When Eugene (Jean) Foggo Simon comes home to Bermuda for a break from her high-profile work in Oberlin, Ohio she has to spread herself around in 1,000 different directions, besieged by a host of family, friends and admirers.

That did not stop her, however, during a lightning visit this past week from going to the Bermuda Library in Hamilton to make a formal presentation of the book Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage written by William Loren Katz.

Mr. Katz and Jean have been in close collaboration in pursuit of their common interest in Native American history. She is a Bermuda Pequot, a native of St. David's Island, and an author in her own right. He is an internationally renowned educator and lecturer on Native American history, who is best known for his 40-plus history books, including such award-winning classics as The Black West, Black Women of the Old West, and, of course, Black Indians.

Jean (right) was educated in Bermuda at the old Howard Academy, Bermuda College, Wilberforce University and Kent State University. She is an internationally certified municipal clerk, who only recently retired after working for 22 years for the City Council of the City of Oberlin.

Having retired, somewhat, Jean is now better positioned to focus on her work as chair of the Oberlin City's Records Commission and volunteer service with the city's Heritage Centre where she serves as the executive board's vice-president. And over and above all else, she maintains a hectic schedule speaking at various colleges and universities throughout the United States about her research, and published work, The Legacy of St.David's Islanders, Bermuda: Their Voices Are Not Silent.

Jean is the principal researcher for the St. David's Island Indian Committee. It was while doing a personal genealogy and family history as a hobby years ago that she found a connection from her family to Native American tribes in North America. Most particularly were the links with the Pequot Tribe of Mashantucket, Connecticut; the Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island and the Wampanoag Tribes of Mashpee and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

She was invited to meet members of the tribes and consequently facilitated a visit for them to Bermuda. These resulted in educational exchanges, three Native American Festivals on St. David's Island and a reconnection has been made with the Native Americans especially from those three territories.

Jean has researched and made numerous presentations on Native American slavery in Bermuda. She has explored the diversity of ethnic groups that have made up the populations on St. David's Island, showing how through intermarriage and enslavement, native cultures have struggled to maintain a distinctive identity in the otherwise mixed population of St. David's Islanders.

The paths of Mr. Katz and Jean crossed dynamically at the University of Kansas where both gave presentations at a conference entitled The First and the Forced. They were essays on the Native American and African American experiences, which have since been incorporated in and e-book of the same name, along with eight other essays that were presented by scholars from around the world.

Mr. Katz, among other things, has been a consultant to the Smithsonian Institute, a committee of Britain's House of Commons, and a committee for the US Senate. He has served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Teachers' College, Columbia University and more recently at New York University.

Many conversations between Mr. Katz and Jean have taken place about her research, and she told this writer of their hope that presentation of his classic Black Indians to the Bermuda Library would help instill in others the desire and drive to look into their individual cultures and be proud of their heritage.

My photo at left show Jean Foggo Simon as she made her presentation of William Loren Katz's classic Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage to Ellen Jane Hollis, Assistant Librarian, Technical Service at the Bermuda Library. Enthusiastic family members accompanying Jean are, from left, Carmen Welch, Millicent Ball (Jean's sister), Janet and Jasmine DeBraga, children Jessie DeBraga and Zakhai Ball.