Natick and the Memoryscapes of King Philip’s War: New Approaches to Native and Colonial New England Histories and Places - with Christine DeLucia, Assistant Professor of History at Williams College

The seventeenth-century Indigenous resistance movement and colonial conflict known as King Philip’s War (1675-1678) shaped the region around Natick and Boston Harbor in important ways. This presentation revisits Native American and colonial encounters before, during, and after this pivotal period, examining how and why diverse communities pursued diplomacy, peacemaking, and violence at different points.

Focusing on the significance of “place,” it traces the meanings of homelands for Indigenous people and nations including Nipmucs, Narragansetts and Wampanoags, and the pressures exerted by settler colonial expansion in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. By following these histories outward into a broader reconsideration of the Native and colonial Northeast as well as Atlantic World, we can reckon with the complex ways that historical memories have remained deeply resonant and contested for many centuries.

This talk invites conversation about how the past continues to matter in the present and the opportunities, as well as challenges related to heritage, preservation, and care taking of meaningful lands and waters.

This event is co-sponsored with the Bacon Free Library. It is FREE and open to the public.