Culture Bearer Series: The Rivers Connects Us

390A Summit Road,Exeter RI 02822

26 June, 2022

Description

Cultural presentation with Cassius Spears Jr: The Rivers Connects Us: Understanding waterways, kinship, and tribal sovereignty. Join us at Tomaquag Museum on Sunday June 26 at 10:00am as we welcome Cassius Spears Jr. for a presentation on The Rivers Connects Us: Understanding Waterways, Kinship, and Tribal Sovereignty. This will be the third in our 2022 Culture Bearer Series. Throughout the year Tomaquag Museum hopes to introduce you to some incredible Indigenous educators who have been vital to the work of sharing and preserving cultural knowledge. This year long series was made possible thanks to funding from The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, The Papitto Opportunity Connection, The New England Foundation for the Arts, The Rhode Island Council for the humanities RI Charg, other anonymous funders and many community donors. This event is also part of the 7 Rivers Festival Presented by the Community, for the Community on June 25 & 26, 2022 to celebrate the Wild and Scenic Status of the Wood-Pawcatuck Waterways. Cassius Spears, Jr. is the First Councilman for the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island and is passionate about land stewardship, conservation, and traditional foodways in Rhode Island. His paternal side taught him compassion by practicing respect for the land, water, and the soil. His maternal side taught him humility by encouraging him to participate in community, ceremony, and public service. This knowledge helped him understand conservation as a spiritual relationship between people and place. Cassius sees foodways as society’s direct connection to regenerative conservation and believes that Indigenous socio-ecological relationships are a model for sustainability. Cassius graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 2010 with a B.S. in Environmental Management and Science. He is the Narragansett Indian Tribal delegate for the National Congress of American Indians and has served on the Board of Director for the United Southern and Eastern Tribes since 2015. Cassius works for the Natural Resource Conservation Service as a District Conservationist.