Brown historian Mack Scott seeks elusive truth about the history of blacks and indigenous people in New England

With Charlestown and Narragansett Tribal roots, he describes himself as an “actualist” (as in, “Actually, this is what happened.”)

By Kristen Curry

Historian Mack Scott ’02 describes himself as an “actualist.”
His varied research interests share a common thread—mending
ruptures in the fabric of dominant historical narratives through
stories that have been neglected or erased. His goal is a more
complete history—one that strives to document what actually happened.

Mack Scott III ’02 didn’t come to URI planning to teach.

After graduating from Chariho High School in Richmond, R.I., Scott came to URI on a football scholarship. He recalls appreciating history professor Robert Weisbord’s African American history course, even if a comment from the professor rankled some of the other football players in the class.

“If you’re at this school to play in the NFL,” Weisbord told them, “you need to take your studies seriously.”

“We were a little offended,” Scott recalls, laughing.

Later, that advice proved prophetic. Scott suffered an injury and realized he needed to reevaluate his plans. “I realized my college studies needed to be important,” he says. “This work did matter.”

Around that time, a conversation with Sharon Forleo ’72, M.A. ’94, who was then the assistant director of URI’s Talent Development (TD) program, pointed him toward a new major: education.

“Mack had, and still has, a steady, thoughtful responsiveness to things,” says Forleo, who retired from her position with TD in 2016. “He listened, and that’s an unusual youthful quality. Mack’s way of thinking and communicating is what led me to ask him about teaching.”

Scott says Forleo’s suggestion was a good one—education was a great fit for him. He enjoyed the courses and practicum, as well as the other students in the program: “I benefited as much from the students I was with as from my professors,” he notes.

After graduating from URI, Scott taught high school history in Connecticut and, later, Virginia, coaching football after the bell rang. He participated in a program that aimed to improve the teaching of history, offered in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University, which offered him an opportunity to pursue a graduate degree there. Despite the challenges of evening studies with a full-time job, Scott obtained his master’s at VCU. He received his doctoral degree in history from Kansas State University in 2019.

Today, Scott is a historian at Brown University, though he describes himself as an “actualist” (as in, “Actually, this is what happened.”). He directs Brown’s new critical Native American and Indigenous studies undergraduate concentration and is a popular professor on campus—students appreciate his warm teaching style, honed during his years as a high school teacher.

Scott also enjoys returning to URI to talk to students. Bobby Britto-Oliveira ’06, M.S. ’11, assistant director of URI’s Multicultural Student Services Center, calls him an invaluable resource.

“My experience at URI was formative,” Scott states. “I arrived on campus believing I knew who I was and what I wanted from life. However, the lessons I learned and the relationships I cultivated on campus profoundly changed me.”

A member of the Narragansett Indian Tribe, Scott is working on a project that traces the Narragansett Nation from the pre-Colonial to the modern era. He has also taught and conducted research on African American and Black experience and history.

Scott is currently working on a project called Reimagining New England Histories: Historical Injustice, Sovereignty and Freedom. The online K–12 curriculum project and anthology focus on Black and Indigenous history in New England.

Scott says that many stories about the diverse history of the Dawnland—the area known today as New England—remain hidden, erased in the dominant historical narratives that students are taught. Reimagining New England lesson plan topics include murals and memory in Providence, people of color in the maritime world, and shifting narratives around Thanksgiving. Each lesson is adaptable and aligned to standards.

Scott says teachers may not feel prepared to teach this history if they don’t possess Indigenous heritage or haven’t taken classes in it. Presented at the 2024 National Council for the Social Studies conference in Boston, the Reimagining New England curriculum is available at no cost as a resource for educators anywhere.

“The historical narrative that people are exposed to in school covers a lot of experiences, but there is more,” Scott says. “Sometimes that narrative is not a cohesive one; there are ruptures in the fabric that can be easy to gloss over. It’s important to offer a fuller sense of history, to describe what actually happened and not avoid the difficult parts.”

“History is about stories,” he says. “We use them in education to teach people. What is great about being a classroom teacher is that you have to keep students engaged with stories. But you also have to make sure that what you’re teaching matters. Students always want to know—and you need to demonstrate—why these stories matter today.”