On June 6, 2024 from 7 pm to 8 pm, HHS will present a virtual program by author, historian, and journalist Russell Shorto as he discusses the complexity of our region in the mid-1600s.
The Dutch established their colony of New Netherland in a geography that was already long settled by a variety of Native peoples. Shorto will talk about the Haudenosaunee (or Iroquois) and their constituent nations, as well as the Lenape Delaware Munsee people. He will elaborate the relations between the Indigenous peoples and talk about how each collaborated or came into conflict with the Dutch. His presentation will explore how “Dutch” is a bit of a misnomer in this case, since New Netherland was itself comprised of a mix of nationalities. Finally, he will talk about the African presence in the colony: what slavery was and was not in New Netherland, who some of the enslaved were, how they obtained freedom, and what it meant.
This program will be presented entirely online via a link provided after registration.
Russell Shorto is the author, most recently, of Smalltime: A Story of My Family and the Mob, and of six earlier books, including Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City and the national bestseller The Island at the Center of the World. He is the Director of the New Amsterdam Project at the New-York Historical Society and Senior Scholar at the New Netherland Institute in Albany, New York. From 2007 to 2013 he was Director of the John Adams Institute in Amsterdam. In 2009, he was awarded a knighthood from the Dutch government for his work in increasing historical understanding between the Netherlands and the United States. In 2018, he was inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame.
$10 General Admission
$7 Discounted Admission for HHS members, seniors, students, active-duty military personnel and their families, and veterans
This program will be recorded. Access to which will be made available to all registrants the following day.
Support for this program was generously provided by HHS Board Chair Mary Etta Schneider.
This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.