Lorén M. Spears (
Narragansett/
Niantic Niantic may refer to:
* Niantic people, tribe of American Indians
* Niantic, Inc., mobile app developer known for the mobile games ''Ingress'' and ''Pokémon Go''
Ships
* ''Niantic'' (whaling vessel), relic of San Francisco Gold Rush
*USS ''Ni ...
) is an educator, essayist, artist, and two-term Tribal Councilwoman of the
Narragansett Tribe in
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...
, where she currently resides. Spears has taught for over two decades, including 12 years in the
Newport Public School system working with at-risk children in both first and fourth grades. In 2010, Spears was chosen as one of 11 Extraordinary Women honorees for Rhode Island in the area of education.
Education
Spears is a graduate of
Chariho High School
Chariho High School is a public high school located in the rural village of Wood River Junction, Rhode Island, in the town of Richmond. It is part of the Chariho Regional School District, serving the towns of Charlestown, Richmond, and Hopkint ...
, located in Richmond, Rhode Island. She earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education at the
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Isla ...
(1988) and went on to earn her master's degree, also in education, at the
University of New England, graduating there in 2002.
Career and accomplishments
In addition to her years spent teaching, Spears has devoted much time to strongly advocating for integrating more Native history and experiential learning into school curricula. Spears is quoted as remembering, “...being in a history class during my elementary days and actually reading that I supposedly didn’t exist, that my family didn’t exist, that my people didn’t exist.” She has spent much of her adult life, therefore, "correcting that misimpression."
Furthermore, Spears works as the Executive Director and curator of the
Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum
The Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum is an Indigenous museum in Exeter, Rhode Island. The museum was founded by anthropologist Eva Butler and a Narragansett and Wampanoag woman named Princess Red Wing in the 1950s.
It is one of the oldest tribal ...
in
Exeter, Rhode Island
Exeter is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. Exeter extends east from the Connecticut border to the town of North Kingstown. It is bordered to the north by West Greenwich and East Greenwich, and to the south by Hopkinton ...
.
The museum was the site of a private, state-certified school, the Nuweetooun (Narragansett for "Our Home") School, which Spears ran from 2003 to 2010. According to an article by fellow Narragansett mover
John Christian Hopkins, the school was founded by Spears with the help of the Narragansett community and donations from many groups, including a local charity, the Narragansett Tribe, as well as the Rhode Island Foundation.
Though Spears is Narragansett, the school is not linked to any particular tribe.
Nuweetooun gave K-8 Native children an experiential, collaborative curriculum based in Native American traditions and culture, as well as standard academic subjects (i.e. Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, Health and Science).
In March 2010, the Supreme Court made a ruling that led to the removal of 31 acres of land out of trust from the Narragansett reservation in Charlestown. Since the tribe had much less land for money-making ventures, they had less money to provide to the school.
In addition, in 2010 Rhode Island was hit with devastating floods, which ultimately forced the school to go on hiatus, where it remains today.
Spears was appointed by
Gina Raimondo
Gina Marie Raimondo (; born May 17, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and venture capitalist who has served as the 40th United States Secretary of Commerce since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 75th g ...
to serve on the Board of the RI State Council on the Arts and issued as a board member on The Pell Center's Story in the Public Square and South County Tourism Council.
Works
* Spears co-wrote an article in ''Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals'' with Amanda Thompson about the Tomaquag Museum’s praxis for decolonizing its collections management policy, led by Spears’ intellectual labor.
* Along with other Narragansett tribal members, Spears also collaborated with artist Holly Ewald and the
Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum
The Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum is an Indigenous museum in Exeter, Rhode Island. The museum was founded by anthropologist Eva Butler and a Narragansett and Wampanoag woman named Princess Red Wing in the 1950s.
It is one of the oldest tribal ...
to create ''Through Our Eyes: An Indigenous View of Mashapaug Pond'',
a book of collage art, including poetry, photography and stamping, that tells the Indigenous history of Mashapaug Pond.
* Spears has an essay published in ''The Pursuit of Happiness: An Indigenous View: The Narragansett People Speak'', (2005, by Dawn Dove and other Narragansett authors/artists), entitled "Pursuit of Happiness: An Indigenous View on Education." An excerpt from this same essay is also published in ''Dawnland Voices: An Anthology of Indigenous Writing from New England (''editor Siobhan Senier, 2014), along with one of Spears' poems and poems by her young students.
Awards and honors
In June 2005, Spears received the Feinstein Salute to Teachers, Teacher of the Month. In 2006, she earned the Native Heritage Gathering Award. Furthermore, in 2010, Spears was chosen as one of eleven Extraordinary Women honorees for Rhode Island in the area of teaching and education.
References
External links
Nuweetooun Schoolwebpage and archive
*Website of th
Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spears, Lorén
Living people
20th-century American educators
21st-century American educators
21st-century American essayists
21st-century American women writers
American women essayists
Narragansett people
Native American activists
Native American women writers
Schoolteachers from Rhode Island
21st-century American women educators
Writers from Rhode Island
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
20th-century American women educators
21st-century Native American women
21st-century Native American writers
21st-century Native American artists