Pulitzer Prize Winning Author Speaks at Scranton

Author Nicole Eustace, Ph.D., the winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in History for her book “Covered with Night,” spoke at The University of Scranton in May, as part of National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) supported “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story” Project. She drew from the central themes of her award-winning book in her presentation titled “Murder and Mercy: A Colonial Encounter in the Susquehanna Valley.” The talk by Dr. Eustace, a professor of history at New York University, was related to the “Scranton’s Story” project’s third theme: “The Indigenous History of Northeast Pennsylvania.”

The lecture, and a second talk titled “Removal and the Right to Remain in the United States,” by Samantha Seeley, Ph.D., associate professor of history at the University of Richmond, at which took place in May the Albright Memorial Library, were sponsored by the University’s Slattery Center for the Ignatian Humanities, History Department and Office of Community Relations; and community partners the Black Scranton Project, Lackawanna County Arts and Culture Department, Lackawanna Historical Society, Scranton Public Library, and WVIA.

“Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story” seeks to capture the unique narrative of Scranton and relate it to the history of the United States prior to the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States. The project will incorporate eight themes over a two-year period, including how Scranton has been portrayed in the popular imagination, its industrial era growth, Indigenous history, religious tapestry, diverse immigrant populations – past and present – and the role it played in the Underground Railroad and Black history. Both lectures in May relate to the project’s third theme: “The Indigenous History of Northeast Pennsylvania.”