The Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice at Brown University in partnership with the Tomaquag Museum, is hosting a free one week (6 day) Black & Indigenous Summer Institute (2023) for Rhode Island rising 10th-12th grade students (graduating 12th graders are eligible as well). 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. Students will visit the Tomaquag Museum, the Mystic Seaport Museum, as well as other venues to uncover the hidden stories of Rhode Island’s communities of color, as well as participate in a transformational workshop with the Haus of Glitter, among others. The week culminates with a celebratory visit to Martha’s Vineyard to visit the Aquinnah Cultural Center.

Program Objectives:

Students will grow their knowledge base of local Black, Indigenous and immigrant histories from the lens of historically oppressed groups.

Students will reflect on themselves as learners and as representatives of historically impacted populations in joyful and affirming ways.

Students will develop leadership skills through hands-on group activities, discussions, direct action training, and opportunities to express themselves.

Students will collaborate and form deep and meaningful supportive relationships with each other, facilitators, and community members in order to build interdependent communities of care.