Speaker Saturday: Native Diplomacy on the Frontier
Join the Fort Pitt Museum to explore Native diplomacy and power struggles.
Sarah Donovan, Ph.D. student at William & Mary, will examine how the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War in 1754 sparked a crisis in British–Native American diplomacy, as colonial leaders clashed with imperial officials over who held the authority to negotiate with Native nations across the mid-Atlantic frontier.
By the mid-1760s, the rise of violent extralegal groups such as the Paxton Boys and the Black Boys drew frontier settlers into this conflict. Their actions reveal the deeply contested nature of power and legitimacy in the mid-eighteenth century, as imperial leaders, provincial politicians, and backcountry settlers all competed to shape Native American policy and regulate trade.
The program is included with regular admission and will take place in the Fort Pitt Auditorium on the museum’s first floor.
About the Speaker
Sarah Donovan is a Ph.D. student in history at William & Mary whose research focuses on extralegal violence in the British Atlantic world. She holds a B.A. from Lycoming College and M.A. degrees from SUNY Brockport and William & Mary. Her dissertation examines connections between violent frontier groups in early America and similar movements in early modern Ireland.
Her work has been supported by leading institutions, including the George Washington Presidential Library, the Huntington Library, and the American Philosophical Society. Donovan is also deeply engaged in public history, with experience as a historical interpreter, digital apprentice, and contributor to Fort Pitt Museum’s past exhibition, Pittsburgh, Virginia. She currently works as a graduate writing consultant at William & Mary.