The Grange Winter Lyceum presents

The First Adirondackers: 12,000 Years of Indigenous Peoples in the Adirondack Uplands

Sunday, March 1
3:00pm

Suggested donation: $5

A widespread claim holds that nobody lived in the Adirondacks before Euro-American colonizers arrived. It is false. New archaeological and paleoecological research helps to confirm what Indigenous cultural knowledge has held all along, that people have lived in the Adirondack uplands since time immemorial. The First Adirondackers, a multicultural collaboration between artist David Kanietakeron Fadden and scientist Curt Stager, challenges the false claim of absence with evidence of Indigenous presence on the land from the end of the last ice age to the present day which demonstrates that the human story in the Adirondacks is, quite literally, "older than the trees.”

SPEAKERS:

David Kanietakeron Fadden grew up in the tiny Adirondack Mountain hamlet of Onchiota with strong ties to the Mohawk community of Akwesasne. He is a recognized painter, traditional storyteller, illustrator, writer, and sculptor. His subjects range from traditional Haudenosaunee teachings to intimate and inspired portrayals of community members and his work has been featured in exhibitions throughout the Northeast as well as in books. Much of his work can be seen at the Six Nations Iroquois Cultural Center in Onchiota, a family-run facility founded in 1954 by his grandparents. Fadden continues to maintain this unique museum that welcomes visitors from around the world, breaking down stereotypes and promoting accurate, inspiring understandings of Mohawk and Haudenosaunee culture.

Curt Stager is a scientist, educator, and author whose research deals with climate change, human interactions with the natural world, and environmental history. His work has been published in major periodicals including Science, National Geographic, and The New York Times as well as in award-winning books. He currently teaches natural sciences and holds an endowed research chair at Paul Smith's College. In 2013, the Carnegie-Case Foundation named him Science Professor of the Year for New York State.