1. Rhode Island was the last of the original Thirteen Colonies to ratify the U.S. Constitution. On November 20, 1789, Rhode Island finally voted to approve the Constitution, thus joining the newly formed United States of America.

2. The first African-American bishop in the Catholic Church, James Augustine Healy, was born in Macon, Georgia on November 20, 1830. Healy would go on to become Bishop of Portland, Maine in 1875 and served until his death in 1900.

3. On November 20, 1910, the Providence Steam Roller football team played their very first game at the Dexter Training Grounds in Providence, Rhode Island. The Steam Roller would go on to win several championships throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

4. In 1923, the Diocese of Providence was established, with Matthew Harkins serving as its first bishop. The Diocese encompasses all of Rhode Island and includes over 140 parishes and missions.

5. On November 20, 1989, the Rhode Island Supreme Court ruled that the state's ban on same-sex marriage was constitutional. It would take another 24 years, until 2013, for Rhode Island to become the 10th state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage.