Cassius Spears

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Narragansett

PANEL: Indigenous Farm to Table

BIOGRAPHY
Cassius Champlin Spears Sr. has dedicated his life to the preservation of Narragansett culture throughout New England and the world. He has served as Cultural Advisor for numerous educational projects, including the PBS documentary “We Shall Remain – After the Mayflower.” Spears has remained active in the practice of ethnobotany, traditional home building, and has demonstrated eastern woodlands culture at powwows, museums, college campuses, and film sets across North America. In 2014, Cassius and his wife formed the Narragansett Food Sovereignty Initiative, a farm-based organization devoted to reclaiming food and cultural ways for Narragansett people. They currently own and operate Ashawaug Farm in Ashaway, RI.

Spears’ passion for healthy traditional lifeways led to the establishment of the Narragansett Food Sovereignty Initiative­ in 2014, a farm-based organization with a primary focus on sustaining a healthy community through traditional lifeways and relationships inherent to Tribal people. He currently owns and operates Ashawauf Farm in Ashaway, RI. Spears represented the Narragansett community in Marrakech, Morocco, at the COP22, UNESCO preconference, sharing the effects of climate change from the Narragansett perspective. He was appointed to serve on the Regional Tribal Conservation Advisory Committee(RTCAC) and the National Association Conservation District (NACD) Tribal Policy Group for the Eastern Region. He is a 2017 Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) Fellow and a fellow of NACD’s Next Generation Leadership Institute (NGLI). In addition, he also serves on the Native Land Conservancy and is President of Rhode Island Association Conservation District (RIACD).