MNHS History Forum

JAN. 14 - “Revisiting The Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States” with Mark Fiege

Environmental historian Mark Fiege revisits the simple but radical premise that nothing in the nation's past can be considered apart from the natural circumstances in which it occurred. Join us as Fiege points to a startlingly different version of history that calls on us to reconnect with the fundamental forces that shape the American experience.

Feb. 18 - “King Philip's War and the Remaking of History, Memory, and Place" with Christine DeLucia

The Indigenous resistance movement and colonial conflict known as King Philip’s War shaped the American Northeast in powerful ways. Historian Christine DeLucia offers a major reconsideration of this period and its ongoing impacts and remembrances, providing an alternative to Pilgrim-centric narratives that have conventionally dominated written and public histories of New England.

March 18 - "South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico & the Road to the Civil War" with Alice Baumgartner

Historian Alice Baumgartner tells the surprising story of the southern route to freedom in the US-Mexico borderlands, challenging and complicating many popular assumptions about the history of slavery in North America. The stories of those who fled south to freedom provide a revelatory perspective on pre-Civil War America and beyond.

April 8 - "Love, Death, & Rivers: Native Californians & Native Hawaiians Remember the Confluences of History" with David Chang

The mid-19th century saw the emergence of mixed Native Hawaiian and Indigenous North American communities along the West Coast. Native Hawaiian historian David Chang traces the history of one such community in California, offering a surprising and refreshing perspective on the role of memory in creating—and navigating—the multiple meanings of the lands we share.