WWBA is delighted to present our Fall Humanities Book Series, The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History by Ned Blackhawk. A sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essential to understanding the evolution of modern America. The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This long practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, with a new generation of scholars insists that any full American history address the struggle, survival, and resurgence of American Indian nations. Indigenous history is essential to understanding the evolution of modern America. Ned Blackhawk interweaves five centuries of Native and non‑Native histories, from Spanish colonial exploration to the rise of Native American self-determination in the late twentieth century.

Thursday evening 7:00-8:30PM
ZOOM: 9/14, 9/28, 10/5, 10/19, 11/2
IN-PERSON AT THE BIRTHPLACE: 11/16  

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947094190

Meeting ID: 899 4709 4190

One tap mobile
+16465588656,,89947094190# US (New York)
+16469313860,,89947094190# US

Dial by your location
• +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
• +1 646 931 3860 US
• +1 309 205 3325 US
• +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
• +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
• +1 305 224 1968 US
• +1 360 209 5623 US
• +1 386 347 5053 US
• +1 507 473 4847 US
• +1 564 217 2000 US
• +1 669 444 9171 US
• +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
• +1 689 278 1000 US
• +1 719 359 4580 US
• +1 253 205 0468 US
• +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
• +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

Meeting ID:
899 4709 4190

Find your local number:
https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdtSgpNezx

Book: The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History

• Register online at  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_5eOagsHdUDeC3a-g7vhOBZ68ZT0oN7ae93rIwP_TWs/edit
• Watch for the ZOOM link from  events@waltwhitman.org. The link will be sent the first week of the book discussion. The same link will be used for all 6 sessions.
• Purchase a copy of The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History by Ned Blackhawk online, or borrow a copy from your local
• Free registration (Suggested $5.00 donation for the series: https://www.waltwhitman.org/donate/)

Educator Mandy Jackson is a member of the Montaukett Indian Nation and facilitator/discussion leader of the Montaukett Indian Nation Book Club. She is a member of the Montaukett Womens Circle, served as a member of the Suffolk County Native American Advisory Board, and is an advocate for the Montaukett people. Additional outreach includes participation in the virtual presentation “Exploring the Spring Sky: A Northeastern Native American Perspective” in collaboration with the Hamptons Observatory and Amagansett Library. As facilitator/moderator of discussion related to an Indigenous film documentary, including book and panelist discussion Bayshore- Brightwaters Library, New York “Communication, interaction, discussion…”(Newsday, “The Pages of History, February 27, 2023, pg.E3).

Syllabus and Schedule

Week 1:  September 14th – Part 1- Intro, Chapters 1 & 2

Introduction   1

American Genesis: Indians and the Spanish Borderlands   pg. 17
The Native Northeast and the Rise of British North America   pg. 48

Week 2:  September 28th – Chapters 3 & 4

The Unpredictability of Violence: Iroquoia and New France to 1701   pg. 73
The Native Inland Sea: The Struggle for the Heart of the Continent   pg. 106

Week 3:  October 5th – Chapters 5 & 6

Settler Uprising: The Indigenous Origins of the American Revolution   pg. 139
Colonialism’s Constitution: The Origins of Federal Indian Policy  pg. 176

Week 4:  October 19th – Part II- Struggles For Sovereignty – Chapters 7 & 8

The Deluge of Settler Colonialism: Democracy and Dispossession in the Early Republic   pg. 211
Foreign Policy Formations: California, the Pacific, and the Borderlands Origins of the Monroe Doctrine   pg. 250

Week 5:  November 2nd – Chapters 9 & 10

Collapse and Total War: The Indigenous West and the U.S. Civil War  pg. 289
Taking Children and Treaty Lands: Laws and Federal Power during the Reservation Era  pg. 329

Week 6:  November 16th – Chapters 11 & 12 Wrap / Roundtable (In-person at WWBA)

Indigenous Twilight at the Dawn of the Dawn of the Century: Native Activists and the Myth of Indian Disappearance   pg. 365
From Termination to Self-Determination: Native American Sovereignty in the Cold War Era   pg. 408

This Series is Sponsored by a Humanities New York Reading and Discussion Grant 

October 14, 2023 – Our 4th program in WWBA 2023 Series: Legacy of Long Island’s First Peoples –  Long Island Native Americans and Missionaries featuring Dr. Linford Fisher, PhD.

In Dr. Linford Fisher’s book, The Indian Great Awakening, he discusses Native religious engagement, and how essential it is in understanding Native’s involvement in the Great Awakening.  By August 1741, Azariah Horton, born in Southold was employed as a missionary by the Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SSPCK).  He set out from Jamaica for Montauk preaching to numerous Native American clusters along the South Shore.  Fisher will introduce a few lay ministers, exhorters, and educators such as, Paul Cuffee, Cyrus Charles, Peter John, Sampson Occom, and more, as he presents the missionaries serving the Long Island Native American community.

This is a FREE event.

Dr. Linford Fisher, PhD. is an 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) and the co-author of Decoding Roger Williams: The Lost Essay of Rhode Island’s Founding Father (2014). Fisher is the Principal Investigator of a digital project titled Stolen Relations: Recovering Stories of Indigenous Enslavement in the Americas, which is a community-centered, collaborative project that seeks to broaden our understanding of Indigenous experiences of settler colonialism and its legacies through the lens of slavery and servitude. Fisher is the author of more than a dozen articles, book chapters, and essays on a diverse array of topics. He is currently finishing a book-length project, tentatively titled America Enslaved: Native Slavery in the English Caribbean and the United States, on Native American enslavement in English colonies in North America and the Caribbean and, later, in the United States, between Columbus and the American Civil War.

This event is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by The Huntington Arts Council, Inc.

Join us Saturday, October 7th, and Sunday, October 8th, for New York State’s Path Through History! Walt Whitman Birthplace Association will have old fashion toys from the era of Walt’s childhood for children to play with as well as videos showcasing the way of life from that time.

The Whitman family roots on this part of Long Island date back to the early 17th century. Walt Whitman’s ancestors were farmers, served in the militia, and were active members of their community. Some time after Walt’s parents Walter and Louisa had married in 1816, they set up housekeeping in this simple, Federal-style home. They had three children here. Their second son, Walter Jr., who was to establish a great literary career, was born in 1819.

When the Whitman family moved to Brooklyn in 1823, Walter Sr. sold the property to Carlton Jarvis whose descendants retained it throughout the 19th century. After 1899 the house exchanged ownership several times. The kitchen wing was torn down prior to 1908. Recognizing the structure’s vulnerability, the Huntington Historical Society spearheaded local interest in protecting the property. Attracted to its historical associations, John and Georgia Watson purchased the house and lived there for over 30 years.

In the 1940’s, plans were made to purchase the house and turn it into a historic site. In October 1951, the newly chartered Walt Whitman Birthplace Association acquired the house and grounds. In April 1957, Governor Harriman signed a bill for the state to assume ownership, and on September 28, 1957, it became New York’s 22nd state historic site.

Make a meaningful gift to support our poetry programs:  https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2197152

This program is made possible with funds from Poets and Writers, NY State Parks, Suffolk County, Town of Huntington, and NYS Council on the Arts through Huntington Arts Council.

WWBA is delighted to present our Fall Humanities Book Series, The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History by Ned Blackhawk.  A sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essential to understanding the evolution of modern America. The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This long practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, with a new generation of scholars insists that any full American history address the struggle, survival, and resurgence of American Indian nations. Indigenous history is essential to understanding the evolution of modern America. Ned Blackhawk interweaves five centuries of Native and non‑Native histories, from Spanish colonial exploration to the rise of Native American self-determination in the late twentieth century.

Thursday evening 7:00-8:30PM
ZOOM: 9/14, 9/28, 10/5, 10/19, 11/2
IN-PERSON AT THE BIRTHPLACE: 11/16  

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947094190

Meeting ID: 899 4709 4190

One tap mobile
+16465588656,,89947094190# US (New York)
+16469313860,,89947094190# US

Dial by your location
• +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
• +1 646 931 3860 US
• +1 309 205 3325 US
• +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
• +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
• +1 305 224 1968 US
• +1 360 209 5623 US
• +1 386 347 5053 US
• +1 507 473 4847 US
• +1 564 217 2000 US
• +1 669 444 9171 US
• +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
• +1 689 278 1000 US
• +1 719 359 4580 US
• +1 253 205 0468 US
• +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
• +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

Meeting ID:
899 4709 4190

Find your local number:
https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdtSgpNezx

Book: The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History

• Register online at  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_5eOagsHdUDeC3a-g7vhOBZ68ZT0oN7ae93rIwP_TWs/edit
• Watch for the ZOOM link from  events@waltwhitman.org. The link will be sent the first week of the book discussion. The same link will be used for all 6 sessions.
• Purchase a copy of The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History by Ned Blackhawk online, or borrow a copy from your local
• Free registration (Suggested $5.00 donation for the series: https://www.waltwhitman.org/donate/)

Educator Mandy Jackson is a member of the Montaukett Indian Nation and facilitator/discussion leader of the Montaukett Indian Nation Book Club. She is a member of the Montaukett Womens Circle, served as a member of the Suffolk County Native American Advisory Board, and is an advocate for the Montaukett people. Additional outreach includes participation in the virtual presentation “Exploring the Spring Sky: A Northeastern Native American Perspective” in collaboration with the Hamptons Observatory and Amagansett Library. As facilitator/moderator of discussion related to an Indigenous film documentary, including book and panelist discussion Bayshore- Brightwaters Library, New York “Communication, interaction, discussion…”(Newsday, “The Pages of History, February 27, 2023, pg.E3).

Syllabus and Schedule

Week 1:  September 14th – Part 1- Intro, Chapters 1 & 2

Introduction   1

American Genesis: Indians and the Spanish Borderlands   pg. 17
The Native Northeast and the Rise of British North America   pg. 48

Week 2:  September 28th – Chapters 3 & 4

The Unpredictability of Violence: Iroquoia and New France to 1701   pg. 73
The Native Inland Sea: The Struggle for the Heart of the Continent   pg. 106

Week 3:  October 5th – Chapters 5 & 6

Settler Uprising: The Indigenous Origins of the American Revolution   pg. 139
Colonialism’s Constitution: The Origins of Federal Indian Policy  pg. 176

Week 4:  October 19th – Part II- Struggles For Sovereignty – Chapters 7 & 8

The Deluge of Settler Colonialism: Democracy and Dispossession in the Early Republic   pg. 211
Foreign Policy Formations: California, the Pacific, and the Borderlands Origins of the Monroe Doctrine   pg. 250

Week 5:  November 2nd – Chapters 9 & 10

Collapse and Total War: The Indigenous West and the U.S. Civil War  pg. 289
Taking Children and Treaty Lands: Laws and Federal Power during the Reservation Era  pg. 329

Week 6:  November 16th – Chapters 11 & 12 Wrap / Roundtable (In-person at WWBA)

Indigenous Twilight at the Dawn of the Dawn of the Century: Native Activists and the Myth of Indian Disappearance   pg. 365
From Termination to Self-Determination: Native American Sovereignty in the Cold War Era   pg. 408

This Series is Sponsored by a Humanities New York Reading and Discussion Grant 

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED BY AUTHOR

 Tom Piazza in-person reading, Q&A, and book signing

It is 1883, and America is at a crossroads. At a tiny college in Upstate New York, an idealistic young professor has managed to convince Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Confederate memoirist Forrest Taylor, and romance novelist Lucy Comstock to participate in the first (and last) Auburn Writers’ Conference for a public discussion about the future of the nation. By turns brilliantly comic and startlingly prescient, The Auburn Conference vibrates with questions as alive and urgent today as they were in 1883—the chronic American conundrums of race, class, and gender, and the fate of the democratic ideal.

Tom Piazza is celebrated both as a novelist and as a writer on American music. His twelve books include the novels The Auburn Conference and City OfRefuge, the short-story collection Blues and Trouble, the post-Katrina manifesto Why New Orleans Matters, and the essay collection Devil Sent The Rain: Music and Writing in Desperate America. He was a principal writer for the innovative New Orleans-based HBO drama series TREME, and the winner of a Grammy Award for his album notes to Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey.  He lives in New Orleans.

Join us on Thursday, September 21st, for our 3rd program in WWBA 2023 Series: Legacy of Long Island’s First Peoples, Long Island Native Americans’ Boarding School Experience featuring Marguerite Smith, Esq. 

See below for ZOOM link and information.

The Indian Boarding School Movement began with the missionary and charity Indian schools in the New England region in the early 1700s.  Montaukett youth like David, George, and Jacob Fowler experienced being educated by missionaries during the beginning years of the Great Awakening.  By 1819, the US Government got involved and operated 408 Native American Boarding Schools.

These schools were ostensibly created to help “educate” Indian children; however, according to a government report released in 1969, it was a deceptive attempt, “to separate a child from his reservation and family, strip him of his tribal lore and mores, force the complete abandonment of his native language, and prepare him for never again returning to his people.” Moreover, the abuse of these children was so egregious, it is estimated that as many as 40,000 children died in these institutions.   Despite the enormity of these crimes, most people know very little about either the missionary, charity, or the US Government operated schools.

Marguerite Smith, Esq., a respected attorney and advocate for health and justice, will introduce you to the experiences of Shinnecock Nation members, who attended boarding schools in the 1900s. Smith has been a member of the Board of Directors of the First Nations Development Institute, since the mid-1980s and serves as one of its representatives on the Board of First Nations Oweesta Corporation. She is an enrolled Shinnecock, and she maintains her residence on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation.  Smith has been instrumental in advancing Native rights, economic development, cultural preservation and health promotions of her Native Nation and others.

This is a FREE event.

Marguerite Smith is an enrolled citizen of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, involved in many community activities including serving on  “Steering Committee” of Shinnecock Council of Elders”. She was born in Southampton and, after living in NYC, CT, and elsewhere on Long Island, is  residing again on Shinnecock Territory (aka Shinnecock Indian Reservation).  She is a practicing attorney who has long been involved in advocacy on issues concerning Native people, women, children, people of color, for the environment and  involving workplace issues, with individual, corporate, tribal & other governmental clients. She is also Vice-President of the Board of Directors of  First Nations Development Institute, which supports Native projects across United States and promotes  philanthropic efforts of  others.

Zoom Information:

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85866373768

Meeting ID:
858 6637 3768

One tap mobile:
+16465588656,,85866373768# US (New York)
+16469313860,,85866373768# US

Dial by your location:
• +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
• +1 646 931 3860 US
• +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
• +1 305 224 1968 US
• +1 309 205 3325 US
• +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
• +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
• +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
• +1 360 209 5623 US
• +1 386 347 5053 US
• +1 507 473 4847 US
• +1 564 217 2000 US
• +1 669 444 9171 US
• +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
• +1 689 278 1000 US
• +1 719 359 4580 US
• +1 253 205 0468 US

Meeting ID:
858 6637 3768

Find your local number:
https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcKUVeEfUC

This event is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by The Huntington Arts Council, Inc.

WWBA is delighted to present our Fall Humanities Book Series, The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History by Ned Blackhawk. A sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essential to understanding the evolution of modern America. The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This long practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, with a new generation of scholars insists that any full American history address the struggle, survival, and resurgence of American Indian nations. Indigenous history is essential to understanding the evolution of modern America. Ned Blackhawk interweaves five centuries of Native and non‑Native histories, from Spanish colonial exploration to the rise of Native American self-determination in the late twentieth century.

Thursday evening 7:00-8:30PM
ZOOM: 9/14, 9/28, 10/5, 10/19, 11/2
IN-PERSON AT THE BIRTHPLACE: 11/16  

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947094190

Meeting ID: 899 4709 4190

One tap mobile
+16465588656,,89947094190# US (New York)
+16469313860,,89947094190# US

Dial by your location
• +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
• +1 646 931 3860 US
• +1 309 205 3325 US
• +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
• +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
• +1 305 224 1968 US
• +1 360 209 5623 US
• +1 386 347 5053 US
• +1 507 473 4847 US
• +1 564 217 2000 US
• +1 669 444 9171 US
• +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
• +1 689 278 1000 US
• +1 719 359 4580 US
• +1 253 205 0468 US
• +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
• +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

Meeting ID:
899 4709 4190

Find your local number:
https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdtSgpNezx

Book: The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History

• Register online at  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_5eOagsHdUDeC3a-g7vhOBZ68ZT0oN7ae93rIwP_TWs/edit
• Watch for the ZOOM link from  events@waltwhitman.org. The link will be sent the first week of the book discussion. The same link will be used for all 6 sessions.
• Purchase a copy of The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History by Ned Blackhawk online, or borrow a copy from your local
• Free registration (Suggested $5.00 donation for the series: https://www.waltwhitman.org/donate/)

Educator Mandy Jackson is a member of the Montaukett Indian Nation and facilitator/discussion leader of the Montaukett Indian Nation Book Club. She is a member of the Montaukett Womens Circle, served as a member of the Suffolk County Native American Advisory Board, and is an advocate for the Montaukett people. Additional outreach includes participation in the virtual presentation “Exploring the Spring Sky: A Northeastern Native American Perspective” in collaboration with the Hamptons Observatory and Amagansett Library. As facilitator/moderator of discussion related to an Indigenous film documentary, including book and panelist discussion Bayshore- Brightwaters Library, New York “Communication, interaction, discussion…”(Newsday, “The Pages of History, February 27, 2023, pg.E3).

Syllabus and Schedule

Week 1:  September 14th – Part 1- Intro, Chapters 1 & 2

Introduction   1

American Genesis: Indians and the Spanish Borderlands   pg. 17
The Native Northeast and the Rise of British North America   pg. 48

Week 2:  September 28th – Chapters 3 & 4

The Unpredictability of Violence: Iroquoia and New France to 1701   pg. 73
The Native Inland Sea: The Struggle for the Heart of the Continent   pg. 106

Week 3:  October 5th – Chapters 5 & 6

Settler Uprising: The Indigenous Origins of the American Revolution   pg. 139
Colonialism’s Constitution: The Origins of Federal Indian Policy  pg. 176

Week 4:  October 19th – Part II- Struggles For Sovereignty – Chapters 7 & 8

The Deluge of Settler Colonialism: Democracy and Dispossession in the Early Republic   pg. 211
Foreign Policy Formations: California, the Pacific, and the Borderlands Origins of the Monroe Doctrine   pg. 250

Week 5:  November 2nd – Chapters 9 & 10

Collapse and Total War: The Indigenous West and the U.S. Civil War  pg. 289
Taking Children and Treaty Lands: Laws and Federal Power during the Reservation Era  pg. 329

Week 6:  November 16th – Chapters 11 & 12 Wrap / Roundtable (In-person at WWBA)

Indigenous Twilight at the Dawn of the Dawn of the Century: Native Activists and the Myth of Indian Disappearance   pg. 365
From Termination to Self-Determination: Native American Sovereignty in the Cold War Era   pg. 408

This Series is Sponsored by a Humanities New York Reading and Discussion Grant