U-M professor offers “American Indian History 101”

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From staff reports

University of Michigan professor, Phil Deloria, will speak on the topic “American Indian History 101: Constitutions, Treaties, Laws, Courts, Empires, Slaves, Automobiles, and a Few Other Things Besides” on Thursday, July 6 at the Leelanau Historical Society in downtown Leland. A reception with wine and appetizers will begin at 7 p.m. and the talk will start at 7:30. Suggested donation of $5 per person.

Over the last decades, tribal and academic historians have rewritten many of the familiar stories that situate American Indian people in American History, revealing a more complicated past that leads to an equally complex present. Focusing on a few telling moments, historian Deloria will explore some of these new stories.

Deloria (Ph.D. American Studies, Yale University, 1994) is the Carroll Smith-Rosenberg Collegiate Professor in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts at the University of Michigan, where he has appointments in the Departments of History and American Culture and the Programs in Environment and Native American Studies. Deloria’s research focuses on the social, cultural and political histories of the relations between American Indians and the United States. His prizewinning 1998 book Playing Indian, traced “Indian play” from the Boston Tea Party to the New Age movement, while his 2004 book Indians in Unexpected Places examined the ideologies surrounding Indian people in the early 20th century and the ways Native Americans challenged them through sports, travel, automobility, and film and musical performance. Deloria is a former president of the American Studies Association, a trustee of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian, and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The Leelanau Historical Society is a museum facility displaying exhibits related to the history of Leelanau County as well as a historical archive of over 20,000 artifacts, photos, documents, and books. The Historical Society is the premier research facility for the history of Leelanau County. The mission of the Leelanau Historical Society is to preserve and share the history of Leelanau County to inspire others to explore and interpret the past for future generations to learn and appreciate. The Historical Society is based at 203 E. Cedar St. in Leland. Learn more at www.leelanauhistory.org.