"Firsting and Lasting: Writing Indians Out of Existence in New England" Event Registration Form
Please fill out this form to register for our virtual event, "Firsting and Lasting: Writing Indians Out of Existence in New England" with Professor Jean O'Brien. You will receive the link at the end of the registration and a confirmation email (with the link included again) from the NHS in 3-5 days. A reminder email with the link will also be sent on the day of the event.

October 19, 2022 at 6pm via Zoom

In this talk, Professor Jean O’Brien narrates the argument she makes in her book, Firsting and Lasting, that local histories written in the nineteenth century became a primary means by which Euro-Americans asserted their own modernity while denying it to Indian peoples. Erasing then memorializing Indian peoples also served a more pragmatic colonial goal: refuting Indian claims to land and rights. Drawing on more than six hundred local histories from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island as well as censuses, monuments, and accounts of historical pageants and commemorations, O’Brien explores how these narratives inculcated the myth of Indian extinction, a myth that has stubbornly remained in the American consciousness.

This event is FREE and open to the public. The NHS does not share email or street addresses.
Advanced registration is required to access the Zoom link.

This is the second event in our three-part speaker series "Indigenous Histories and Futures in Natick, Massachusetts." This series will allow attendees to consider important questions about Indigenous experiences in Natick and beyond from the seventeenth century until today.

The Bridge Street Speaker Series is made possible by a grant from the Bridge Street Fund, a special initiative of Mass Humanities.

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