Taneisha Wilson reflects on the passing of Professor Lundy Braun

Donnamarie Barnes, Director of History & Heritage at Sylvester Manor—the most intact plantation remnant north of Virginia—joined the Simmons Center to explore how stories of the land and its people are uncovered and reimagined through photography, storytelling, and preservation at this historic Long Island site.

At UNESCO’s request, the Simmons Center is leading a global project mapping anti-Black racism. After two years of collaboration with scholars and activists across Africa and the Caribbean, the project’s Steering Committee met at Brown in March 2024 to finalize the report, slated for publication in late 2025.

In May 2024, a research update on Archives of Slavery and Justice shared new findings on the free and enslaved laborers who built Brown University. Drawing on the Brown Family Business Records, the project reexamines archival materials to uncover names, relationships, and stories that reshape our understanding of the university’s early history.

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 2024, the Human Trafficking Research Cluster marked major milestones: launching a new book on sex worker health in Rhode Island, continuing collaborative research with Red Canary Song, and preparing to debut “Liberation Atlas,” a digital map of policing violence against Asian massage workers in NYC.

Over the past year, the Race, Slavery, Colonialism and Capitalism Research Cluster deepened its impact through a spring workshop, student-led panels, and original research projects. Graduate and undergraduate fellows collaborated with leading scholars to examine racial capitalism and imperialism, while building community across disciplines and institutions.

As part of the 2023 Black Alumni Reunion, former Ruth J. Simmons Center fellows reflected on their journeys as leaders in curation, preservation, and interpretation. Sharing insights from their work in museums and cultural institutions, they discussed how the Center’s community and vision continue to shape public humanities and the pursuit of restorative justice.

At a conference honoring George Lamming, Professor Brian Meeks examined Lamming’s political vision for a unified Caribbean. Through his edited volume "On the Canvas of this World," Lamming brought together leading regional thinkers to imagine an expansive, inclusive anti-colonial future—one that continues to illuminate paths forward amid today’s global challenges.

During her fellowship with the Reimagining New England Histories project, Cheryll Toney Holley worked to amplify Black and Indigenous voices and challenge traditional narratives of the region’s past. Serving on exhibition, K–12 curriculum, and publication committees, she helped develop community-centered educational materials and public history projects.

Simmons Center Director, Anthony Bogues, reflects on the Center’s 12th year—a time marked by the loss of Professor Lundy Braun, the launch of our pilot MA in Integrative Studies focused in Public Humanities, and the opening of "In Slavery’s Wake", a major exhibition with the Smithsonian exploring Black freedom and the legacies of slavery and colonialism.

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.

The Reimagining New England Histories Curriculum Committee is developing free, inclusive lesson plans that center Black and Indigenous experiences across the Dawnland. Supported by the Simmons Center, the team is creating an interactive website to make these resources accessible to educators and aligned with state standards.

The Chair of the Advisory Council, Spencer Crew, reflects on a landmark year for the Simmons Center—honoring Ruth Simmons through the Center’s renaming, supporting a new MA in Integrative Studies, and celebrating a major international exhibition with the Smithsonian while highlighting the Council’s deepening role in advancing the Center’s mission.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A decade after opening, the Center was renamed for President Emerita Ruth J. Simmons in honor of her landmark efforts to uncover Brown’s historical ties to slavery. The renaming ceremony featured new campus signage and a special gift to Dr. Simmons: a custom box archiving a decade’s worth of exhibition catalogs, celebrating the Center’s public humanities mission.