Opening Nov. 15 at Overlap Gallery, "Forging Freedom: Atlantic Journeys" brings together ten contemporary artists to explore Black and Indigenous histories of freedom-making across the Atlantic world. Curated by Dr. Akeia de Barros Gomes, director of the Newport Historical Society’s Edward W. Kane and Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History, the show reclaims untold stories through art, creativity, and community. Proceeds will support the Center for Black History, set to open on Juneteenth 2026. The exhibition runs through Dec. 20, with a curator talk on Dec. 6 at 5 p.m.
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Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice
Akeia de Barros Gomes
Adjunct Lecturer in Slavery and Justice; Director, Edward W. Kane and Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History at the Newport Historical Society
Biography
Akeia de Barros Gomes, Ph.D., is the Director of the Edward W. Kane and Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History at the Newport Historical Society. She is a Visiting Scholar & Adjunct Lecturer at The Ruth J. Simmons Center for Slavery and Justice, Brown University. At Mystic Seaport Museum she served as Senior Curator of Maritime Social Histories, Vice Pres. American Institute for Maritime Studies, and Dir. of Munson Institute. As an anthropologist and archaeologist her research has been extensive on many continents.
Her recent exhibition, Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty and the Sea is a multi-year Mellon Foundation-funded project that recovers the history of the founding and development of the Dawnland (New England) through Indigenous, African, and African-descended maritime perspectives. This project is a cooperative effort with individuals in Dawnland Indigenous, African, and African-descended communities. Akeia is responsible for strategic vision and intellectual thought leadership to Mystic Seaport Museum's Library, Research, Curatorial and Exhibitions departments by overseeing professionals dedicated to advancing the Museum’s academic presence in maritime studies. She also leads development of maritime education as well as sharing findings and stories with museum visitors through exhibitions and programming. Akeia taught as professor of American Studies and Professor of Psychology and Human Development at Wheelock College from 2008 to 2017.
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Hyperallergic
The Sacred Waterways of Black and Indigenous Communities
At the Mystic Seaport Museum, "Entwined" honors the deep-rooted connections between Black and Indigenous communities through centuries of seafaring, artmaking, and resistance. The exhibition illuminates sacred traditions and shared histories that continue to shape life along the waterways of New England and beyond.
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News from the Simmons Center
Humanizing the Stories of the Enslaved: Addressing Racial Justice Through Art
“The Tally” (Voyage of the Slaving Brig Sally 1764–1765) and “Voices from the Middle Passage” are now part of the Simmons Center’s permanent collection and are on view at the Center after being generously donated by the artist, Pamela Pike Gordinier.
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Newport, Rhode Island, is often celebrated for its Gilded Age mansions and seaside charm, but the city also has a rich and enduring Black history. The latest season of HBO’s The Gilded Age highlights Newport’s thriving 19th-century Black community, exploring the lives of property owners, entrepreneurs, and socially prominent families whose stories have often been overlooked. Historians and consultants for the show draw on primary sources to illuminate how Black Newporters shaped the city’s social, cultural, and economic life during this transformative period.
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The Newport Historical Society has named Simmons Center Adjunct Lecturer in Slavery and Justice Dr. Akeia de Barros Gomes, Native Newport scholar and curator, to spearhead the development of a new center for Black History, set to open at the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House. The appointment marks a significant step in the organization’s efforts to highlight Newport’s diverse historical narrative.
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Newport This Week
Resurrecting a Historic House and Long-Neglected Black History
The Newport Historical Society (NHS) announced a $4.5 million capital campaign to restore Newport’s oldest colonial home and convert it to a museum devoted to the region’s Black history. At an unveiling of plans for the 1697 Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, NHS board President Douglas Newhouse hailed the conversion as a project to share the history of African Americans in Newport that has gone untold for the most part. “No other place in New England or perhaps the whole country will tell this history the way we will here at this house,” he said as he made note of Newport being a hub of the slave trade from colonial times to the early 19th century.
Akeia de Barros Gomes, Simmons Center Adjunct Lecturer in Slavery and Justice, grew up in Newport and attended the city’s public schools. She said she is pleased that generations of advocates would have their efforts rewarded with the conversion of the house to a museum of Black history. A member of the NHS board, Gomes has consulted on the Wanton Lyman-Hazard House project.
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Akeia de Barros Gomes, Simmons Center Adjunct Lecturer in Slavery and Justice, grew up in Newport and attended the city’s public schools. She said she is pleased that generations of advocates would have their efforts rewarded with the conversion of the house to a museum of Black history. A member of the NHS board, Gomes has consulted on the Wanton Lyman-Hazard House project.