The Atlantic Ocean connects indigenous people along the coast of what is now New England and those in the western African nations of Ghana, Togo, and Benin. Kalunga, in the Bantu language widespread across Africa. Kuhtah in Pequot.

The depths of these connections are explored at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, CT–Pequot land–during “Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea,” an exhibition breaking from the Museum’s tradition of telling maritime stories through a colonizer, shipbuilder, industrial, extractive perspective. Before starting any work, “Entwined” curator Akeia de Barros Gomes, Senior Curator of Maritime Social Histories at Mystic Seaport Museum and Simmons Center Visiting Scholar, assembled a committee of indigenous and African descended community members to discuss what they wanted to present and how.

"Entwined" is the culminating exhibition for the Reimagining New England Histories project organized by the Simmons Center at Brown University, Williams College, and Mystic Seaport Museum and generously funded by the Just Futures Initiative of the Mellon Foundation.

In this episode of the Africa-Caribbean Reasoning Series, Professor Anthony Bogues explores the deep historical and cultural ties linking Africa and the Caribbean, urging a reimagining of Pan-African solidarity for the present moment. Drawing on themes of colonial legacies, intellectual collaboration, and collective self-determination, Bogues calls for building real connections, through institutions, ideas, and shared struggles, that move beyond symbolism toward a more just and united global Black future.

Indigenous and Black people tell their own seafaring stories at Mystic Seaport Museum.

"Entwined" is the culminating exhibition for the Reimagining New England Histories project organized by the Simmons Center at Brown University, Williams College, and Mystic Seaport Museum and generously funded by the Just Futures Initiative of the Mellon Foundation.

This spring, Sophia Janssens and her classmates added nearly 33,000 words and over 300 references to Wikipedia articles as part of Dr. Mack Scott’s course “This is America,” which focused on people and events often marginalized or forgotten in American history. During the weeks of the course alone, their collective work on Wikipedia was viewed 237,000 times.

The question of innocence (and lack thereof) is central to western imperial projects and their determination of who deserves to be “saved” and who, on the other hand, is expendable. In this text, Elena Shih describes the ways through which sex workers in Thailand refuse what she characterizes as compulsory innocence and organize together the political conditions on being “bad.”

As part of the Simmons Center’s 10th anniversary, the Marian Anderson String Quartet returned to campus with "On Being Enslaved"—a powerful recital tracing the journey from auction block to concert stage, uniting music with memory, resistance, and healing.

Dr. Brenda Allen, President of Lincoln University, recounts her early role as Associate Provost and Director of Institutional Diversity and Allen's key role in guiding the Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice through complex debates over slavery’s legacy, ultimately helping produce a landmark report grounded in intellectual rigor and institutional courage.

Amanda E. Strauss reflects on the powerful connection between art and archives through Jess Hill’s quilt “Oh Say, Can You See: America and Its Birth” (2022). Now part of the Hay’s permanent collection, it is displayed on its grand staircase. For Strauss, the piece captures the layered history the Center explores and evokes personal memories of her own beginnings in textile storytelling.

From 2022–2023, the Reimagining New England Histories committee collaborated with educators and scholars to create K–12 lessons centering Black and Indigenous experiences in New England. Their work reframed Thanksgiving, highlighted mariners’ histories, and launched a student podcast contest to challenge colonial narratives.

In 2023, the HTRC celebrated the launch of "White Supremacy, Racism, and the Coloniality of Anti-Trafficking", an anthology exploring how anti-trafficking efforts are rooted in systemic racism and colonial power structures. The cluster also premiered "Fly in Power", a documentary on Asian migrant massage workers, highlighting labor exploitation and racial justice.

Libby Heimark reflects on Dr. Simmons’ transformative presidency and enduring influence. From championing need-blind admissions to confronting Brown’s historical ties to slavery, Simmons combined courage, strategic vision, and scholarly integrity. Her leadership led to the creation of the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice which has become a global model for institutional reckoning with historical injustice.

In Spring 2023, the Simmons Center welcomed three Providence high school students to its Student Enrichment program, supporting youth-led social justice projects. From African American fashion to youth activism and Ethnic Studies in medicine, students explored local history, conducted research, and engaged with community partners.

“There was a transnational flow of medical knowledge about how disease spread that increased between 1756 and 1866 and transpired not only at familiar hubs of medical research but also at sites of imperialism, slavery, war, and dispossession.” (Downs, Maladies of Empire, p. 5)

The Cluster hosted Dr. Michael Walker for a talk on his book, "Indefinite: Doing Time in Jail", exploring incarceration’s toll. Students archived letters, testified for reform, and amplified voices of those impacted by prison.

David Haas reflects on how Brown’s groundbreaking Slavery and Justice Report first drew his attention back to the university. He celebrates Dr. Ruth J. Simmons’ bold leadership in initiating a deep institutional reckoning and highlights the Simmons Center’s evolving role as a hub for interdisciplinary scholarship and public engagement

The Simmons Center, in partnership with the Tomaquag Museum, hosted a free 6-day Black & Indigenous Summer Institute for Rhode Island rising 10th–12th grade students. The Summer Institute is designed within a restorative justice framework that centers self-reflection, critical thinking, and reading against the grain to reframe how we understand history and heal our communities.

In a joint project with the International Institute of Social History, the Cluster unites scholars from across continents. Since 2021, the group has met in Amsterdam and Jamaica to examine racial capitalism, colonial rule, and slavery’s lasting impact, fostering global discussions on these interconnected histories.

The Stolen Relations project, launched in 2015 at Brown University, seeks to recover and reinterpret the often hidden histories of Indigenous slavery, offering a fresh perspective on the colonial past and its lasting impact.

As part of the Simmons Center’s 10th Anniversary series, writer and ritual performance artist Cherise Morris ’16 returned to Brown for the premiere of the cosmic matter of Black lives. Through poetry, prayer, and ancestral wisdom, Morris invited audiences into a ritual performance exploring diasporic healing, ecological harmony, and racial justice.

In 2022–2023, Allyson LaForge, supported by the Simmons Center, led key efforts to inventory 10,000 cultural Belongings at the Tomaquag Museum. She helped adapt the museum’s cataloging system to reflect Indigenous knowledge systems, laying the groundwork for a major move and future use of Traditional Knowledge Labels.

To mark its 10th anniversary, the Center presented 'Racial Slavery, Marronage, and Freedom', a retrospective featuring Edouard Duval-Carrié, Jess Hill, and Rénold Laurent. Each artist, a longtime collaborator of the Center, debuted new work exploring resistance, memory, and the legacy of slavery through bold, layered visual storytelling and reflection.