Several Simmons Center faculty, staff and campus partners gave lectures and presentations at the 2024 National Humanities Conference (NHC), held in Providence, RI. The NHC is an annual conference that brings together representatives from various organizations to explore approaches to deepening the public’s engagement with the humanities.
On November 15th, Simmons Center Visiting Assistant Professor of Slavery and Justice Mack Scott, and Simmons Center Adjunct Lecturer in Slavery and Justice Akeia de Barros Gomes, were part of the NHC Capps Lecture along with Simmons Center collaborators Associate Professor of History Linford Fisher and Executive Director of the Tomaquag Museum Lorén M. Spears. Drawing on the Reimagining New England Histories exhibition “Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea,” on view at the Mystic Seaport Museum from April 20, 2024, through January 19, 2026, and the Stolen Relations project, the speakers engaged in conversation focused on Black and Indigenous histories connected to water, the sea and cultural power as well as new approaches to research, interpretation and engagement.
The Simmons Center also hosted an NHC presentation about the Center’s Symbolic Garden of the Enslaved on November 16th. The panel featured an overview of the Simmons Center’s history and reflections from the garden’s creator, Prof. Geri Augusto, Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute, along with Associate Professor Renee Ater, Garden Caretaker Allyssa Foster ’25, and Simmons Center Communications Manager Kiku Langford McDonald.
On November 15th, Simmons Center Senior Research Assistant Traci Picard gave a talk entitled “The Power of Immersive Place-Based Learning To Make Waves,” speaking about her process for bringing rich histories and perspectives to life through virtual tours and web resources.
It was an honor to be invited to present at and attend this important gathering that showcased some of the different areas of research and work that the Simmons Center community has been involved with for many years.