Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice
Date May 28, 2026
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2025 Annual Report Update: Black and Indigenous High School Summer Institute

Woman holding a feather and sage smudge with students in the background
Abigail Jefferson leads the altar ceremony to help ground the group at the start of the institute. Photo by Kiku Langford McDonald/Simmons Center.

The Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative (NAISI) at Brown University, as well as our partners at the Tomaquag Museum, returned to hosting our free five-day program, the Black and Indigenous Histories Summer Institute. The program is for rising 9th grade to graduating 12th grade students in Rhode Island who are interested in learning more about local Black and Indigenous peoples’s histories.

In 2025, we were able to welcome fifteen students from across the state who took three courses during the morning half of their days and heard from guest speakers in the afternoon. Their first course of the day was Black History in the Dawnland, which this year focused on the 13th Amendment to commemorate the 160th anniversary of its passage. It was taught by the Center’s own Reina Thomas. In this course, students connected with scholars and artists such as Associate Professor Alain E. Roberts, Loki Karuna and Justice Melissa Long.

People standing around a table looking at books
Justice Melissa Long speaks with the students about the Constitution, with particular emphasis on the 13th Amendment and the legal power that states also hold. Photo by Kiku Langford McDonald/Simmons Center.

The second course, The War for the Dawnland, focused on King Philip’s War and was taught by the Assistant Director of NAISI, Wunneanatsu Lamb-Cason. Despite King Philip’s War being the most significant war to take place in the region we now call New England, it is often forgotten by non-Indigenous peoples. With the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution taking center stage in upcoming national events, we decided to shine a light on a war that happened a hundred years earlier. While taking this course, students learned from scholars and culture bearers such as Linda Coombs, Crystal Mars Baker, Kim Toney, Stone Thomas, Stephan Pevar and Lisa Brooks.

Following each of these classes, students took a meditation course, where they reflected on the material they had just engaged with and also checked in with how their bodies were responding to these often traumatic histories — releasing what they needed to within that space. This course was led by one of the educators from our Teach-In series, Abigail Jefferson.

Group of people staying by a tree and in front of a house
2025 BIHSI students and educators at the end of the five-day program. Photo by Kiku Langford McDonald/Simmons Center.

Reina Thomas

Manager of Public Education Initiatives and Community Outreach

I currently work with the Simmons Center as a RNEH research assistant with Visiting Assistant Professor Mack Scott who was one of the facilitators of the Black and Indigenous Histories Summer Institute when I participated in 2022. Being in this summer program provided foundational knowledge on the communities in the surrounding areas and validated my interest in the intersection of environmental science and Indigenous studies. Getting to know Visiting Assistant Professor Scott and other Brown University professors, and learning that even some of my cohort members attended Brown, gave me confidence that I’d find a community here — which I did!

Jeamilett Martinez ’28 Black and Indigenous High School Summer Institute Alumni and RNEH Research Assistant
 
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A free summer program for Rhode Island students, the Black and Indigenous Histories Summer Institute (BIHSI) is designed for rising 9th graders through graduating 12th graders. It centers on a restorative justice framework that emphasizes self-reflection, critical thinking, and reading against the grain to reframe our understanding of history.
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