Scholar to discuss colonization of South

Free presentation slated Oct. 15 at Cal Lutheran

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Juliana Barr, an associate professor of history at Duke University, will present “How Do You Get From Jamestown to Santa Fe? A Colonial Sun Belt” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15.

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Oct. 1, 2015) An early American history scholar will discuss Spanish colonization in the southern United States and the role played by a slave woman in a lecture at California Lutheran University.

Juliana Barr, an associate professor of history at Duke University, will present “How Do You Get From Jamestown to Santa Fe? A Colonial Sun Belt” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, in Ullman Commons 100/101 on the Thousand Oaks campus.

Barr draws a connection between two Spanish expeditions, one led by Francisco de Coronado into present-day New Mexico and another by Hernando de Soto from present-day Florida up the Mississippi River. She argues that a Native American slave woman who escaped from Coronado’s party was later picked up by de Soto. In Barr’s account, the ill-fated woman was the first to unite, however briefly, the greater South and the Spanish borderlands.

The historian has worked to expand the traditional United States narrative of colonization that tends to focus on the 13 colonies on the East Coast. Barr’s presentation will describe the importance of early colonization comparing British, French and Spanish efforts along the United States’ southern borders and the impact it has had on U.S. culture and society. The topic informs current discussions on race and culture.

Barr released her first book, “Peace Came in the Form of a Woman: Indians and Spaniards in the Texas Borderlands”in 2007. It received six awards including a Berkshire Conference of Women Historians prize for the best book in women’s history and the Southern Historical Association’s Charles S. Sydnor Award. In the book, Barr revises the standard narrative of European-Indian relations in America by reconstructing a world in which Indians were the dominant power and Europeans were the ones forced to accommodate, resist and persevere. She is working on a new book titled “La Dama Azul (The Lady in Blue): A Southwestern Origin Story for Early America.”

She received a master’s degree and doctorate in American women’s history from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin. She spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow at the William P. Clement Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University. Her research and teaching focus on early America, American Indians and women.

The Organization of American Historians and Cal Lutheran’s Artists and Speakers Series, History Department and Alpha Xi Psi Chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society are sponsoring the free event.

Ullman Commons is located at 101 Memorial Parkway. For more information, contact David Nelson at dnelson@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3318.

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