Indigenous Citizens: Native Americans' Fight for Sovereignty, 1776-2025

Paul Rosier is coming to Houston Hall on Wednesday, October 21, for a talk titled Indigenous Citizens: Native Americans' Fight for Sovereignty, 1776-2025. He'll be speaking in the Ben Franklin Room from 4 PM to 5:30 PM, and the session is part of the America 250 Lecture Series, a program of talks marking the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Rosier is a historian at Villanova University, and the talk covers a long stretch of American history—from the founding of the country in 1776 right up to the present day. The focus is on the ongoing fight for sovereignty among Native American nations, so it's less about a single event and more about a continuous struggle that spans nearly two and a half centuries. If you've ever wondered how those early treaties and conflicts still shape the legal and political standing of Indigenous nations today, this is exactly the kind of thing he'll be digging into.

Because it's part of the America 250 series, the talk sits within a larger conversation about what the U.S. looks like as it hits its quarter-millennium mark. Rather than just celebrating the anniversary, the series brings in different voices to look at the country's history from various angles, and this one centers on a part of that story that often gets pushed to the margins. Rosier's perspective comes from his work at Villanova, and he'll be presenting it here in Philadelphia.

It's a mid-week afternoon slot, so you'll need to carve out a bit of time during the workday if you're planning to make it. The talk runs from 4 PM to 5:30 PM at Houston Hall, in the Ben Franklin Room, on Wednesday, October 21.