Indigenous Liberation Speaker Series

The Indigenous Liberation Speaker Series is an online series that is free and open to the public and co-organized by United American Indians of New England and the North American Indian Center of Boston. Each month we invite Indigenous activists, artists, and scholars to an online series of conversations to share their work towards Indigenous liberation. Attendees will learn from the frontlines of social, economic, gender equality, and racial justice presented through an Indigenous lens. Our series is supported in part by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation.
January
1.11.22
Massachusetts Indigenous Legislative Agenda Teach-In 
  • Samantha Maltais (Aquinnah Wampanoag) chairs a panel that discusses the five bills before the 2021-2022 Massachusetts legislature. Panelists include:
  • Shawna Newcomb (Mashpee Wampanoag) and Faries Gray (Sagamore, Massachusett at Ponkapoag) on An Act prohibiting the use of Native American mascots by public schools in the Commonwealth. (S.294/H.581) 
  • Jean-Luc Pierite (Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana) An Act to protect Native American Heritage. (S.2239/H.3377 & S.2240/H.3385)
  • Kisha James (Aquinnah Wampanoag) and Shawna Newcomb (Mashpee Wampanoag) on An Act Relative to celebrating and teaching Native American Culture and History (S.382/H.651)
  • Mahtowin Munro (Lakota) and Heather Leavell on An Act establishing an Indigenous Peoples Day (S.2027/H.3191)
  • Jean-Luc Pierite (Tunica-Biloxi) and Ella Mae Jake-Blackowl (Pawnee) on An Act providing for the creation of a permanent commission relative to the education of American Indian and Alaska Native residents of the Commonwealth (H.582)​
For more information on the Massachusetts Indigenous Legislative Agenda, visit: www.maindigenousagenda.org
February 
2.24.22
Talk with Dr. Kyle T. Mays, Author of "An Afro-Indigenous History of the US"

Dr. Mays is a transdisciplinary scholar of urban history and studies, Afro-Indigenous Studies, and contemporary popular culture. His recent book, An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States, argues that African enslavement and Indigenous dispossession have been central to the founding of the United States, and explores how Black and Indigenous peoples have resisted U.S. colonialism up to the present day.

Learn more about Dr. Mays’s work here: www.kyle-mays.com
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March 
3.27.22
​A conversation with Indigenous Women Leaders From Across Turtle Island
VIDEO COMING SOON

Speakers include:
  • Melissa Harding Ferretti, Chairwoman of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe
  • Cherri Foytlin, Afro-Indigenous (Din'e), Executive Director of Movement Training Network and founder of L'eau Est La Vie Resistance Camp
  • Noretta Miswaggon, Pimicikamak First Nation, Manitoba, Megadam Resistance
  • Lisa Sockabasin, MS, RN, Co-CEO, Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness, citizen of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Motahkomikuk
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April
4.21.22
We Are The Land. We Are The Water.
7:00pm EST
Registration is required: www.bit.ly/ILSLandWater

Speakers Include:
  • Camille Madison (Aquinnah Wampanoag) is a Keeper and Teacher of the Wôpanâak language and advocate for tribal and climate issues.
  • Julie Richards (Oglala Lakota), aka Mama Julz, is a frontline water protector, land defender, and the founder of the Mothers Against Meth Alliance.
  • Big Wind Lott (Northern Arapaho) has been a frontline water and land protector in MA, WY, and elsewhere.
  • Justine Teba is from Santa Clara and Tesuque Pueblos. An organizer for The Red Nation in Tewa Territory in Albuquerque, NM, Teba will be speaking about the Red New Deal.