Simmons Center Faculty Advisory Board Member and Social Sciences Professor, Juliet Hooker, gave a recent lecture as part of the John Hopkins “'You Have Never Known Me’: Terrell and Du Bois on Faithful Slave Monuments” event. The event was part of the Center for Africana Studies’ “Mute But Eloquent”: The Civic Work of Monuments Lectures Series. As a political theorist, Hooker provided insight into historical examples of Black resistance from writings to the Civil Rights Movements and the building of Slave Monuments. This article dives into Professor Hooker's main points and some listener remarks.

Timothy Ro provides background on the making of the Simmons Center Exhibition "Innocent Knowledge" on display until February 20. Ro examines how a gap year led to the exhibition of 62 of the 363 collected children's drawings depicting the violence experienced across Israel, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

In this talk, Prof. Anthony Bogues attempted to tease out some features of a new conjuncture that requires we must first observe that we live in a tumultuous world and then recognize how the frames of politics and human life have rapidly shifted to incorporate older forms of domination. Working from the frame of an African and African Diaspora critical tradition, Bogues discussed the ways violence has morphed into power and how new death-worlds are being created in the present.

Visiting Scholar and Adjunct Lecturer at the Brown University Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, Dr. Akeia de Barros Gomes, is returning to her hometown to speak on Feb. 26 at the Middleton, RI Public Library. Before her talk about her current work and its relations to her home, de Barros Gomes reflects on the upbringing that led her to her work.

Lynn Holstein reviews the "Innocent Knowledge" exhibition curated by Brown students Canaan Estes, Taher Vahanvaty, and Professor Katarina Galor, on view at the Simmons Center in January and February 2026.

In the autumn of 2025, Professor Anthony Bogues delivered a lecture entitled “Illiberalism, war, violence and authoritarianism: the current conjuncture” as a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Two research scholars sat back down with Bogues to further expand upon his proposal that the present conjuncture is a combination of how humans and life have been configured.

We're thrilled to shine a light on Robert Farizer, a dedicated caretaker of the Simmons Center garden for the past decade. As Robert embarks on his retirement after 22 years working at Brown, we thank him for his dedication to the Simmons Center and wish him all the best in the years ahead.

The summer after her sophomore year at Pomona College, Elena Shih ’04 interned as a Mandarin-language legal intake counselor with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles.
That experience—made possible by the Pomona College Internship Program (PCIP)—changed her life.

Reina Thomas develops and leads programs that connect RI high school students, educators, and the public with the Simmons Center's scholarship and resources. A Brown MAT graduate, her deep background in education and her passion for equity are key to the success of her work, which includes programs like the Black and Indigenous High School Summer Institute (BIHSI), MET in the Text, and The Teach-Ins.

Indigenous slavery in New England was widespread in the 17th century, with Native people captured during conflicts, separated from their communities, and sold both locally and across the Atlantic. Many were sent to places such as Bermuda, the Bahamas, Spain, and Portugal, where their identities were often erased through mislabeling and the loss of names, tribal affiliations, and cultural markers. Oral histories preserved by descendants later helped reconnect families separated for centuries, revealing ties between Native communities in the Northeast and island populations in Bermuda. Current tribal members and researchers continue to document this history through collaborative archival work, reconstructing the scale of Native enslavement and its long-term effects on displacement, identity, and cultural continuity. The reporting draws on research from Lin Fisher, a Stolen Relations Project Research Cluster Faculty Fellow at the Simmons Center, whose work documents the often overlooked history of Indigenous enslavement in New England and beyond.

Ellison “Tarzan” Brown, a Narragansett runner from Rhode Island, rose to prominence in the 1930s through his record-setting marathon performances. His athletic achievements brought significant visibility to the Narragansett Tribe at a time when official policies and records attempted to erase Indigenous identities. Brown’s story highlights longstanding Native running traditions, the impact of racial discrimination in New England, and the role his victories played in countering “paper genocide” and affirming the continued presence of the Narragansett people. His legacy endures through annual races held in his honor and the broader recognition of Indigenous resilience in the region. The story highlights analysis by Mack Scott, a Visiting Assistant Professor of Slavery and Justice at the Simmons Center, who provides historical context on Tarzan Brown’s impact and the visibility it brought to the Narragansett Tribe.

Native communities in southern New England maintain a longstanding spiritual and cultural connection to their ancestral lands, rooted in traditions of stewardship, hunting, and communal responsibility. Their history includes profound disruptions caused by colonization, including disease, warfare, enslavement, and the systematic erasure of Native identity from official records. Events such as the Pequot War and Mystic Massacre illustrate these impacts. Today, Narragansett, Mashantucket Pequot, and other tribal members continue working to preserve culture, reclaim historical narratives, and uphold the resilience and continuity of Indigenous life in the region. Mack Scott, Visiting Assistant Professor of Slavery and Justice at the Simmons Center, powerfully reflects, “when I was in school, they told us that the Narragansett didn’t exist… and my grandmother’s at home, right? My mother’s there. I know that we exist, but the idea is that we don’t.”

Opening November 15 at Overlap Gallery, "Forging Freedom: Atlantic Journeys" brings together ten contemporary artists to explore Black and Indigenous histories of freedom-making across the Atlantic world. Curated by Simmons Center Adjunct Lecturer in Slavery and Justice Dr. Akeia de Barros Gomes, director of the Newport Historical Society’s Edward W. Kane and Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History, the show reclaims untold stories through art, creativity, and community. The Center for Black History is set to open on Juneteenth 2026. The exhibition runs through December 20, with a curator talk on December 6 at 5pm.

Now on view at the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, the Unfinished Conversation Series exhibition invites visitors to engage with stories from descendants of the enslaved and colonized. Drawing from a global archive of more than 150 interviews recorded across eight countries, the project sheds light on how the enduring impacts of slavery and colonialism continue to shape lives today.

At Brown University, Ph.D. Simmons Center Race, Slavery, Colonialism and Capitalism Graduate Fellow Arlin Hill is reimagining how culture, power, and identity intertwine. Drawing on the Black Radical Tradition and inspired by thinkers like Sylvia Wynter and Cedric Robinson, Hill examines how colonial assumptions embedded in Western thought shape behavior and self-perception. His work bridges disciplines to uncover the deep connections between race, gender, and capitalism — and to imagine new modes of resistance. Through public panels and community dialogue, Hill invites others to reflect on how social realities are formed, sustained, and transformed.

At the Mystic Seaport Museum, "Entwined" honors the deep-rooted connections between Black and Indigenous communities. Part of the Reimagining New England Histories project and funded by a Mellon Just Futures grant, this exhibition takes visitors on a journey through centuries of interrelated Black and Indigenous traditions of seafaring and artmaking, revealing oft-ignored histories.

Brown professor Elena Shih spent years embedded in anti-trafficking organizations across Thailand and China, expecting to document the rescue of sex slavery victims. Instead, her award-winning research revealed a troubling reality: many "rescued" women were never trafficked at all, the rehabilitation programs often caused more harm than good, and the lucrative "slave-free" products sold to well-meaning Americans were built on a carefully crafted narrative that had little to do with what these women actually needed. Her findings challenge the entire anti-trafficking industry and raise uncomfortable questions about who really benefits from the business of rescue.

Simmons Center Slavery & Finance Research Cluster Fellow, and Simmons Center Faculty Advisory Board Member, Seth Rockman’s latest book, Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery, has earned widespread acclaim, including recognition as a 2025 Pulitzer Prize finalist in history. The book, more than 15 years in the making, examines the everyday objects—like shoes, cloth, and tools—produced in New England and shipped south to sustain the economy of slavery. By analyzing these artifacts and even recreating some through hands-on weaving, Rockman uncovers how such goods connected Northern industry to Southern bondage, embodying both opportunity and oppression.

The Simmons Center welcomes a new cohort of six Public Humanities MA Students to campus in the fall of 2025. This cohort is expected to graduate in 2027.

“The Tally” (Voyage of the Slaving Brig Sally 1764–1765) and “Voices from the Middle Passage” are now part of the Simmons Center’s permanent collection and are on view at the Center after being generously donated by the artist, Pamela Pike Gordinier.

In July 2025, we welcomed 15 High School students for a week of learning, reflection, and community-building focused on the often-untold histories of Black and Indigenous peoples in New England. Brown’s Simmons Center, NAISI, and the Tomaquag Museum led courses on the 13th Amendment and The War for the Dawnland, with guest speakers and space to reflect on these important stories.