Online talk with Thanksgiving history author David Silverman Nov. 5
Author David J. Silverman will join a live online discussion at 5 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 5, of his book, “This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving,” presented by the History Book Festival.
The year 2020 marks the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower. This book looks at the Plymouth colony’s founding events through the eyes of the Wampanoag people who have long contended that the tale of the first Thanksgiving that most Americans are familiar with is not history, but a myth that sugarcoats the viciousness of colonialism for Native peoples.
The Pilgrims were not arriving at a desolate wilderness; in fact, human civilization in the Americas was as rich and ancient as in Europe. Personal stories and oral histories highlight the Wampanoags’ ongoing struggle for self-determination.
Silverman is a professor at George Washington University, where he specializes in Native American, Colonial American and American racial history. His other books include “Thundersticks,” “Red Brethren,” “Ninigret,” and “Faith and Boundaries.” His essays have won major awards from the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, and the New York State Historical Association. He lives in Philadelphia.
This Zoom event is free but registration is required. To register, go to historybookfestival.org and click on 2020 Events.
The 2020 Virtual History Book Festival is presented in cooperation with the Lewes Public Library and sponsored by Delaware Humanities and the Lee Ann Wilkinson Group. Copies of “This Land Is Their Land” with signed archival bookplates are available from the festival’s official bookseller, Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach. Biblion in Lewes also has copies. Copies also may be borrowed from the Lewes Public Library. To arrange for pickup, call 302-645-2733 or email lewes.library@gmail.com.
