The Race, Medicine, and Social Justice Cluster reflects on a year of impactful scholarship and the profound loss of Dr. Lundy Braun. Co-led by Dr. Braun and Dr. Taneisha Wilson, the Cluster advanced critical work on racism in medicine and will continue to honor Dr. Braun’s legacy through ongoing events, research, and transformative public health advocacy.

Hosted by the Simmons Center and NAISI, "In Conversation" brought together Black and Indigenous scholars, educators, and community historians for two days of dialogue on teaching and preserving these intertwined histories. The symposium fostered collaboration across disciplines and communities, centering knowledge sharing, listening, and learning.

The Simmons Center hosted a book launch for The Imagined New (or what happens when History is a Catastrophe?), edited by Anthony Bogues, Leora Farber, Zamansele Nsele, and Surafel Wondimu Abebe. Panelists Brian Meeks, Lindsay Caplan, and Geri Augusto joined Bogues for a discussion moderated by Philip Gould, exploring art’s power to challenge history and reimagine the African Diaspora’s futures.

For Patricia Santos, the Reimagining New England Histories Professional Learning Opportunity was more than professional development, it was a call to teach for justice. Through collaboration with the Curriculum Committee, she helped refine lessons that center Indigenous histories and contributions, ensuring that truthful, inclusive narratives reach classrooms year-round.

In 2023–2024, the Carceral State Reading Group served as a vital space for dialogue on captivity and repression, engaging with local and global crises. Anchored by Brown’s acquisition of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s archive, the group hosted a public symposium exploring resistance, political imprisonment, and organizing, with lasting materials now available for continued learning and action.

The Unfinished Conversations series in Senegal explored the legacies of slavery and colonialism in Saint Louis and Orkadiéré by gathering stories often silenced by public memory. Guided by teranga (care and repair), the series highlighted struggles for freedom, religious resistance, land reclamation, and the survival of enslaved descendants. These testimonies now inform the exhibition In Slavery’s Wake.

Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea is the culminating exhibition of the Reimagining New England Histories project. Co-created with Indigenous and Black communities, it reclaims maritime histories beyond colonialism and slavery, centering ancestral knowledge, survival, and ongoing sovereignty across 12,000 years of history.

The Mass Incarceration Punishment in America Research Cluster explored the roots and impact of mass incarceration, emphasizing race and anti-Black racism. In 2023–2024, it hosted author talks, live oral histories with formerly incarcerated individuals, and built an archive centering incarcerated voices through its Mass Incarceration Lab.

Art and the Freedom Struggle: The Works of Mumia Abu-Jamal (March 1–December 11, 2024) explores artistic expression under incarceration. Curated by Melaine Ferdinand-King, the exhibit draws from Abu-Jamal’s archive and features his art, poetry, and music centered on abolition, Black liberation, and community. The show includes events, a catalog, and a new essay by Abu-Jamal.

A decade-long global research effort led by Brown’s Simmons Center has culminated in In Slavery’s Wake, a landmark Smithsonian exhibition tracing the global legacies of slavery and Black freedom-making. Featuring 150 oral histories, hundreds of artifacts, and contemporary art, the show centers the voices of the enslaved and colonized. It runs through June 2025 before traveling to five countries.

In its first year, the Slavery’s Financial History Research Cluster gathered Brown scholars to explore how slavery shaped global finance. Through guest lectures and collaborative discussions, the group emphasized "following the money" as key to uncovering new insights into slavery’s role in modern economic systems.

In 2023–2024, the Symbolic Garden of the Enslaved team adapted through their first winter, mulching with comfrey and collecting seeds. They hosted an African-inspired amulet workshop in spring and revitalized the garden in summer with new plantings and structures. They also began building a website to share the garden’s history, symbolism, and plant profiles with the public.

Reimagining New England Histories is a four-year collaboration between Brown, Williams, and Mystic Seaport Museum that centers African and Indigenous histories in the region. Supported by a Mellon Just Futures grant, the project produced exhibits, publications, and curricula while building lasting, reciprocal relationships with community partners.

Simmons Center Walking Tour Guide Traci Picard and Simmons Center 2023 Heimark Artist in Residence Renée Elizabeth Neely-TANNER have both been involved the the First Unitarian Church of Providence’s mission to search for truth behind its involvement in slavery.

Every year, distinguished Brown scholars are nominated for Research Achievement Awards by their colleagues for conducting exceptional and transformative research. Amongst the 2025 selection is Manning Assistant Professor of American Studies and Simmons Center Fellow Elena Shih.

In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World explores the history and enduring impact of the global slave trade through an understudied lens: the work of enslaved people and their descendants to build resilience and community through art, rebellion, spirituality and politics.

As a curatorial fellow for the Brown Arts Institute, Simmons Center Public Humanities Graduate Student Christina Young ’26 A.M. provided comprehensive support for Elysee Barakett's poignant installation ‘Presence of Absence’ from conceptualization to execution. Young collaborated closely with Barakett on both the workshop and installation components, coordinating with BAI's marketing team to create promotional material, securing exhibition space in the Lindemann Performing Arts Center, and facilitating installation. Her behind-the-scenes work helped to bring Barakett's deeply personal exploration of loss and memory to the Brown community through this collaborative, 55-foot mural installation. 

Historians at Brown University and Tribal members from across New England are launching a project they hope will bring awareness to the historic enslavement of Indigenous people in North America.

What does “reparatory justice” mean, and how is it different from “reparations?” These are some of the questions explored in this CBH Talk by Laura Trevelyan, who in 2016 learned that her ancestors were absentee owners of 1000 enslaved Africans, and Arley Gill, Chair of the Grenada National Reparations Committee, in conversation with Simmons Center Director Anthony Bogues.

The First Unitarian Church of Providence is confronting its history of benefiting from the slave trade through its new exhibit, “Owning History.” Traci Picard, Simmons Center Walking Tour guide and author of A Church in a Triangle: Race, Religion & Power in a Rhode Island Congregation 1720-1850 has led research to uncover these connections.

The Imagined New (or, What Happens When History is a Catastrophe?) – Volume III at The Africa Institute gathered artists, scholars, and students to explore war, grief, and hope. Presented with VIAD and the Ruth J. Simmons Center, the program combined lectures, performances, and conversations to examine how violence shapes our world—and how alternative futures might be imagined.

In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World at the National Museum of African American History and Culture explores the global legacies of slavery, colonialism, and racial capitalism, and the enduring struggles for Black freedom. Through powerful storytelling, historical artifacts, and interactive displays, the exhibition foregrounds resistance—from shipboard rebellions to modern movements. Created in collaboration with the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, it underscores the importance of telling unvarnished histories at a time when such truths are increasingly under political threat.