Julianne Jennings, Black Indian Artist and Educator

Julianne Jennings is a Nottoway- E. Pequot artist and educator with African and European heritage.

Ms. Jennings has been teaching children and adults about the history and culture of the Native people in Southern New England for over 15 years. In 2001,  Ms. Jennings was selected for inclusion in Who’s Who in America for her outstanding contributions to Native America.

She served as associate producer (RI location) for the Emmy Award winning PBS documentary called Mystic Voices: The Story of the Pequot War (co-produced by Wiltonwoods Productions and Sasco Creek Productions, 2005), where Ms. Jennings wrote and performed several original songs in the lost languages of Massachusett, Narragansett and Pequot as well as portray the character Wyncombon, a prominent 17th century Pequot woman. She is the author of numerous journal articles and several books on Native Southern New England, where she has co-authored with Dr. Frank O’Brien, “Algonquian Indian Words (New England), 1999 and “A Cultural History of the Native People of Southern New England,” 2007.In 2007, Julianne Jennings received Eve Ensler’s “Vagina Warrior” Award presented by Rhode Island College for her outstanding advocacy against violence and sexual assault against Native American women. In 2008, Ms. Jennings became Rhode Island College’s first Native American to graduate with a Master of Arts Degree in anthropology. As an undergraduate major she distinguished herself with the departments James Huston Award in anthropology, the first Native American recipient to receive this distinction from Rhode Island College. In 2009, she received special congressional recognition from the United States Senate for her outstanding achievements in cultural enrichment as part of the “Extraordinary Woman” Award event. Ms. Jennings is a contributing columnist for Indian Country Today Media Network. She continues to work towards her Ph.D. in anthropology.Her work has been supported by the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities, The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, The Rhode Island Foundation, Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology (Brown University), RISD and others.

SOURCE:  Based on materials provided by Julianne Jennings

 Note: *We refer to people of African and Native American Indian heritage as Afro Native sometimes on this website. Many refer to people of both ancestry as Black Indians, African Native Americans or Black American Indians.