by 
William E. Cook Vice President, American Institute for Maritime Studies | Mystic Seaport Museum
Panelist | Reimagining Museums
Akeia de Barros Gomes is the William E. Cook Vice President of the American Institute for Maritime Studies at Mystic Seaport Museum, the director of the Frank C. Munson Institute of American Maritime Studies, and a visiting scholar and adjunct lecturer at Brown University’s Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. Her recent exhibition, Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty and the Sea, is a multi-year Mellon Foundation-funded project that recovers the history of the founding and development of the Dawnland (New England) through Indigenous, African, and African-descended maritime perspectives. This project is a cooperative effort with individuals in Dawnland Indigenous, African, and African-descended communities. De Barros Gomes is responsible for providing strategic vision and intellectual thought leadership to Mystic Seaport Museum’s library, research, curatorial, and exhibitions departments by overseeing professionals dedicated to advancing the museum’s academic presence in maritime studies. She also leads the development of maritime education, as well as sharing findings and stories with museum visitors through exhibitions and programming. De Barros Gomes taught as professor of American Studies and professor of Psychology and Human Development at Wheelock College from 2008 to 2017.
