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Show Notes
We speak with Sarah Stewart, president of the Partnership of Historic Bostons, a public history organization focused on 17th-century New England, to confront Puritan mythology and widen the lens beyond Salem to Indigenous history, enslaved Africans, and displaced peoples. We dig into why King Philip’s War, which is often skipped in schools and told through colonial monuments, Increase Mather, and captivity narratives, was a turning point that devastated Native sovereignty, reshaped New England, and fed the fear that later influenced the Salem witch trials. Sarah breaks down PHB’s “Metacom’s Resistance” series, the need for reframing the war through Indigenous voices, and the realities of enslavement, land commodification, and legal encroachment on sovereignty.
Chapters
00:00 Meet Sarah Stewart
00:50 Origins of the Partnership
01:51 Broadening the 17th Century Lens
03:21 Programs and Events
04:58 Puritans Beyond the Myths
06:51 Building Community Feedback
08:06 Why King Philip’s War Matters
10:53 How the Story Got Distorted
13:22 Metacom’s Resistance Series
17:49 Indigenous Voices Center Stage
20:50 Violence and Witch Trial Fear
23:59 Captivity and Enslavement
25:53 Land Commodification Clash
28:50 Land And Equality
29:31 Amplifying Indigenous Voices
33:08 Powerful Panels And Future Events
37:08 Puritans Fear And Ongoing Wars
39:11 Courts Sovereignty And Punishment
42:23 Thomas Morton And Other Paths
45:29 War Choices And Modern Parallels
46:55 Audience Reflections And Truth
52:01 Keep Learning Stay Connected
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Links
- Partnership of Historic Bostons
- “The Unknown War: King Philip’s War, 1675-1678” (video)
- “The Past is Now: An Inter-Tribal Panel Discussion of King Philp’s War” (video)
- “Surviving Slavery: Indigenous Enslavement in King Philip’s War” (video)
- “Erasure: History, Memory and King Philip’s War” (video)
- “What Really Happened at Turners Falls?” (video)
- “The Long Legacy: The Cost and Consequences of King Philip’s War” (video)
- “The Slews and Hoars of Beverly: From Witchcraft to Slavery” (video)
- “The Other: Understanding Witch Hunts, Part I, with Emerson Baker, Sarah Jack, and Josh Hutchinson” (video)
- “Resistance: Stopping Witch Hunts, Part II” (video)
- Jenny Hale Pulsipher, Subjects unto the Same King: Indians, English, and the Contest for Authority in Colonial New England
- Jill Lepore, The Name of War: King Philip’s War and the Origins of American Identity
- Peter C. Mancall, The Trials of Thomas Morton