The exhibition “Sites of Remaking: Port Cities and Our Present” was a great conversation-starter at the Simmons Center this summer. Several different groups came through the gallery to view the exhibition and receive guided tours, including two groups of high school students. The first was a Summer at Brown course taught by Istifaa Ahmed ’22 A.M. in Public Humanities. Each summer, the students in “Power and the Production of History” visit the Center to learn about the Slavery & Justice Report, the founding of the Simmons Center and to see our current exhibition. This year, the students were very engaged and attentive to the layered histories presented by the artists in “Sites of Remaking” and suggested fun, interactive projects that other students might want to do on a longer visit.

In July, the Center welcomed the Apprentices from the New Bedford Whaling Museum (NBWM), a group of around 22 high school students who participate in a year-long program for three years (summer after freshman year through senior year). During their visit, the Apprentices met with student curator Ivie Orobaton ’27 A.M. and me for an overview of the Center and activities in the gallery. Ivie led them through some interactive close-looking and label-writing activities where students made insightful and novel connections between the artwork and their own lived experiences and the histories they have been learning about. We then moved on to a hands-on collage-making activity conceived of by students in the “Power and the Production of History” course. Using the art in the gallery as inspiration, students were given transparencies of graphics and photographs similar to those in the gallery to juxtapose and layer, creating their own images and stories related to the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Black and Indigenous maritime histories, and colonialism in New England. The final collages, many of them enhanced by the students’ own drawings, were scanned and made into colorful zines that the students could keep as mementos from this summer and their visit to Brown.

We had such an impactful and engaging visit to the Simmons Center. The kids have continued referencing and reflecting on both the interpretive activity with Ivie, and on their collages. This summer, our 16 underclassmen decided on their focal civics research topic before civics actions later in the school year, and the work they did with all of you was very present in these conversations. They were especially impacted by the layering in “Free My Twin, Fuk da Law, 🚔🔫.”

They decided to focus their civics research on immigration and cultural experiences in our port city of New Bedford; one of the two groups especially is focusing on laws vs. morality and connections between modern US immigration enforcement and the Fugitive Slave Act. Their research has included a survey they created and disseminated to their communities and interviews with residents of New Bedford. They showcased their initial research and reflections with their families and NBWM staff at the end of the summer and also proudly shared the zines with collages inspired by “Sites of Remaking” we created during our visit with you at this showcase.

Erika Fernandes
Manager of Young Adult Programs, New Bedford Whaling Museum