For generations, we’ve been taught that the players of the American Revolution were made up of two teams: the British and the colonists - the Redcoats and the Patriots. But did you know that Native nations played major roles in both the fight for and against American independence? In this presentation, learn how Indigenous groups, like the Munsee and the Mohicans, were inspired or persuaded to take sides in the conflict, and discover how such decisions would go on to impact the course of their communities’ histories forever.

This presentation will be entirely online and will be accessible via a link provided after registration.

Heather Bruegl is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and first line descendent Stockbridge-Munsee. She is a graduate of Madonna University in Michigan and holds a BA and MA in U.S. History. Inspired by a trip to Wounded Knee, South Dakota, a passion for Native American History was born. She has spoken for numerous universities including the University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, and the College of the Menominee Nation. She opened for and spoke at the Women’s March Anniversary in Lansing, Michigan in 2018, at the first ever Indigenous Peoples March in Washington, DC in 2019, and at the Crazy Horse Memorial and Museum in Custer, South Dakota in 2019 and 2020. She is a self-proclaimed ‘’accidental activist’,” presenting on intergenerational racism and trauma, and helps to bring awareness to the environment, the fight for clean water, and other issues in the Native community. She now serves as the Director of Education for Forge Project located in Upstate New York.

Mark Peters is the Chief of the Munsee-Delaware Nation in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. He has been the historian for their community for the past 30 years. He has worked in the Logging Industry in the Queen Charlotte Islands, or Haida Gwaii, on an Oil and Natural Gas Rig, as a Social Worker, and in Criminal and Family Law as a Member of the Law Society of Ontario. In addition to History, his present focus is on determining and finding ways to exercise Inherent Indigenous Rights, which have been severely limited by Canadian Law over the past 150 years.

General Admission $8

Discounted Admission $5 (For HHS members, seniors, students, active military members, and veterans)

 Sponsored by Lothrop Associates

This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

This program is funded in part by a Humanities New York SHARP Grant with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.