Mystic — Mystic Seaport Museum, along with Brown University and Williams College, has received a $4.9 million grant to study the relationship between European colonization in North America, the taking of Native American land and slavery in New England.

The study will also lead to the opening of a major new exhibit at the Seaport in the fall of 2023 that will explore "race, subjugation, and power, and a 'decolonial archive' spotlighting a diverse collection of stories from several New England communities."

That exhibit, which is tentatively scheduled to run through the summer of 2024, is expected to juxtapose traditional narratives about early New England with artifacts that tell a different story, including archaeological materials, documents, literature, music and oral histories.

The grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to Brown University's Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice will fund the partnership with the Seaport and Williams College "that will use maritime history as a basis for studying historical injustices." The project will be called "Reimagining New England Histories: Historical Injustice, Sovereignty and Freedom."

It will create new work and study opportunities at all three institutions for scholars, curators, and students from underrepresented groups, an online archive, expanded courses on historical injustice in early America for students at all three institutions and a wide variety of learning opportunities for students of all ages.

"A myth in the founding narrative of the United States is the idea of New England as a 'city on the hill,' a place founded on the idea of liberty for all," said Anthony Bogues, director of Brown's Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, in the announcement of the grant.  "But it is important to consider that this site of America's founding was also a site of Native dispossession as well as racial slavery. Brown and Williams have told stories about both of those histories, but rarely have we explored the relationship between the two."

"Our goal is to have this project move the entire institution forward and revisit our traditional narratives," said Christina Connett Brophy, the Seaport's senior director of museum galleries and senior vice president of curatorial affairs. "It will change the way we speak about these stories. It will change our perspective, how we look at these narratives and expand these narratives to be more inclusive."   

She said the study will result in the Seaport having "voices much broader in scale than any other museum in New England."

Brophy added the study and exhibit "will allow more people to be part of the conversation." 

"This is not rewriting anything but expanding the narrative to include so many more parts of the story that have never been told and never seen the light of day," she said. 

j.wojtas@theday.com