Indigenous History

Music and Song in Native North America

November 30, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

What was music like in Early America? How did different early Americans — Native Americans, African Americans, and White Americans — integrate and use music in their daily lives? This episode of Ben Franklin’s World is the first of a 5-episode series about music in Early America.

The exploration begins with music in Native America. Chad Hamill, an ethnomusicologist who studies Native American and Indigenous music, guides Liz through Native North America’s musical landscapes before European colonization.

Paul Smith’s, Mohawk Partner to Create Mobile Cultural Center

November 19, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Paul Smith’s College and the Akwesasne Mohawk are partnering to create a mobile Cultural Learning Lab. The Cultural Learning Lab will serve as a hub of historical and cultural information about the Akwesasne community, including serving as a mobile meeting space, for tutoring, and promoting the use of the Mohawk language. [Read more…] about Paul Smith’s, Mohawk Partner to Create Mobile Cultural Center

The Great Power of Small Native Nations

November 16, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Elizabeth Ellis, an Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University and a citizen of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, joins to investigate the uncovered and recovered histories of the more than 40 distinct and small Native nations who called the Gulf South region home during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Ellis is the author of The Great Power of Small Nations: Indigenous Diplomacy in the Gulf South (Penn Press, 2022) [Read more…] about The Great Power of Small Native Nations

PT Barnum, George Catlin & Indigenous Exploitation

November 11, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

On this week’s episode of the Becoming Barnum podcast, the connection between P. T. Barnum and a lawyer-turned-artist, author, and showman George Catlin is explored. While in Europe, Barnum reached out, looking for new and profitable opportunities, especially since the entourage had made so little money performing in French towns, Paris being the exception.

This proposal, in particular, which Barnum described to Catlin on November 8, 1845, comes across like a middle-of-the-night brainstorm that should never have made it to pen and paper. The idea was abhorrent, and further investigation reveals that this wasn’t a novel and untested idea for Barnum in 1845. Far worse, it points to a disturbing piece of history, exposing a profound injustice that should not be swept out of sight. [Read more…] about PT Barnum, George Catlin & Indigenous Exploitation

Albany’s Harmanus Bleecker, 19th Century Ambassador to The Netherlands

October 11, 2022 by Peter Hess 1 Comment

In 1658, 17-year-old Jan Janse Bleecker set sail from Mappel, Overyssel in the Netherlands for Nieuw Amsterdam (now New York City) in the Dutch colony of New Netherland. He knew that Dutch traders had established a trading post there about 45 years earlier.

In 1629, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, a partner in the Dutch West India Company, had obtained rights to establish a settlement and control the fur trade at Fort Orange located about 150 miles north of New Amsterdam. [Read more…] about Albany’s Harmanus Bleecker, 19th Century Ambassador to The Netherlands

Fort Bull – Oneida Carrying Place Archaeology Funded

September 14, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Fort Bull and the Oneida Carrying Place were important parts of the military and Indigenous landscape that shaped the development of the Upper Mohawk Valley region.

The Oneida Carrying Place, a four-mile overland route that connected the Mohawk River and Wood Creek, was vital to British military campaign strategies beginning with the French and Indian War. The Carry also saw significant action during St. Leger’s American Revolution Campaign (1777), which included the Siege of Fort Stanwix/Schuyler and the Battle of Oriskany. [Read more…] about Fort Bull – Oneida Carrying Place Archaeology Funded

Joseph Brant’s Face: A State Capitol Mystery

September 8, 2022 by David Fiske 8 Comments

A recent article in the Albany Times Union, “The Enduring Mystery of a Mohawk Warrior Bust at the Capitol,” (online edition, July 22, 2022) noted that there is a sculpted face of Joseph Brant on the exterior of the State Capitol building in Albany, New York.

Researched and written by journalist Chris Carola, it questions why Brant, a Native American who supported the British during the American Revolution – and who wreaked havoc on a number of white settlements – was honored by having his visage on such a prominent edifice. [Read more…] about Joseph Brant’s Face: A State Capitol Mystery

Native Communities The Topic of Thomas Paine Studies Podcast

September 2, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Institute for Thomas Paine Studies interviewed Dr. Joe Stahlman, a scholar of Tuscarora descent whose research focuses on culture and history as well as on the ongoing socio-economic and health and wellness issues among Native communities.

This podcast covers Dr. Stahlman’s museum philosophy, the upcoming 250th Commemoration of the American Revolution, and he offers valuable perspective on indigenous studies and decolonization in museums, on museums as vital spaces of reconciliation, and of peace as an unsung and transformative historical subject. [Read more…] about Native Communities The Topic of Thomas Paine Studies Podcast

Bradstreet’s Raid: A 1758 Riverine Operation

August 15, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Major General John Bradstreet, born Jean-Baptiste Bradstreet (1714 – 1774), was a British Army officer during King George’s War, the French and Indian War, and Pontiac’s War.

In 1756 he led a column to supply the greatly weakened Fort Oswego and issued ignored warnings to his superiors before Oswego was captured and burned later that year. In the spring of 1757 he helped assemble supplies and transports at Boston for the abortive attack on Louisbourg.

That December he was appointed Lt. Colonel and in 1758 he participated in the attack on Fort Carillon (now Fort Ticonderoga), where he led the advance guard following the death of General George Howe. When the Battle ended in disaster, Bradstreet attempted to organize a retreat. [Read more…] about Bradstreet’s Raid: A 1758 Riverine Operation

Lt. John Jenkins: Guiding The Clinton-Sullivan Campaign

August 11, 2022 by John Conway Leave a Comment

On August 11th, 1779, at the height of America’s war for independence, General John Sullivan arrived at Tioga Point on the Susquehanna River at the Pennsylvania-New York border with a large force of men and began construction of what would become known as Fort Sullivan. [Read more…] about Lt. John Jenkins: Guiding The Clinton-Sullivan Campaign