Virtual.

Dr. Christopher Matthews of Montclair State University discusses his new book, A Struggle for Heritage, and shares its relevance for inclusive history in communities like Montclair.

Based on ten years of collaborative, community-based research, this book examines race and racism in a mixed-heritage Native American and African American community on Long Island’s north shore. Through excavations of the Silas Tobias and Jacob and Hannah Hart houses in the village of Setauket, Dr. Matthews explores how the families who lived here struggled to survive and preserve their culture despite consistent efforts to marginalize and displace them over the course of more than 200 years.

He discusses these forgotten people and the artifacts of their daily lives within the larger context of race, labor, and industrialization from the early nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. Providing examples of multiple approaches to documenting hidden histories and silenced pasts, this study is a model for public and professional efforts to include and support the preservation of historic communities of color in any location – including Montclair.

Christopher N. Matthews, Ph.D, is the Chairperson of the Anthropology Department at Montclair State University and has written several other books. He and his students have also conducted archeological digs in Montclair, including on the MHC campus focused on the historic Crane and Clark houses.

This is a FREE Zoom Presentation.

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Photo credit: A Struggle for Heritage via Amazon