Oct. 13:Indigenous Peoples Day Talk with Dr. Akeia de Barros Gomes

Attention Faculty: If you would like this speaker to visit your class on Monday, October 13, please reach out to Joe Hall (jhall2@bates.edu) as soon as posssible.

Join us on Indigenous Peoples Day for a talk by Dr. Akeia de Barros Gomes

Dr. de Barros Gomes is the director of  the Newport Historical Society’s Edward W. Kane & Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History at the historic Wanton-Lyman Hazard House, a National Historic Landmark and the oldest home still standing in Newport, Rhode Island. Her appointment last year marked a significant step in the organization’s efforts to highlight Newport’s diverse historical narrative.

Prior to stepping into her current role, de Barros Gomes, a Newport native with a background in anthropology and African American history,  served as the vice president for the American Institute for Maritime Studies at Mystic Seaport Museum in Stonington, Connecticut while also serving as a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University.

Dr. de Barros Gomes’ work focuses on broadening the narrative of New England’s maritime history to foreground the voices and perspectives of Indigenous North Americans, Africans and African Americans in the framing of maritime history. Dr. de Barros Gomes was also Curator of Social History at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

She previously served on her current organization’s board of directors for four years and acted as a guest curator for an exhibition on Black Life in Early Newport at the Museum of Newport History in the Brick Market.

Her involvement extends to the Voices from the NHS Archives project, where she served as a key advisor. This initiative focuses on digitizing and improving access to thousands of records on Black and Indigenous history.

She earned her MA and PhD in Anthropology/Archaeology at the University of Connecticut and her BA at Salve Regina University. Before engaging in museum work, she was Professor in the Departments of American Studies and Psychology and Human Development at Wheelock College in Boston from 2008-2017. She currently serves as an adjunct lecturer at the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University.

Photo credit
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For More Information

• Daphne Comeau (Taking Responsibility Learning Group, Office of Equity and Inclusion)
• dcomeau@bates.edu

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