"Land, Liberty, and Loss" Reading and Discussion Program

Guided by scholar Dr. Elana Krischer, Shaker Heritage Society will host four book discussions this spring drawn from Humanities New York’s “Land, Liberty, and Loss” Reading and Discussion program. Through these texts we will explore the founding of New York and the United States through the lens of Indigenous, and in particular Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) history, society, politics, and struggle for sovereignty.

The Shakers’ arrival in the New World in 1774 places them squarely at the center of the history and legacy of the American Revolution. While ardent pacifists and radically egalitarian, the early Shakers can also be understood as the beneficiaries of the dispossession of Indigenous nations: as 18th century immigrants to the New World, tenant farmers, and colonists eager to expand their settlements. This series will explore this broader socio-political context that facilitated the arrival and expansion of the Shaker experiment in the United States.

We will be meeting at 6pm the first Wednesday of the Month:

March 6th, April 3rd, May 1st, June 5th.

Books:

Why You Can’t Teach United States History Without American Indians

Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War

The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution

Conspiracy of Interests: Iroquois Dispossession and the Rise of New York State

This program is generously funded in part by Humanities New York. Visit their website for more information on the series: https://humanitiesny.org/our-work/programs/reading-discussion/land-liberty-loss-readings/