Native American Women's Issues - First Lecture in the 2008 Robert Ware Straus Lecture Series

Contact: Kathy Talbot
Phone: 301.283.2113 ext. 32
Email: ktalbot@accokeek.org

What is the RWS Lecture Series? Robert Ware Straus, along with Charles Wagner and Henry Ferguson, was one of the original incorporators of the Accokeek Foundation in 1957. Over the next thirty-four years he served as Executive Vice President and President of the Board of Trustees, guiding the Foundation through the establishment of the National Colonial Farm, the completion of Piscataway Park, the introduction of educational and public programs, and the beginning of the Ecosystem Farm. Mr. Straus died in 1991. This Lecture Series was established by the Board of Trustees in 2004 to honor his commitment to both scholarship and public programs. In this spirit, registration is not required, and the lectures are free.

Robert Ware Straus Lecturers have included the following:

*The Honorable Thomas V. "Mike" Miller, President of the Maryland Senate
*Dr. Chandler Robbins, Senior Ornithologist with the U. S. Geological Survey
*Ross Merrill, Chief Conservator, National Gallery of Art
*Michael and Carrie Kline, co-directors of the Southern Maryland Folklife Project
*Dr. Robert Sutton, Superintendent of Manassas National Battlefield Park
*Dr. John Michael Vlach, Professor of Folklore and American Studies, The George Washington University
*Dr. Barbara Clark Smith, Curator of Political History, National Museum of American History
*Fred Tutman, Patuxent Riverkeeper
*Dr. Gabrielle Tayac, Member of the Piscataway Indian Nation, Historian at the National Museum of the American Indian
*Dr. Denise Meringolo, Assistant Professor of History and Public History at the University of Maryland

We hope that you will join us for one, or all, of these truly unique and engaging events, exploring the history and culture of Native Americans.

Native American Women's Issues

Join us Sunday, February 10, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. for coffee, with the lecture beginning at 3:00 p.m. This lively discussion will consider issues impacting Native American women in our region, including health care, safety, education, and raising families in two worlds and will examine traditional views and cultural preservation from a modern-day perspective.

About The Speaker: Karenne Wood is Program Director for the Virginia Indian Heritage Program at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Ms. Wood is an enrolled member of the Monacan Indian Nation and serves on the Monacan Tribal Council. She has worked at the National Museum of the American Indian as a researcher and directed a tribal history project with the Monacan Nation for six years. Ms. Wood held a gubernatorial appointment as Chair of the Virginia Council on Indians for four years, and she served on the National Congress of American Indians' Repatriation Commission.

Meet at the Education Center, rain or shine. This event is free.

Other lectures in this series:

The State of John Smith's Chesapeake Bay, 1608
Sunday, March 9, 2008
2:00 p.m. Coffee, 3:00 p.m. Lecture
Education Center, Rain or Shine, FREE

Don't miss this entertaining and educational talk on the Chesapeake Bay in 1608, discussing the manner of exploration and how the ecosystem looked and worked during Native American settlement, before European intervention.

About The Speaker: Dr. Mountford is an Estuarine Ecologist and Environmental Historian for Cove Corporation, with 40 years experience focused on North America's mid-Atlantic temperate estuaries. He spent the balance of his 16 years at the Environmental Protection Agency as Bay Program Senior Environmental Scientist. Dr. Mountford is an effective and engaging naturalist-lecturer with a sense of humor and a particular sensitivity for historical context. His numerous lectures have been abundantly illustrated from his own archive of 21,000 color slides and thousands of digital images. In addition, he has published dozens of papers and articles. He has been a sailor for over fifty years and a licensed U.S. Coast Guard captain since 1987. His logbooks span more than half a century and are filled with experiences and sketches, covering some 40,000 miles sailing his own boats and those of others on waters domestic and foreign.

Native American Scholarly Colloquium

Tuesday, May 20, 2008, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,and Wednesday, May 21, 2008, 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Education Center, Rain or Shine, FREE

Experts in the field of Native American history and culture will explore and discuss the unique issues encountered in the interpretation of Native American history in the Chesapeake Bay region. We will explore traditional Native American themes, their cultural meanings over time, relationships to land, and more.