"The Flower Hunter and the People: William Bartram in the Native American Southeast"

Dr. Matt Jennings, Middle Georgia State associate professor of history, will read and discuss selections from his latest work, "The Flower Hunter and the People: William Bartram in the Native American Southeast." This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Mercer University Press published the book, which is a volume of the famous naturalist's writings edited by Jennings. The book's purpose, as described on the Mercer University Press website, "is to introduce Bartram’s writings on Southeastern Native Americans, and to let Bartram and his indigenous consultants tell their stories in their own words."

Bartram journeyed through what is now the Ocmulgee National Monument in Macon in 1774 and 1776. He described the "wonderful remains of the power and grandeur of the ancients in this part of America." He was the first to record the Muscogee oral histories of the mounds' origins. 

Jennings' research interests include Native American history, early American history and the history of violence. He is studying the relationship between Native American peoples and the mounds at Ocmulgee National Monument, and the intertwined history of tourism and archaeology at the site.