On Wednesday, Sept. 25, the University of Connecticut’s Humanities Institute (UCHI) hosted its second fellow’s talk of the year. Listeners gathered inside the UCHI Conference Room on the fourth floor of the Homer Babbidge Library to hear PhD candidate Yusuf Mansoor’s discuss research from his dissertation titled: “From New England to Tangier: Indigenous Slavery and the English Atlantic at the beginning of King Philip’s War.” Mansoor’s research aims to contextualize and trace stories of Native Americans who were captured and enslaved during King Philip’s War (1675-1678). A response by English professor Heather Ostman, director of the Humanities Institute and humanities curriculum chair at SUNY Westchester Community College, followed.
Mansoor, a PhD candidate in the University of Connecticut’s history department, primarily focuses on New England in his research on Native Americans and the Atlantic World in the 17th century. He is the Draper Dissertation Fellow at the UCHI and has received research fellowships from the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture and the American Philosophical Society.
To begin the presentation, an acknowledgment was given of the Indigenous land the University of Connecticut was founded on — the territory of the Eastern Pequot, Golden Hill Paugussett, Lenape, Mashantucket Pequot, Mohegan, Nipmuc and Schaghticoke peoples. This land acknowledgment was referenced throughout the remainder of the presentation in the context of King Philip’s War.
Mansoor began his talk by highlighting the ship on his title slide. He noted how many enslaved Natives were fated to become one of the people rowing the ship. He then moved into a chapter of his dissertation by explaining how it was discovered that Native Americans were being captured and enslaved by the English. Through journal entries describing the captives as “Our surprised Indians” (credited to John Elliot, 1683), as well as a list of captives compiled by the English being titled “Indians,” it was determined that the English were capturing Natives and enslaving them.
Captive taking was a known event occurring during King Philip’s War. Once it was established who the English were capturing, Mansoor moved into a detailed history of King Philip’s War with stories of Native Americans who were captured. He focused on the impact that praying towns—places developed by the Puritans where Natives could practice Christianity—had on the war, as they were proof that Natives were interacting with and being captured by the English. The timing of these captures was an increasing point of contention between the Natives and the English. The war was expanding, so the captures of enemies and innocent people caused Natives to join the efforts against the English, which in turn caused even more tension.
Mansoor continued the history of King Philip’s War while presenting maps. He noted key places for the war, as well as key Native American tribes for each location. Near the end of his presentation, he spoke about a few events at the end of the war, including a plan to storm a prison holding Natives that didn’t end up happening. The Natives were gradually freed over the next few weeks, however, many of them were put on a ship similar to the image at the start of the presentation. This concluded Mansoor’s presentation of his research.
Following the presentation, Yusuf Mansoor and Heather Ostman engaged in a conversation-style response. She asked questions regarding the history of King Philip, the role of Christianity in King Philip’s War and the acknowledgment of the land that the University of Connecticut was founded on. A special focus was paid to Mansoor’s use of the word “unfree” instead of “enslaved.” He noted that he chose to use the word “unfree” because it was more expansive and open to different interpretations outside the common idea of enslavement, which was necessary because of how large a role enslavement played in King Philip’s War.
Questions were opened to the audience following the response, including questions regarding the details of the maps used, how Natives were organized socially while in captivity and an in-depth discussion regarding the tone used in research regarding Native Americans in the 17th century.
The talk finished off with some light refreshments being served. Conversations between the audience and speakers continued following the conclusion. Upcoming events within the Humanities Institute include “Getting the Grant Started: Turning Ideas into Action” on Sept. 26 at 2 p.m. in the Homer Babbidge Library. For a full list of events, visit the Humanities Institute Events Calendar: http://humanities.uconn.edu/news-and-events/