Renowned Historian Daniel Richter to Speak at Mission San Luis’ Free Cultural Thursday Program on the Power Struggles in the Colonial South

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –

Mission San Luis’ free Cultural Thursday program continues on Thursday, November 30, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. with a lecture by Dr. Daniel Richter entitled Carolina, Florida, and Native Peoples: A Multipolar 17^th-Century Struggle for Power.

“This month Mission San Luis is very honored to present a free program by author, historian and Guggenheim Fellow Dr. Daniel Richter from the University of Pennsylvania,” said Secretary of State Ken Detzner. “Professor Richter brings a fresh perspective on European and Native conflicts in colonial Florida and Carolina.”

Image left: Dr. Daniel Richter

Image right: Colonial Carolina map and title page from “A Brief Description Of The Province Of Carolina,” London, England, 1666

When the English crown created the new colony of Carolina in 1663 it was establishing a beachhead in territories its Spanish rivals had long claimed as part of Florida. But the Europeans’ rivalry was just one of many in a region where multiple Native American forces also contended for power. Join Professor Daniel Richter as he outlines the multi-sided contests that shaped the early history of southeastern North America.

Dr. Richter’s research and teaching focus is on colonial North America and Native American history before 1800. He is the Director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies and Professor of American History at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Dr. Richter’s award-winning books on history include Before the Revolution: America’s Ancient Pasts, which was named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the ten best non-fiction books of 2011; and Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America, which was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in History. His most recent book is Trade, Land, Power: The Struggle for Eastern North America. He currently holds a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a Distinguished Fellow in Early American History at the Huntington Library, San Marino, California, where he is writing a book tentatively titled The Lords Proprietors: Land and Power in Seventeenth-Century America, (Harvard University Press).

Each of the Mission’s special evening programs are free and open to the public and begin with a wine and cheese reception at 6 p.m. followed by the presentation at 6:30 p.m. The audience has the opportunity to meet and talk with the speaker at the reception, as well as after the presentation. Share the event on social media at facebook.com/MissionSanLuis/events.

The next Cultural Thursday event will feature a lecture by Dr. John Worth on February 1.  

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About Mission San Luis

Mission San Luis, Florida’s Apalachee-Spanish Living History Museum, was the western capital of Spanish Florida from 1656 to 1704. The Mission, now a National Historic Landmark, brings the year 1703 to life with living history interpreters in period dress, reconstructed period buildings, exhibits, and archaeological research. The site is managed by the Florida Department of State, and support is provided by the Friends of Florida History, Inc. Mission San Luis is located at 2100 West Tennessee Street in Tallahassee, Florida, and is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call 850.245.6406 or visit missionsanluis.org.