Authority on Indigenous Peoples, Colonists Available for Interviews
11/09/2020
Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Christine Gillette, 978-758-4664, Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
Celebrated each Thanksgiving, the sailing of the Mayflower and the creation of Plymouth Colony in 1620 maintains a strong hold on the American imagination. The story of country’s founding depicts the establishment of the Puritan colony as the point of origin of the United States, but misconceptions remain, according to a UMass Lowell expert on Native American history.
“November is Native American Heritage Month. As we commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s landing, the culture and experience of Native Americans on whose lands the English Colonists moved are too often a neglected part of the story,” said Christoph Strobel, who is available for interviews.
The Puritan separatists on the Mayflower did not move into a ‘wilderness,’ as conventional histories often maintain, Strobel said. Instead, when the English Colonists founded Plymouth, they moved right onto the site of a former Native American town called Patuxet. Native Americans in this region were not continually on the move hunting for food, as some believe, according to Strobel.
“Native Americans in the region farmed for subsistence and managed their environment,” he said. “They faced horrendous impact due to colonization. There was mass mortality due to disease, dispossession, racism and many other challenges. At the same time, there was Native American resistance, adaptation and survival under often harsh and unfavorable circumstances.”
Strobel is also available to share his perspective on:
- The myths vs. the realities behind the Mayflower’s voyage and life for the Colonists;
- Indigenous peoples in the Merrimack Valley in the 1600s;
- Native Americans in New England today.
Strobel is a professor in UMass Lowell’s History Department, where he focuses on Native American, North American and world history. He is the author of “Native Americans of New England,” among other texts.
To arrange an interview with her via phone, email or Zoom (or another platform), contact Nancy Cicco at Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu, 978-934-4944, or Christine Gillette at Christine_Gillette@uml.edu, 978-758-4664.