Yale conference highlights Native perspectives on America’s founding
Scholars, authors and tribal leaders say Native histories must be included in narratives about the nation’s 250th anniversary
A conference at Yale University explored the American Revolution through the experiences of Native nations as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, according to reporting by Connencticut Public. The event, “First America: The Legacies of the Declaration of Independence for Native Nations,” was organized by The Yale Group for the Study of Native America and The NYU-Yale American Indian Sovereignty Project. Participants discussed Indigenous history, land dispossession, democracy and Native visibility in narratives about the nation’s founding.
Chris Newell of the Passamaquoddy Tribe discussed his book “If You Lived During the American Revolution,” which includes Indigenous and Black perspectives. Conference organizer Ned Blackhawk, a Western Shoshone historian at Yale University, said Native communities have been left out of many accounts of American history. Participants said Native history remains an ongoing part of the American story, not one confined to the Revolutionary era.
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