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
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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947094190
Meeting ID: 899 4709 4190
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Meeting ID:
899 4709 4190
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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
