W and L and Lenfest Outreach & Engagement presents: An Evening Talk: "Native American Peoples and Lands: Historic connections to W and L"

Event Description

Lenfest Outreach & Engagement Series

Native American Peoples and Lands: Historic Connections to W&L

Kamen Gallery/Lenfest Hall/Lenfest Center

Friday, Sept. 27, 2024

at 5:30 p.m.

No tickets are required

Native American peoples in the mid-Atlantic region now known as Virginia are inseparable to the history of W&L. These Eastern Siouan and Tutelo speaking peoples and other migratory tribes lived, hunted, traded, and stewarded land in this region for millennia prior to and post European contact and continue to do so today. The cultural practices of these first peoples created the necessary environmental conditions which enticed colonization of this area by early Virginia colony governors.

W&L's origins and early leaders (trustees, alumni, namesake) are connected to Native American peoples and lands through participation in county militias, colonial battles and wars, government roles as Indian agents, and treaty signatories and enforcers, among other actions. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, federally displaced Native American nations formerly in the southeastern region of North America, begin enrolling their youth at higher education institutions, like W&L, as part of federal treaty provisions, among them two former chiefs of the Choctaw Nation. For the Choctaw, "itapela hosh nana yakomichi" (doing things as a group) and a full circle approach with youth returning their education in service to Indian Country were guiding factors in this higher education exploration. Institutional History researchers, Celeste Alvarez '26 and Mason Satterfield '24, along with the Assistant Director of Institutional History, will share their research for the community. This event will be an opportunity to gain knowledge for the first time or build upon understanding of regional Native American peoples and lands and how W&L is intertwined with them.

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