Overview

The Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice (Simmons Center) is looking to hire creative and energetic Public Humanities Intern for the Spring, Summer, and Fall (with the potential to continue in the following year). The Simmons Center is a scholarly research center with a public humanities mission. Our work is focused on projects and research clusters that examine the history and legacies of the racial slave trade.

Responsibilities

Public Humanities Interns are primarily responsible for serving in two roles: as Slavery and Legacies Walking Tour Guides and as Caretakers for the Symbolic Garden of the Enslaved. More information about each of these projects is below. Additionally, the Interns will assist Simmons Center Staff with administrative needs and other projects as assigned. This may include helping to prepare for and run community outreach and education programs; supporting event planning; and outreach for Simmons Center programs and events. 

Symbolic Garden of the Enslaved

In small spaces beside their cabins and huts on the plantation, along marginalized hillsides, in swamps, gullies, and forests, and in outdoor sanctuaries created to honor their dead and contemplate that ancestrality, enslaved Africans and their descendants throughout the Americas “stole” back their own time and labor in snatches of the night, on Sundays or “holidays,” to plant garden plots of use, beauty, and spiritual and physical refuge. The Simmons Center’s Symbolic Garden of the Enslaved designed by Prof. Geri Augusto draws on that history to render imaginatively a small part of what the slaves knew and wrought, and what they might have thought as they created new landscapes against all odds. It is a work of cognitive justice and contemplation.

Garden Caretakers meet around once per week with Simmons Center Staff to learn about and plan for the physical and intellectual maintenance and growth of the Symbolic Garden of the Enslaved and associated programming. During warmer months, work also includes providing regular physical care for the garden including weeding, planting, watering, monitoring for pests, whitewashing the garden wall, refreshing the dikenga, and helping with other improvements and general upkeep as assigned.

Caretakers are also involved with creating in-garden, print, and digital documentation about the garden. They also both plan and participate in giving talks and organizing public programming about the garden as a public memorial space on campus.

Slavery & Legacies Walking Tours

Walking Tour Guides undergo paid training on the Simmons Center’s Slavery & Legacy Walking Tour which explores the histories of Brown University and the State of Rhode Island, and their roles in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. These tours encourage critical thinking about university and state histories among K–12 students, college students, and adult groups.

Guides are responsible for preparing for and leading Slavery & Legacy Walking Tours, fulfilling requests for private tours as well as leading regularly scheduled community tours, particularly during Commencement and Family Weekends.

Guides are expected to familiarize themselves with the tour's scope and facilitate discussions with visitors based on their knowledge of topics related to the tour, including advancing questions about historical understanding and social justice connected to the legacies of the racial slave trade. For more information about these tours, interested students can visit https://simmonscenter.brown.edu/work-center/public-engagement-and-education/slavery-and-legacy-walking-tour.

Qualifications

Strong written and verbal communication skills, very organized and self-motivated. Past experience and/or interest in public speaking and learning about plants and gardening required. Background in one or more of the following preferred: Africana Studies, History, Native American and Indigenous Studies, Education, Environmental Studies.

Additional information

The position will work 10 hours per week during the academic year and either half-time (18–20 hours/week) or full-time (37.5 hours/week) during the summer. Successful candidates will be able to commit to working Spring, Summer and Fall for the year with the option to take 1–2 weeks of vacation time off at the beginning or end of the summer.

This position is a student worker grade E and the starting salary is $16/hr.

Please upload both a resume and a cover letter to complete your application. Your cover letter should indicate why you are interested in the position, what experience you bring to the work, and how the position will help you in your academic and/or career goals. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

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