The following is the transcript of the Commencement toast given by Matt Branch A.M. ‘21, for the Public Humanities Commencement Celebration on April 30, 2021. In addition to being a graduating member of the class of 2021, Matt is the Associate Director of Student Activities at Brown, where he supports students in extracurricular programming and events. He is an educator, an artists administrator, and a cultural strategist working at Brown University and with Black South West Network, a race-equity non-profit based in Bristol, United Kingdom.

Steven Lubar is the Director of Brown University Center for Digital Scholarship, and Professor of American Studies and History.

On a chilly but sunny November day ten public humans took a field trip to Little Compton. Marjory O'Toole (2018 MA in Public Humanities) invited us to visit the Little Compton Historical Society to see the organization’s new permanent exhibit, "Everyone Was a Farmer.”

Felicia Bartley is a young Tiwa woman from the Pueblo of Isleta (Shiewip). She is a second-year graduate student in the Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage department and the second-year Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative Fellow. Her current research focuses on the formative history of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, built upon the former grounds of the Albuquerque Indian School.

Sophie Don has been the Administrative and Operations Manager for the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation since completing her MA in Public Humanities at Brown in 2020. She has a personal passion for the mission of PHRF, as her grandparents and other family members are survivors and were involved in the 1964 memorial effort. You can reach Sophie Don at [email protected]org.

Rai Terry is a Black queer visual scholar, audiovisual archivist, and multimedia artist. They are a 2^nd year graduate student in the Public Humanities program and Fellow at the Center for Slavery and Justice. They are engaging the spaces, both physical and digital, that Black queer people occupy and adorn as reclamations of life and freedom.