A Book, Then We Look is a new drop-in workshop for preschoolers at Walt Whitman Birthplace. Taught by Lena Massari Sawyer, former Museum Educator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Come and join us every week as we read various stories including the award-winning Caldecott books.  Learn about artists of the past and create your own artwork.

Thursdays, starting November 9th 10AM – 11AM
(11/9, 11/16, 11/30, 12/7, 12/14, 12/21)

Members: $10  Non Members: $15
(Per workshop)

Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance at:
https://www.waltwhitman.org/product/a-book-then-we-look/

Picture Books are a crucial tool for developing a child’s literacy and language skills in their early years.  They help build self-confidence as the child learns to read through visual thinking. The children will read a book, then tell their own story through collage and other multimedia materials. They will look at the different elements of art such as changing perspective, scale, as well as multiple points of view through drawing and using collage materials. In addition, each child will be given a small plastic magnifying glass to explore a tinker box filled with objects from nature such as seashells, rocks, etc.

Lena Massari Sawyer has been an educator for over 25 years. She taught Art History and Studio Art to children for over two decades at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  While at the Met, she specialized in early childhood education, creating and teaching numerous art history and children’s literature classes.   Lena has been a long-time resident of Long Island. She teaches art history, painting and other multimedia classes both at the Birthplace at the Little Studio in Northport Village.  Lena holds a bachelor’s degree in art history and performed her graduate studies in Museum Education at New York University.

November 9th

Make Van Gogh’s Bed
by Julie Appel and Amy Guglielmo
Vincent’s Colors
by: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Art Project: Make your own Vincent inspired Sunflower drawing

November 16th

Over the River and Through the Woods: A Thanksgiving Poem
by Lydia Marie Child
Take a Walk in Walt’s Garden, once a month we will read Poems from John Updike’s A Child’s Calendar. The children will then take a walk in Walt’s Garden. This month we will examine the Fall season through changing color, textures of leaves, engaging and reinforcing the children’s senses and elements of art.

Art Project: Textured collage

November 23rd
Thanksgiving Day – no class

November 30th

Run, Hare, Run!
by: John Winch
The Story of a Drawing & Can You Find It?
by Metropolitan Museum of Art

Art Project: Collage

December 7th

Catch Picasso’s Rooster
by Julie Appel and Amy Guglielmo
Pete the Cat & I Love My White Shoe
by James Dean and Eric Litwin

Art Project: Make Pete a new pair of holiday sneakers

December 14th

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
by Simms Taback

Art Project: Fabric, Buttons and other collage materials and A walk in Walts Garden!

December 21st

Dream Snow
by Eric Carle

Art Project: Paint a picture with watercolor crayons.

In-Person “Good Grey Poets Workshop” with Poet Bruce Johnson
Thursdays:  11/9, 11/16   |   10AM – 12PM
2 week session: $50.00
In-Person at Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site

Register for Good Grey Poets Workshop >>   (10% Member Discount)
Click here to get a $5.00 DISCOUNT when signing up for both workshops >>

This two-session poetry workshop explores methods of finding creative inspiration by reading and discussing several poems by Whitman with focus on his technique and style and using prompts for in-session writing. Participants will be invited to share their work with the group and can invite critiques or request “no comment”. In the second session, using writing prompts for home writing is shared. Participants may present a poem written in response to the prompt, or another poem they have written. The facilitator may present several poems by contemporary poets for discussion and time permitting, participants may present an additional poem for discussion.

Bruce Johnson is a Northport, LI resident, a lifelong lover of poetry, and a co-founder of poetry in performance scenes in Huntington such as the Paris Cafe and the Huntington Poetry Barn. His recent publication of  poetry, ‘Borderlands and Dreams,” contains narrative poems written over three decades exploring the power of memory and dreams in our experiences as contemporary Americans. The publication includes a section describing experiences working in a homeless shelter as well as with child protective and adult protective services.

Linda Sussman (LindaSussman.com) is an award-winning singer-songwriter whose versatile vocals and guitar style cross boundaries of alternative-folk and blues. Her music, which has ranked #1 on the Roots Music Report’s weekly Alternative Folk Album Chart, spans universal topics from heartache and triumphs to calls for social justice and can be heard on radio programs in both the US and abroad. The many stages she has played range from the iconic New York City venue The Bitter End to Radio Bean in Burlington, VT. Over the past five years, Linda has released four full-length albums and several singles, all of which are available on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

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, Claire Friedlander Family Foundation, 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 

In-Person “Creative Writing Workshop” with award-winning playwright and author Jack Canfora
Mondays: 10/23, 10/30, 11/6, 11/13   |   10AM – 11:30AM
4 week session: $100.00
In-Person at Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site

Register for Creative Writing Workshop >>   (10% Member Discount)
Click here to get a $5.00 DISCOUNT when signing up for both workshops >>  (See Below)

This four-week writing course, taught by award-winning playwright and author Jack Canfora, explores various genres of the creative writing process, such as short and long-form fiction, memoir, and stage/screenwriting. Whether you’ve been writing for years or have always wanted to give it a try, this workshop is designed to create an exciting and nurturing space to help you on your creative journey. Meeting weekly at Walt Whitman Birthplace, this class helps you find your muse and hone your talents!

Jack Canfora’s Off-Broadway plays include Poetic License, (59E59 Theaters), hailed by the Associated Press as “White-hot entertainment,” and Jericho, (59E59 Theaters, a New York Times “Critic’s Pick”) which the Theater Communications Group deemed, “An important contribution to the repertoire of the American Stage.” Both plays are published, and his work has also been published in various theater anthologies. His play Place Setting, along with plays by Edward Albee, Elaine May, and Teresa Rebeck, was nominated for The Newark Star Ledger’s “Best Play” in 2007. His regional productions include Jericho, The Source, Poetic License, and Fellow Travelers. Jack has won two Edgerton Playwriting Awards, for Jericho (2010) and The Source (2018) as well as the 2016 Webby Award for Best Writing in a Web Series. He is also the Artistic Director of the New Normal Rep theater company. jackcanforawriter.com

In-Person “Good Grey Poets Workshop” with Poet Bruce Johnson
Thursdays:  11/9, 11/16   |   10AM – 12PM
2 week session: $50.00
In-Person at Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site

Register for Good Grey Poets Workshop >>   (10% Member Discount)
Click here to get a $5.00 DISCOUNT when signing up for both workshops >>

This two-session poetry workshop explores methods of finding creative inspiration by reading and discussing several poems by Whitman with focus on his technique and style and using prompts for in-session writing. Participants will be invited to share their work with the group and can invite critiques or request “no comment”. In the second session, using writing prompts for home writing is shared. Participants may present a poem written in response to the prompt, or another poem they have written. The facilitator may present several poems by contemporary poets for discussion and time permitting, participants may present an additional poem for discussion.

Bruce Johnson is a Northport, LI resident, a lifelong lover of poetry, and a co-founder of poetry in performance scenes in Huntington such as the Paris Cafe and the Huntington Poetry Barn. His recent publication of  poetry, ‘Borderlands and Dreams,” contains narrative poems written over three decades exploring the power of memory and dreams in our experiences as contemporary Americans. The publication includes a section describing experiences working in a homeless shelter as well as with child protective and adult protective services.

Mark your calendars! Sunday, October 22, 2023, come join us at WWBA for some Halloween fun. Kids & their chaperones will be treated to a show from Magician Mike Militello and receive a free book. All are welcome!

Costume Contest
Get creative and come in costume. We will be giving away a prize for best costume!

Admission
$10 admission for children, parents/chaperones are free!

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.