Live From New Amsterdam: Native New Yorkers Virtual Panel

Thu, Feb 23 - Thu, Feb 23  2023

Join the New York Historical Society for a virtual conversation about the experiences of the Native American peoples who, in the 17th century, lived in the area that would become New York City.Duane Blue Spruce and Russell Shorto will discuss the complex aspects of Native life in New Amsterdam, relationships governed by the Dutch West India Company, and the legacies of 17th-century Native Americans in New York City today.

Register for the online panel here.

About the Event

Live From New Amsterdam is an ongoing series hosted by the New Netherland Institute and the New Amsterdam Project at the New-York Historical Society. Through vibrant conversations with scholars and historians, each program will investigate new and exciting research related to New Amsterdam, New Netherland, and the lasting legacies of Dutch rule in New York.

For centuries before European colonists landed in North America, Native Americans farmed, fished, and hunted on Mannahatta and traded with other people along the waterways. In 1624, the Dutch West India Company joined that trade, seeking animal furs for European markets, and brought diverse groups of Europeans to build an outpost and later colony there.

About the Speakers

Duane Blue Spruce (Laguna and Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) is Public Spaces Planning Coordinator at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in New York City. He is an architect, editor, and writer and has guided numerous NMAI projects including the development of the Diker Pavilion, the museum store and cafe, the Infinity of Nations permanent exhibition and, most recently, the Developing Stories: Native Photographers in the Field exhibition.

Russell Shorto is the bestselling author of The Island at the Center of the World, Amsterdam, and Revolution Song. He is the director of the New Amsterdam Project at New-York Historical Society.