Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice

Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice

The Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice (Simmons Center) at Brown University is a scholarly research center with a public humanities mission. 

Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice

The Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice (Simmons Center) at Brown University is a scholarly research center with a public humanities mission. 

Recognizing that racial slavery was central to the historical formation of the Americas and the modern world, the Simmons Center creates a space for the interdisciplinary study of the historical forms of slavery while also examining how these legacies continue to shape our contemporary world.  

Crowd during commencementSince its inception in 2012, the Center has organized hundreds of public programs to examine issues of social justice and racial equality, including the impact of anti-black racism on our nation’s educational systems, and racial segregation and its persistent structural legacies. As well we have paid attention to issues around contemporary human trafficking. As part of its mission to examine the history and legacies of slavery in ways that engage a broad public, the Simmons Center has built a global network of scholars, museums, and universities. The Center has initiated joint projects with universities and museums around the world and fostered relationships with high school educators across the nation. Through its research, exhibitions, convenings, and curriculum, the Center has become a leading institution for understanding how slavery’s legacy directly impacts all of our lives, yet is “hidden in plain sight.”

Slavery and Justice Report - First Readings

The 2006 Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice made a deep and permanent contribution to historical scholarship on racial slavery in the Americas and transformed higher education’s engagement with its history of slavery. This digital edition features an interactive reading experience, an expanded set of historical documents, and an array of supplemental resources.

Read online here

Work of the Center

The Center's work is organized around a set of research clusters, projects, seminars, and public engagement initiatives that drive our scholarly and public humanities focus.

Exhibitions

Visit us in our renovated 19th century house, which includes a gallery exhibition space, the stunning glass wall art piece Rising to Freedom, and a Symbolic Slave Garden.

This Is America

Embedded within the American social, political, and economic systems are various forms of structural violences. The Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice's series This Is America explores how these structures and systems are rooted in anti-Black racism.

Recent News
News from the Simmons Center

PrYSM Collaboration Fall 2024

This past semester, as part of the Simmons Center’s Community Engagement Initiative and K–12 focus, we hosted Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM) in Norwood House as they held their annual fall training series. This year’s series was called Liberation 101 and was led by Suonriaksmay Keo (she/her/hers), the Youth Engagement Director of PrYSM.
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Brown Daily Herald

President Biden awards Ruth J. Simmons a National Humanities Medal

Simmons received the award for her accomplishments in higher education.

President Joe Biden presented former University President Ruth J. Simmons with the National Humanities Medal, an annual recognition of leaders in the humanities, during an Oct. 21 White House ceremony.

Simmons made history as the first African American woman president of an Ivy League institution when she served as Brown’s 18th president from 2001-2012. Simmons’ tenure at Brown and her work supporting equity in higher education were highlighted in a White House press release detailing honorees’ achievements.
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Providence Journal

Traci Picard’s Research Sheds Light on Forgotten History of Providence Building

When the Providence Preservation Society initially sought to sell a historic building in March, its past as the site of Providence's first newspaper and a boarding house was noted. However, there was no mention of the enslaved individuals who had lived and worked there. Traci Picard, Simmons Center Senior Research Assistant, was brought in to dig deeper into the building's history.

Picard's research revealed significant details, including that two generations of enslaved women, Ingow and her daughter Fanny, lived in the household. Her findings also dispelled the idea that the building's former owner, Carter, was an abolitionist.

Instead, Carter participated in the slave economy by printing flyers for runaway slaves while also publishing abolitionist materials, underscoring the complex relationship between business and slavery at the time. Now, with Picard’s 17-page report completed, the building is once again up for sale, but with a fuller understanding of its ties to slavery and its deeper historical significance.
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News from the Simmons Center

Introducing New Public Humanities Students

The Simmons Center is excited to welcome our first cohort of Public Humanities MA Students to campus in the fall of 2024. This cohort is expected to graduate in 2026.
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Newport This Week

Resurrecting a Historic House and Long-Neglected Black History

The Newport Historical Society (NHS) announced a $4.5 million capital campaign to restore Newport’s oldest colonial home and convert it to a museum de­voted to the region’s Black history. At an unveiling of plans for the 1697 Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, NHS board President Douglas Newhouse hailed the conversion as a project to share the history of African Americans in Newport that has gone untold for the most part. “No other place in New England or perhaps the whole country will tell this history the way we will here at this house,” he said as he made note of Newport being a hub of the slave trade from colo­nial times to the early 19th century.

Akeia de Barros Gomes, Simmons Center Adjunct Lecturer in Slavery and Justice, grew up in Newport and attended the city’s public schools. She said she is pleased that generations of ad­vocates would have their efforts rewarded with the conversion of the house to a museum of Black history. A member of the NHS board, Gomes has consulted on the Wan­ton Lyman-Hazard House project.
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