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

Seeqan Sessions 2025: Light, Growth, and Preservation

April 24, 2025 | Mystic Seaport Museum
Evening program featuring the exhibition "Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea"
April 25–26, 2025 | Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center
Conversations around conservation: waterways, culture, and resilience

Seeqan is the season of rebirth and renewal. Across Pequot homelands and ancestral waters, it is the season when the herring return home, new life blooms, and light burns away the darkness. During Seeqan, we come together to share stories, celebrate possibility, and rededicate ourselves to the pursuit of a better future.

Seeqan Sessions: Light, Growth, and Preservation seeks to honor the promise of this Spring season by bringing together knowledge-bearers, scholars, advocates, artists, teachers, and youth from across the Dawnlands plus interested members of the public for conversation, connection, and community. This gathering will revolve around water, watersheds, and the oceans with exhibit tours, panel presentations, artist reflections, and discussions.

The central topic for this convening will be conservation: waterways, culture, and resilience.  Conservation involves the necessary pursuit of protection, preserving what we value for the next generations. It also can be a practice of exclusion, extraction, and division, reinforcing colonial constructs and systems of exploitative power. Together, we’ll explore the conservation of land and water, of history and art, of community and youth, and more through decolonizing methodologies.

Free and open to the public. Lunch and museum admission are included in your registration. This event is a co-organized convening of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center, Mystic Seaport Museum, and the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University.

Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center LogoMystic Seaport Museum LogoRuth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice logo

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Portions of the Seeqan Sessions events and participants may be captured by photography, video or audio and used for news or promotional purposes by the co-organizing institutions: the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center, Mystic Seaport Museum, and the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University.

Schedule

DAY ONE | Thursday, April 24

Mystic Seaport Museum | 75 Greenmanville Ave, Mystic, CT

Celebrate the start of Seeqan Sessions 2025 with an evening of performances, speakers, and exhibit tours

  
5:15 pmDoors Open
5:30–6:00 pmOpening Performance and Welcoming Remarks
Performance by Rashad Young
6:00–7:00 pm

Keynote Conversations
What does conservation—of culture, place, history, and the environment—look like in the Dawnlands today?

  • Dr. Akeia de Barros Gomes, Director, Newport Center for Black History at the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, Newport Historical Society
  • Lorén M. Spears, Executive Director, Tomaquag Museum 
7:00–8:30 pmReception and Exhibit Tours 
Attendees are encouraged to tour the special exhibition Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea and enjoy a reception with food by Chef Sherry Pocknett of Sly Fox Den.

DAY TWO | Friday, April 25

Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center | 110 Pequot Trail, Mashantucket, CT

  
8:45 am

Registration + Artist Fair Opens

  • Deborah Spears Moorehead – Seakonke Wampanoag
  • Quaiapen Perry – Narragansett
  • Allen Hazard – Narragansett
  • Jyaida Starr – Mashantucket Pequot
9:30 amOpening Performance and Welcoming Remarks
Performance by Jonathan James-Perry, Artist and Cultural Worker
Welcoming Remarks by Joshua Carter, Executive Director, Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center
10:00 am–Noon

Session 1 – Conserving History: Slavery and Institutional Reckoning
Institutions of Higher Education across the Dawnlands are continuing to grapple with the legacies of enslavement, occupation, and exclusion that permeate their past and present. Panelists will discuss their work to uplift truth-telling about enslavement at higher education institutions and celebrate the ever-present role of Black and Indigenous students, faculty, and staff have and will continue to play in shaping these institutions.

  • Jonathan James-Perry, Artist and Cultural Worker
  • Jim Peters, Executive Director Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs
  • St Clair "Brinky" Tucker, St. David's Islanders and Native Community

Moderated by Stephen Tucker, St. David's Islanders and Native Community

12:15–1:45 pmLunch + Conversation
Engage in conversation with fellow attendees over lunch in the cafe and explore the Museum. Don’t forget to visit the artist fair located in the Atrium.
2:00–4:00 pm

Session 2 – Conserving Creative Practice: Wampumpeag
The art of wampumpeag is one of the oldest continuous forms of artistic and cultural expression in the Dawnlands. Hear from contemporary artists about their creative practice and ongoing work to conserve the art of wampumpeag for future generations.

  • David Firearrow, Traditional Artist, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation
  • Allen Hazard, Wampum Artist and Woodworker
  • Stone Thomas, Wampum Artist, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation

Moderated by Joshua Carter, Executive Director, Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center

4:15–5:00 pmArtist Fair
Before you leave for the day, stop by to support fabulous, local, Indigenous artists.

DAY THREE | Saturday, April 26

Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center | 110 Pequot Trail, Mashantucket, CT

  
9:00 am

Registration + Artist Fair Opens

  • Deborah Spears Moorehead – Seakonke Wampanoag
  • Quaiapen Perry – Narragansett
  • Allen Hazard – Narragansett
  • Jyaida Starr – Mashantucket Pequot
9:45 amOpening Performance and Welcoming Remarks
Performance by the Yootay Singers
Welcoming Remarks by Joshua Carter, Executive Director, Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center
10:00 am–Noon

Session 3 – Conserving Waterways: Ocean Resiliency
Our waterways are sacred and need protection from commercial threats that would disrupt submerged homelands, native marine species, and our ability to continue cultural lifeways on the water. Panelists will discuss their work in ocean resiliency and marine conservation and emphasize opportunities for collaboration to conserve our sea.

  • Rahiem Eleazer, Environmental Liaison, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation
  • Bettina Washington, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe of Gay Head
  • David Weeden, Deputy Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe

Moderated by Michael Johnson, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation

12:15–1:45 pmLunch + Conversation
Engage in conversation with fellow attendees over lunch in the cafe and explore the Museum. Don’t forget to visit the artist fair located in the Atrium.
2:00–4:00 pm

Session 4 – Conserving Our Environment: Engaging Communities in Action
Broad collaboration within and between communities is needed to create and sustain environmental conservation successes. The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center will soon unite Tribes and non-Tribal conservation advocates within our bioregion. The Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed successfully engages communities, Tribes and youth in collaborative local relationships to help protect the future of the Mystic River watershed and its people.

  • Zbigniew Grabowski, Executive Director, Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed
  • Michael Thomas, Member of Board of Directors, Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center
  • Zoe Wu, Director and Secretary, Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed

Moderated by Maggie Favretti, Co-founder and Lead Director, Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed

4:15–5:00 pmClosing Remarks + Artist Fair
Closing Remarks by Anthony Bogues, Director, Simmons Center, Brown University
Before you leave for the day, stop by to support fabulous, local, Indigenous artists.

Register

Moderators

Speakers