political science. William Jennings is a retired high school history teacher and volunteer at the Interpretation Department of Mystic Seaport. He is a member of the Rhode Island Historical Society and the Blackstone Valley Historical Society. He authored the article Coming to America: Immigration and the Fabre Line.