100 Years of Native American Sovereignty

Sat Oct 27 1:00

Native peoples in Central Illinois established successful trade relationships with the French and British. At the end of the American Revolution, a more tumultuous relationship developed between native groups and the American colonizers moving into this region. The United States saw Illinois as a land destined for American families, a land from which native groups were to be removed. Today we call this ethnic cleansing.

As part of the Museum’s continued Bicentennial of Illinois commemoration, Greg Koos, Executive Director Emeritus of the McLean County Museum of History, will present a program on the history of native people in Central Illinois and their changing relationships with the Europeans and later Americans who lived here. This free, public program will take place on Saturday, October 27 at 1:00 p.m. in the Museum’s Governor Fifer courtroom.

Greg Koos worked with the McLean County Museum of History from 1977 to 2016 and was named Executive Director in 1988. His published writing includes histories of McLean County, academic articles on material culture of American buildings, the Irish in the American Backcountry, and articles on museum and community relations. He is currently writing a survey history of McLean County in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, from which this lecture is derived.

For more information about this program, please contact the Education Department at [email protected] or 309-827-0428. Free parking is available on the Museum Square and surrounding streets or at the Lincoln Parking Deck located on Front Street.

Exhibit-related Program