Renowned Indigenous Studies Scholar Elizabeth Ellis To Present Public Lecture Feb. 23

Texas A&M University's Department of History, Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, University Art Galleries and the Indigenous Studies Working Group are teaming up to co-sponsor a free public lecture later this month featuring renowned scholar on early American and Native American history Dr. Elizabeth Ellis, an associate professor of history at Princeton University.

On Friday, Feb. 23, Ellis will present “Myths, Memory and Indigenous Survival in the Gulf South,” in which she will “investigate the dissonance between stories of historic Native demise and modern Indigenous survival.” The lecture, set for 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Memorial Student Center's Forsyth Galleries (Room 2428) and followed by a reception, will incorporate Southern lore, local myths and legends and link them to how “contemporary Native nations endure in their southern homelands.”

"We are honored to host Dr. Elizabeth Ellis,” said Texas A&M Assistant Professor of History Dr. Sarah McNamara. “This event is a fantastic opportunity for community, students and faculty to visit the Forsyth Galleries and to learn about the resilience of Indigenous communities from a renowned Indigenous scholar.” 

Ellis is Peewaalia and an enrolled citizen of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. Her research interests include Indigenous migration, borderlands, early Native American writing, Indigenous slavery and 20th century Native American politics. Ellis’ first book, The Great Power of Small Nations: Indigenous Diplomacy in the Gulf South, examines the formation of Native American nations in the Lower Mississippi Valley. She has held fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, Institute for Citizens and Scholars, the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, the Huntington Library, the Newberry Library and the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South.

The lecture is in conjunction with the exhibition Savages and Princesses: The Persistence of Native American Stereotypes in the Forsyth Galleries, which will be on view from January 28 through March 16 in the Forsyth Galleries. The multidisciplinary exhibition features 12 Indigenous artists and “intends to counteract the disappearance of Native portrayals” through “Native Americans’ power to replace stereotypical images that permeate the current pop culture landscape.” This exhibition is a Program of Exhibits USA with Texas Commission on the Arts and The National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information, please contact the Forsyth Galleries at (979) 458-7840.