Wanda Hopkins is a citizen of the Narragansett Indian Tribal Nation, mother of three adult children and grandmother of three. She has served in Tribal Government and has ministered at the Narragansett Indian Church for twenty-five years. She and her family participate in Indigenous cultural arts education, civic activism, and community service. Wanda is a Native American Community Advisor to both URI and Tomaquag Museum. She has offered her voice as a culture bearer at churches, schools, and civic organizations in Rhode Island, US, and Canada. Wanda holds a BA in English from University of Rhode Island where she is currently pursuing a MA. Her research interests include regional Indigenous literature and its impact on national and local Indigenous movements, acts, laws, and agendas. Her future research interests include writing biographies for her Narragansett relatives interred in the historic Babcock Cemetery (Hopkinton, RI). She advocates for meaningful collaborative projects between the state and Indigenous citizens to promote mutual wellness. Wanda believes that working together is more important now than ever in the face of environmental, economic, and social challenges. •
Photo courtesy of Wanda Hopkins.
