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To W&L Topic Of Talk
The Lenfest Center will feature the second installment of its Outreach & Engagement Series, presented by the Native American Student Organization and affiliated alumni, and students Mason Satterfield and Celeste Alvarez, on Sept. 27 at 5:30 p.m. in the Kamen Gallery.
The evening talk is entitled, “Native American Peoples and Lands: Historic Connections to W&L.”
Washington and Lee University’s origins and early leaders (trustees, alumni, namesakes) are connected to Native American peoples and lands through participation in county militias, colonial battles and wars, government roles as Indian agents and treaty signatories and enforcers, among other capacities.
As part of federal treaty provisions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, federally displaced Native American nations formerly in the southeastern region of North America began enrolling their youth at higher education institutions. At W&L, among those students, were two former chiefs of the Choctaw Nation. For the Choctaw, “itapela hosh nana yakomichi” (doing things as a group) and a full circle approach with youth returning their education in service to Indian Country were guiding factors in this higher education exploration.
Current and former institutional history student researchers within the University Archives, Celeste Alvarez ’26 and Mason Satterfield ’24, respectively, along with the assistant director of Institutional History, Jessica Wager, will share their community-based approach to Native American history research within the community. T This event will be an opportunity to share knowledge with the community for the first time or build upon understanding of regional Native American peoples and lands and how W&L is intertwined with them.
The event is sponsored in part by the Class of ’64 Performing Arts Fund; Native American Indigenous Cohort; Diversity, Inclusion and Student Engagement; Art and Art History; Leyburn Scholars in Anthropology; Office of Community-Based Learning and Latin American/Caribbean Studies; Leyburn Scholars in Anthropology; Office of Community-Based Learning; Museums at W&L; and the University Library.
