Join the 17th Century
Explore the story of early Boston, Massachusetts, and the wider 17TH century world
the past is now
Across the New England, we see the signs of a war commonly described - if it is described at all - as a colonial conflict of the distant past. But is it? Our very landscape brings it into the 21st century.
Historical markers, the use of mascots portraying Indigenous people, the loss of land and sovereignty, a historical narrative that cancels Indigenous experience: on its 350th anniversary, King Philip’s War is more present than ever.
Join us, on Tuesday, March 24, from 6-7:30pm ET, for The Past is Now, an inter-tribal panel discussing how this deadliest of American wars is still with us today. With us in person at the main Cambridge Public Library and online will be:
Hartman Deetz, Mashpee Wampanoag
Brad Lopes, Aquinnah Wampanoag
Elizabeth Solomon, Massachusett at Ponkapoag
and Brittney Walley, Hassananmisco Nipmuc.
The Past is Now is the second presentation in our series on King Philip’s War, Metacom’s Resistance, a long overdue look at the war that determined the shape not only of New England, but the US.
A special deal for PHB supporters!
It’s not officially published for a few more months, but supporters of PHB - that’s you! - can order a copy of Brown University historian Linford Fisher’s stunning new book, Stealing America: The Hidden Story of Indigenous Slavery in US History (New York: Liveright, 2026) at a massive 50% discount.
The bookshop price is $39.99. For PHB supporters, the price is $20, plus postage and packing.
“Vivid, insightful, provocative”… “a masterful history”… “a stunning reorientation of continental history [which] lays bare the theft of Native lands and bodies” are just some of the reviews. Have a look, too, at independent scholar Lori Rogers-Stokes’ review on our READ page, here.
The price is $20 if you want it brought to you at one of our four in-person events or $26.25 if you’d like it mailed to you.
To order a copy, you can:
send us a check marked “book” - with your address if we need to mail it, or with an indication of which event you’ll be attending in person so we can hand it to you
or
pay by credit card or PayPal, here - also indicating whether you’ll pick it up, and if so, at which event, or whether we should mail it.
You’ll no doubt want to join us for Lin’s presentation on Indigenous enslavement and King Philip’s War on April 8, too. Register here.
Any questions? Email us at phbostons@gmail.com.
their marks, their lives
“What do you see in these marks?” asks Kimberly Toney, coordinating curator for Native and Indigenous materials at the John Carter Brown Library and John Hay Library at Brown University. “What do they make visible? And what responsibilities come with knowing all this?”
Those of us who read traditional accounts of early New England history are accustomed to erasure - the invisibility of Indigenous people of the Eastern Woodlands in traditional accounts, except perhaps as greeters of colonists on the shore or aggressors at war. Kim Toney’s important project on Instagram and Tumblr, Their Marks, shows that, on the contrary, Indigenous people were present in all aspects of life, as their signatures, or marks, testify. These marks are, as Kim Toney writes, a sign of survivance and agency in a system in which Indigenous people were never meant to be honored or recognized or their way of life validated.
Read Kim Toney’s important blog post, here, and see the marks of twelve Indigenous people of the Eastern Woodlands, whose lives we will also see in our upcoming series on King Philip’s War, Metacom’s Resistance.
Kim Toney will appear as part of an inter-tribal panel exploring the costs and consequences of King Philip’s War in the final event of the series, at the main Boston Public Library and livestreamed, on Thursday, May 28, 5:30-7:30pm ET. Sign up for The Long Legacy here.
This is one of few known written records, in his own hand, of Metacom, or Philip, Wampanoag sachem who led Indigenous resistance. Philip, sachem of the Wampanoag. Quitclaim by Philip, Rehoboth, MA. From the collections of the John Carter Brown Library.
Events
The Unknown War
Kevin March
ONLINE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2026, 7-8:30PM ET
Join this vital introduction to King Philip’s War in the first event of our Metacom’s Resistance series. PhD candidate Kevin March lays out the war, from its opening shots in the summer of 1675 to its final events in 1678, and the reasons for it. Was this a war, as puritan historians wrote, of savage Natives wrecking death and devastation? Or was it Metacom’s call to resistance, as Indigenous tribes sought to defend themselves against land annexation and the destruction of their lives, livelihoods and sovereignty?
“We need a full and honest
reckoning with our history.”
— attendee, Tyranny vs Liberty series
Knowing the full picture
When we asked our audience why the 17th century mattered, they replied with gusto. “Knowing the whole picture can’t help but change what we think we are,” wrote one person. “The dispossession of Native nations has left a long painful legacy,” wrote an Indigenous woman. “We are today a ‘nation of rebels’,” wrote another person, “the outgrowth of radical protestantism.” What more did they say? Find out now!
are you a reader?
If your answer is yes, well - we are readers, too. That’s why we’ve created our READ page, to tempt you to read more! And here’s the latest book review, hot off the press. Our supporter David Achenbach gives us his take on Edmund Morgan’s The Puritan Family - still in print after 60 years, and just as readable, eloquent and insightful as ever. And don’t forget our virtual book club!
surprising revolutionaries
New England Puritans insisted on self-government, bearing with them their charter. They drafted the first American bill of rights, enshrining liberties which far surpassed any in the English-speaking world. Who would have thought that Puritans could be so revolutionary? Francis J. Bremer explores the 1641 Body of Liberties and its guarantee of due process, the right to protest, and equality under the law.
“This talk opened a new world for me.”
— attendee, ‘I Pledge Allegiance’: Sovereignty and Sanctuary in the Dawnland