Ray Rickman

Background

About Ray Rickman

Ray Rickman is co-founder and Executive Director of Stages of Freedom, a nonprofit that teaches swimming to children of color and provides African American cultural programs to thousands of Rhode Islanders of all races. He is a former State Representative from the Brown University area of Providence and served as Rhode Island Deputy Secretary of State from to 2002, the highest office held by an African American in the state’s history. Among his many pieces of successful legislation was a bill to create the position of Rhode Island State Poet Laureate, and to name a bridge at the foot of the Capitol Building in honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He co-chaired the commission to place sculptures of Black philanthropist Christiana Carteux Bannister and White abolitionist Elizabeth Buffum Chace in the RI State House. As chair of the Dexter Commission, he oversaw the disbursement of to low-come Rhode Island groups which had never received funding. Rickman is also the cofounder of Shape Up RI, a wellness program that had over participants. He was also Founder and Chairman of Adopt-A-Doctor, a non-profit that paid the salaries of 21 medical doctors in West Africa for 10 years. Rickman was also head of Rickman Group, a diversity consulting firm from 2010-2018. He has given scores of lectures on diversity, racism, and slavery in the last two decades.