First America Conference Program, March 26-28

Silvermoon Mars LaRose, Yòh (Four), acrylic on canvas.

Registration for the keynote at the Yale University Art Gallery with Ken Burns, David Schmidt, Maggie Blackhawk, and Colin Calloway has reached capacity and is now closed. All other conference events, listed below, remain open to the public without registration required. 

The Yale Group for the Study of Native America (YGSNA) is honored to welcome scholars from across the United States and Canada to New Haven for our spring conference from March 26-28. Entitled “First America: The Legacies of the Declaration of Independence for Native Nations,” this multi-day gathering seeks to explore the myriad ways through which Native American and Indigenous peoples shaped the Age of Revolutions, registering effects that rippled across vast geographies and temporalities – from the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the commemoration of this event today, two hundred and fifty years later.

The conference opens on March 26 with a keynote on “The Indigenous Origins of the American Revolution.” From 4:30 to 6:00 at the Yale University Art Gallery in the Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Lecture Hall, filmmakers Ken Burns and David Schmidt, co-directors of the acclaimed PBS Series, “The American Revolution,” will join NYU Professor of Law Maggie Blackhawk and Dartmouth history Professor Colin G. Calloway in conversation. The Lecture Hall will open at 3:45 PM. All registered attendees must arrive at the Yale University Art Gallery (1111 Chapel St) and check in before 4:15 PM on Thursday, March 26. Only after checking in will registered attendees be ushered to the Lecture Hall, where the keynote will take place.

My panel is on Friday, March 27: 

11:00-12:30 PM: The Global Revolution: Anti-Colonial Resistance in the Age of Race and Reason 

Chair: Marcela Echeverri (Yale History) 

Description: This panel examines Indigenous resistance to colonial powers across varied geographies, from Latin America to Pacific circuits, during the Age of Revolutions, broadly understood.

Participants: Claudio Saunt (University of Georgia); Marlene Daut (Yale); Noelani Arista (McGill); Sinclair Thomson (NYU)

 See the rest of the schedule below:

 For more information and to register, visit the conference site: 

 https://ygsna.sites.yale.edu/news/first-america-conference-program-march-26-28