In this thought-provoking Lunch and Learn session featuring Kimonee M. Burke, a citizen of the Narragansett Indian Tribe and a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at Brown University, Kimonee explores the enduring legacy of tribal churches and their deep significance within Indigenous communities of New England and beyond. Click here for a 59-minute video of her June 23, 2025 Lunch & Learn presentation posted on September 4, 2025 by the Tomaquag Museum.

Tribal churches have long played a central — yet often overlooked — role in the lives of Indigenous peoples. Far more than religious institutions, these churches have functioned as vital spaces for cultural continuity, community governance, and political resistance.

Kimonee examines how Native communities, particularly in the Northeast, have engaged with Christianity on their own terms — adapting and transforming it into something distinctly Indigenous.

Through a lens rooted in historical scholarship and personal heritage, she traces the complex intersections of faith, colonization, federal Indian policy, and tribal sovereignty.