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

2025 Annual Report Update: PrYSM Collaboration

Three students standing and smiling while holding up peace signs.
Miguel, Milly and Aiden learn about Southeast Asian Resilience and the impacts of deportation in the Southeast Asian community in Providence, RI. During a workshop facilitated by PrYSM's RICE (RI Civic Engagement) program, they walked through a timeline of the history of deportation. Photo by Reina Thomas.

It has been a full-circle moment for the Simmons Center and the Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM). In 2000, Sarath Suong and Kohei Ishihara, two Asian American students at Brown University, recruited local Black, Caribbean and Southeast Asian American students at other colleges in Providence to start a local youth group, Providence Youth-Student Movement, or PrYSM. The Simmons Center lore is that Ishihara met with Prof. Anthony Bogues, now the Director of the Simmons Center, while he and Suong were in the early stages of developing the organization. Building on that shared history, and as part of the Center’s ongoing work to deepen relationships with the Providence and Greater Rhode Island community, Suonriaksmay Keo, Youth Engagement Director of PrYSM, and Reina Thomas from the Simmons Center came together to learn from one another. This exchange led to an evolving collaboration through which the Simmons Center has served as a space for PrYSM’s Organizing Circle programming, including Liberation Training 101 in the fall and Nonviolent Direct Action (NVDA) training this past summer. We are hopeful that this is just the beginning as we find more ways to support our Providence community.

Group of students sitting around a table with a man with a laptop
Professor Marco McWilliams teaches PrYSM students about Black History. In the activity, they went through introductions, learning each other's names, pronouns and facts about each other before delving into Black History during the Civil Rights Movement. Photo by Reina Thomas.

Reina Thomas

Manager of Public Education Initiatives and Community Outreach