Begin at the Beginning: Boston’s Founding Documents

Historian Margaret Newell, author of Brethren by Nature, leads a discussion of the enslavement of Native Americans from the first years of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Starting with the Pequot War in the mid-1630s, hundreds of Native Americans were enslaved. Many were sold into slavery in the Caribbean. Others became slaves to households of the prominent, including John Winthrop. The ship Desire left for the Caribbean with Native Americans for sale – only to return the following year, 1638, with New England’s first documented African slaves.

Join us for a stimulating discussion of both primary and secondary sources on the founding of New England slavery. This is the first in a four-part series of discussions on the collision of Native American and European cultures.  Co-hosted by the Partnership of Historic Bostons and the Massachusetts Historical Society.