Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice

Ellison “Tarzan” Brown, a Narragansett runner from Rhode Island, rose to prominence in the 1930s through his record-setting marathon performances. His athletic achievements brought significant visibility to the Narragansett Tribe at a time when official policies and records attempted to erase Indigenous identities. Brown’s story highlights longstanding Native running traditions, the impact of racial discrimination in New England, and the role his victories played in countering “paper genocide” and affirming the continued presence of the Narragansett people. His legacy endures through annual races held in his honor and the broader recognition of Indigenous resilience in the region. The story highlights analysis by Mack Scott, a Visiting Assistant Professor of Slavery and Justice at the Simmons Center, who provides historical context on Tarzan Brown’s impact and the visibility it brought to the Narragansett Tribe.

Native communities in southern New England maintain a longstanding spiritual and cultural connection to their ancestral lands, rooted in traditions of stewardship, hunting, and communal responsibility. Their history includes profound disruptions caused by colonization, including disease, warfare, enslavement, and the systematic erasure of Native identity from official records. Events such as the Pequot War and Mystic Massacre illustrate these impacts. Today, Narragansett, Mashantucket Pequot, and other tribal members continue working to preserve culture, reclaim historical narratives, and uphold the resilience and continuity of Indigenous life in the region. Mack Scott, Visiting Assistant Professor of Slavery and Justice at the Simmons Center, powerfully reflects, “when I was in school, they told us that the Narragansett didn’t exist… and my grandmother’s at home, right? My mother’s there. I know that we exist, but the idea is that we don’t.”

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.

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.