Origin Stories: The Pequot War and Indigenous Enslavement in New England - a talk by award-winning historian Margaret Newell, Joshua Carter (Mashantucket Pequot Museum) and Michael Thomas (Mashantucket Pequot)

Join award-winning historian Margaret Newell, Mashantucket Pequot Museum executive director Joshua Carter, and Michael Thomas, Mashantucket Pequot, for Origin Stories live at the Boston Public Library (or live-streamed). They tell the story of how, in the very first years of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Pequot people were hunted down, captured, and enslaved as part of the Pequot War. This bloody conflict marked the start of systematic enslavement in New England, as enslavement became a war aim, as reflected in military orders, troop movements, and the treatment of civilian non-combatants. John Winthrop, writing in his journal in 1638, noted the arrival of enslaved people on the ship Desire; what he did not record was the fact that two years earlier the Desire had transported 17 captive Pequots to the Caribbean, for sale. 

Margaret Newell is the distinguished arts and sciences professor and professor of history at Ohio State University, author of the groundbreaking book Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists and the Origins of American Slavery, and the recipient of many awards. She will give the main talk, with Joshua Carter and Michael Thomas sharing their perspective on the Pequot War and its consequences. 

This talk is the second in our illuminating 2023 six-part series, Enslavement & Resistance: New England 1620-1760.