2025 Honorees

Storyteller Thawn Sherenté Harris, a citizen of the Narragansett Tribe, shares his culture with the greater community through oral history, traditional song, and dance. He lives together with his wife of 28 years, Eleanor Dove Harris, and their seven children adjacent to their tribal lands, where they pass on the values and cultural lifeways of their people. 

Following in the traditions of his ancestors, Thawn plays the cedar flute and hand-drum and is a social dancer and singer. Thawn's storytelling and cultural performances include the New England Foundation for the Arts, Rhythm & Roots Music Festival, and Rhode Island Public Libraries, in addition to many New England schools, post-secondary institutions, organizations, and corporations.

His awards include World Champion Eastern War Dancer (2006) and the Motif Favorite Cultural Storyteller of the Year (2023). Thawn has traveled as a cultural ambassador to Tanzania with the University of Rhode Island's (URI) Coastal Resources Exchange Program. A graduate of URI, Thawn is currently a Physical Education Advisor at the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center in Rhode Island.

Linford D. Fisher is Associate Professor of History at Brown University. He is the author of The Indian Great Awakening: Religion and the Shaping of Native Cultures in Early America (2012), the co-author of Decoding Roger Williams: The Lost Essay of Rhode Island's Founding Father (2014), and the co-editor of Reading Roger Williams: Rogue Puritans, Indigenous Nations, and the Founding of America – A Documentary History (2024), as well as more than a dozen articles and chapters. Fisher is the Principal Investigator of a digital project titled Stolen Relations: Recovering Stories of Indigenous Enslavement in the Americas (stolenrelations.org), which is a community-centered, tribal-collaborative project that seeks to broaden our understanding of Indigenous experiences of settler colonialism and its legacies through the lens of slavery and servitude. He is currently finishing a book-length project, titled Stealing America: The Hidden Story of Indigenous Slavery in American History (forthcoming in 2026), on the dual stealing of Native lands and people between Columbus and the Indian Child Welfare Act.

U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) is Rhode Island’s senior senator and a national leader on housing and economic issues; funding for public libraries and museums; and defense and national security.

Senator Reed graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (BS, ’71); the John F. Kennedy School of Government (MPP, ’73); and Harvard Law School (JD, ’81).

Reed served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division as an Infantry Platoon Leader, a Company Commander, and a Battalion Staff Officer. 

After teaching at West Point, retiring from active duty, practicing law, and serving at several levels of government, he succeeded Claiborne Pell (D-RI) as Rhode Island’s 46th U.S. Senator.

In addition to serving as the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Reed is a key member of the powerful Appropriations Committee where he helps oversee federal funding for museums and libraries.  He also serves on the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee and is an ex-officio member of the Select Committee on Intelligence.

Time magazine has called Reed “a serious, intellectually honest veteran and an expert on defense issues in the Senate,” and The New York Times has described him as “a quiet dealmaker respected by colleagues in both parties.”

Duffy & Sweeney, LTD provides strategic legal counsel and personalized attention to U.S. and international businesses and individuals ranging from start-ups and emerging growth entities to established, private and public companies. 

We successfully represent clients in a wide range of legal services spanning business law and litigation, throughout the region, the nation and the globe. We continue to be in the forefront of cases of first impression and contemporary issues at the intersection of technology and business.

Our firm culture fosters a work-life blend and affords our attorneys the opportunity to take ownership of their work while growing and developing their professional skills in a supportive, mentoring environment. We are deeply committed to both civic and charitable activities where we work and live,  contributing our time and energy -- as a firm -- to a wide range of community groups.

We encourage our attorneys to become active in the community, following their individual passions for public service; our attorneys have been involved in volunteer and board positions for causes that range from historic preservation to youth development/leadership to environmental advocacy and more.

Rodney A. Butler is the Chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation since January, 2010. Mr.  Butler's service on Tribal Council began in 2004, one year later in 2005, he was appointed Tribal Council  Treasurer; a position he held through 2009. During his tenure, Mr. Butler chaired the Tribe's Finance,  Housing and Judicial Committees, the MPTN Utility Authority, and served as an Interim CEO for  Foxwoods Resort Casino. 

Mr. Butler earned his Bachelor's Degree in Finance from the University of Connecticut where he played  Defensive Back for the UConn Huskies' football team. Prior to Tribal Council, Butler worked in the  finance department at Foxwoods Resort Casino. He later became Chairman of the Tribal Business  Advisory Board; an executive body responsible for overseeing the Tribe's non-gaming businesses and  commercial properties. Butler was actively involved in multiple resort expansions at Foxwoods, as well  as community development initiatives on the Reservation, the establishment of the Mashantucket  (Western) Pequot Tribe Endowment Trust, and the legalization of Sports Betting and iGaming in the  state of Connecticut. He was also a participant in Harvard Business School’s program: "Leading People  and Investing to Build Sustainable Communities" and is a regular speaker on national panels related to  Native American issues. 

Chairman Butler presently serves on the Board of Directors for Mashantucket Pequot Interactive and is  on the board of Foxwoods El San Juan Casino. He also serves as the President of NAFOA, as Alternate  Vice President for the National Congress of American Indians and on the boards for the United South  and Eastern Tribes, Indian Gaming Association, American Gaming Association, the Mystic Aquarium, and  the United Way of Southeastern Connecticut. He is the 2019 recipient of the Citizen of the Year award  from the Eastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce, and the National Indian Gaming Association's  John Kieffer Sovereignty Award. In 2018, he received the St. Edmund's Medal of Honor Award from the  Enders Island Retreat Center. In 2017, Chairman Butler was appointed "Tribal Leader of the Year" by the  Native American Finance Officers Association.  

As Chairman, Butler's primary focus is to ensure long-term stability for the Tribe's citizens, government,  and business enterprises.

Evan McManamy’s volunteer work at the Tomaquag Museum focuses on donor database management. When not volunteering with Tomaquag, Evan helps to direct CartwheelRI (cartwheelri.org), a worker-cooperative food-access nonprofit and volunteers with Idle No More Washington. Evan works as a clinical social worker in his psychotherapy practice.