The John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage

Founded as the John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization in 1979, and part of Brown University since 1995, the Public Humanities Center awards M.A. degrees in the Public Humanities.  The Center is the leading graduate program in the Public Humanities, and in addition to its coursework in digital humanities, museum skills, informal learning, cultural policy, public art and nonprofit management, the Center develops research initiatives, exhibitions and public programs with local and national partners in public history, culture and the arts.

The American Studies Department at Brown University

Established in 1945 as a doctoral program in “American Civilization”, we are the oldest interdisciplinary academic unit at Brown and the third oldest American Studies program in the country. We now offer two undergraduate concentrations and three graduate degrees, working principally in three areas: American Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Public Humanities. Renowned for our transnational approach, for our innovative research on race and ethnicity, and for our critically and publicly engaged scholarship and courses, we also maintain a broad and comprehensive strength across all fields and specializations. 

The Brown Arts Initiative

The Brown Arts Initiative’s Fitt Artist-in-Residence Grant provided partial funding to bring Gwen MacGregor and Sandra Rechico to Providence for an arts residency that culminates in the exhibition Map It Out — Providence. The Brown Arts Initiative, established in 2017, builds on over a decade of work fostered by the Creative Arts Council and represents the full breadth of the performing, literary and visual arts at Brown.

Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice

The Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice (CSSJ) is a scholarly research center with a public humanities mission. Recognizing that racial and chattel slavery were central to the historical formation of the Americas and the modern world, the CSSJ creates a space for the interdisciplinary study of the historical forms of slavery while also examining how these legacies shape our contemporary world.

Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America

The Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University supports and generates rigorous and accessible research, performance, art and scholarship on a broad range of pressing issues related to race and ethnicity to help build greater understanding and a more just world.