(Re)Imagining Brown 250+ Histories of Violence in the Making of An American University Phoebe Young Thesis submitted to Brown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Ethnic Studies April 2017 1 2 Signatures of Approval This thesis, by Phoebe Young, is accepted in its present form by the Department of Ethnic Studies as satisfying requirements for the degree of Honors in Ethnic Studies. __________________________________________________________ Director, Monica Muñoz-Martinez April 21st, 2017 __________________________________________________________ Reader, Evelyn Hu-DeHart April 21st, 2017 For the Department of Ethnic Studies __________________________________________________________ Chair, Matthew Pratt Guterl 3 Image by Tom Sullivan for the Brown Daily Herald, March 10th, 2014 Fireworks celebrating the 250th anniversary of Brown University’s founding in March of 2014, mounted onto University Hall, or the “College Edifice,” which was built by enslaved African Americans on Native American land. 4 Contents Introduction “Our Feet Never Left the Ground” 13 Chapter 1 I Lose My Land Webs of Colonial Violence in Rhode Island, 1636-1676 24 Chapter 2 Speaking Silence Native American Removal in New England after King Philip’s War 52 Chapter 3 Ghosts of Founding Tracing the Brown University Charter to the Transatlantic Slave Trade 75 Chapter 4 What Happened Here? History Repeated in the 250th Anniversary of Brown University 105 Conclusion Afterlives & Anticipated Futures 122 5 Acknowledgements: Writing this thesis has been immensely challenging, not only because it is ridiculously long, but also because it has required me to draw from arguably every dimension of my life in order to be able to compose it. But what that has also meant for this thesis is that, at every step of the way, there have been people in every dimension of my life who have lifted me along and told me that I was able to do this. My mother has always been patient with each and every one of my questions, even when they were prying, nosy, or when I was asking something that was none of my damn business. She has always been there with me, patiently answering those questions, and thinking alongside me when she is out of answers. This thesis would not have been possible without her. My grandmother has always been the asker of questions—the one who has been waiting for this thesis, who has listened patiently as I explained my jumbled thoughts to her and who, upon hearing them, smiled and said “right on.” Perhaps because she asks so many questions, she has also been the one who keeps the stories and histories, and she has taught me how to find history in the everyday things in everyday places. My sister has always reminded me to ground my study of the past in the things that lie before me and ahead of me. She is the person I reach out to when I think about what comes next, and she is the person I talk to when I think about what lies behind us. And she makes me incredibly proud. My dad has continued to provide me with the music and jokes I have needed in order to write this thesis, and he has patiently and thoughtfully engaged in these materials with me even as he also, possibly, worried about my job prospects. Just a little. I have been very lucky to have several years worth of professors who have given me the space to ask these questions, and who have developed these thoughts and pages patiently with me throughout the years. Monica Muñoz-Martinez, my thesis advisor, concentration advisor, and Mellon Mays mentor, has sat with me through this thesis at every step of its development, and I feel incredibly grateful and humbled to have had such a consequential mentor in my lifetime. She has pushed me to expand my conceptions of what I am capable of—even up to the last minutes of writing this thesis. Evelyn Hu-DeHart has consistently encouraged me keep writing, to speak up louder, and occasionally to go to sleep earlier. She has patiently waited for me as I completed this thesis and always keeps me thinking about what is coming next. Elizabeth Hoover and Adrienne Keene are the role models that have propelled me through every day at Brown. They have given me laughter, love, tea, beading skills, and the constant reminder that it is possible to do activist work, community work, and academic work all in the same breath. They have relentlessly demanded a community for Native students on campus and have done so with joy and laughter. Naoko Shibusawa has helped me think about the global dimensions of the extremely local questions I am asking within this thesis. She has also been an enormous support within the History department over the years and has always taught with so much love and generosity. 6 Mika LaVaque-Manty at the University of Michigan helped me through the beginning stages of asking these questions in my freshman year of college, and I am incredibly grateful for his willingness to sit with me during office hours, answer e-mails, and read through the enormous pieces of writing that I worked on during his classes. His encouragement to continue my work early on was invaluable to me in the years to follow. Patricia Rubertone in the Anthropology department and Linford Fisher in the History department have each helped me to think about my work in complex, interdisciplinary ways. Each of them has provided me with crucial, generous insight and feedback on my work and each of them have introduced me to different landscapes of thought within the fields that my research falls into. Debbie Weinstein in the American Studies department allowed me to think through the early questions and frameworks of this thesis in the honors thesis seminar last year, and provided me with crucial support, updates, and breakfast in the semester before I began writing my thesis. The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship has made this entire body of work possible. Besenia Rodriguez, Mary Grace Almandrez, and Shontay Delalue have lovingly mentored me and my other cohort members throughout the last three years, and have enabled me to see academia as a possibility for myself. Lily Mengesha and Warren Harding have given me invaluable insights, talked with me over tea, lent me books, and interrupted our conversations to make sure I wrote down my thoughts for this thesis so that I wouldn’t forget them. All of them have seen me through crucial stages of this thesis process and crucial stages of my college career. The list of Mellon Mays fellows that I have to thank within this thesis-writing process is a long one, and is also a testament to how important the people within the Mellon program have been in providing an intergenerational network of support. Hassani Scott, Aditya Kumar, Danii Carrasco, Lovinia Reynolds, and Zoila Bergeron have always given me so much joy within this process, and when none of us were feeling joyful, they always held space with me. Aanchal Saraf, Jackie Rice, Maria Garcia, Héctor Peralta, and Kristina Lee continue to be the people in my life that I look up to when I think of where to go next. Camisia Glasgow coached me through every stage of the Mellon application process when I was a sophomore, and was kind enough to help me through interviews, thinking through the application, and answering my questions about the program even when she barely knew me. Liliana Sampedro, Sierra Edd, Kara Roanhorse, Nikki Lee, Nikki Ubinas, and Emily Sun make me incredibly proud and excited to be part of the Mellon program because I cannot wait to see what they will become, and I am always in awe of how much they are doing, thinking, and leading on this campus. I would not have been able to make it through writing such a long history of colonial violence without my friends, who always reminded me that laughter is needed— especially when it cannot be found in the work you do—and who always reminded me that love is needed, because it is precisely what allows this work to continue. Floripa Olguin, Myacah Sampson, Mae Verano, Victor Bramble, Sarita Ballakur, Keven Griffen, Kevin Peters, Areeb Mahamadi, Roshan Moazed, Kara Roanhorse, Jasmine Ben, Sierra Edd, Sarena Grey, Jack Martin, Stanley Stewart, Jessica Brown, Pedro Mota, Rohith Nagari, Kairy Herrera-Espinoza, Sage Fannuchi-Funes, Clarissa Sorenson, Eugenie Thompson, Emmalina Glinskis, and Lily Starbuck have all walked me through the many 7 stages (and years) of writing this thesis, have written their own theses alongside me, have thought through these ideas with me, encouraged me to do better, brought me food, bought me food, made me food, checked in with me, laughed with me, and have been incredibly patient with me throughout this whole process. The Sarah Doyle Women’s Center and the Brown Center for Students of Color have provided me with ongoing support and spaces of love. Gail Cohee, Felicia Salinas- Moniz, Anne-Marie Ponte, and Joshua Segui have all provided me with the grounding advice and encouragement that has been necessary in order to complete this work. There have also been several very important restaurants in the area that have given me the fuel I needed to finish this thesis and which have also given me general joy over the past few years as an undergraduate. In particular, Baja’s, Soban, Eastside Pockets, Bagel Gourmet, Bagel Gourmet Ole, Better Burger Company, and Eastside Mini-Mart have all truly been there for me in my times of need. Lydia and Amir Kelow-Bennett have given me so much love, laughter, and patience in writing this piece.