Captivity – as experienced by both European colonists and Native Americans – depended on the dissolution of family systems throughout North America. The structure of English colonization in New England relied on the stability of a social covenant based upon a gendered, familial hierarchy. Similarly, the Native Americans of southern New England employed political structures tied directly to kinship. The encounters and conflicts of these political and social systems reveals that differences in the treatment of Indian servants and Anglo-American servants in New England set a precedent for the organization of labor and social status along gendered and racial lines.

All papers are pre-circulated electronically to those who plan to attend the seminar in person. For a copy of the paper, e-mail Jenny Butler at scholl@newberry.org, or call312-255-3524. Please do not request a paper unless you plan to attend.

*Please note that requests for the paper made after 5:00pm on Thursday, March 19, are unlikely to be read before the seminar begins on Friday afternoon. If you plan to attend the session, please request the paper early.*

The Newberry Library Seminar on Women and Gender is co-sponsored by the History Departments of Northeastern Illinois University and the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture at the University of Chicago