Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery
Details
Presenter
Margaret Ellen Newell, The Ohio State University
Date & Time
February 22, 2024 7:30 pm EST
Category
African American History, Colonial & Revolutionary America, Native & Indigenous History
Tags
Author Talk, Secondary
Description
Join historian Margaret Ellen Newell in a discussion on her most recent book, Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery (Cornell University Press).
Massachusetts, in 1641, became the first English colony to legalize slavery, influencing major New England Indian wars like the Pequot War (1637), King Philip’s War (1675–76), and Wabanaki conflicts (1676–1749). After wartime conquests ceased, New Englanders sought control of labor, importing Indians from Florida and the Carolinas or claiming free Indians as slaves. Using various historical sources, Newell uncovers slaves’ stories and their impact on New England society. Slavery intertwined the fates of Africans and Indians, connecting New England to Caribbean and Atlantic slave economies. While Indian slaves initially outnumbered Africans before 1700, the balance shifted due to the growing African population. Despite legal restrictions, Indian slaves fought for freedom and citizenship in cases with broader implications for enslaved peoples in eighteenth-century America.
Margaret Ellen Newell received her A.B. in History and Spanish from Brown University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Early American History from the University of Virginia. Ohio State University named her a Distinguished Scholar in 2020.
Professor Newell’s research and teaching interests include colonial and Revolutionary America, Native American history, slavery, the history of capitalism, and Latin American history.
Her most recent book, Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery (Cornell University Press), won the 2016 James A. Rawley Prize from the Organization of American Historians for the best book on the history of race relations in the U.S. and the 2016 Peter Gomes Memorial Prize from the Massachusetts Historical Society. She has given dozens of public talks and recorded radio interviews and podcasts on Indian and African slavery.
