Margaret Connell Szasz – författare

Armed with Bible and primer, missionaries and teachers in colonial America sought, in their words, "to Christianize and civilize the native heathen." Both the attempts to transform Indians via schooling and the Indians' reaction to such efforts are closely studied for the first time in Indian Education in the American Colonies, 1607–1783. Margaret Connell Szasz's remarkable synthesis of archival and published materials is a detailed and engaging story told from both Indian and European perspectives. Szasz argues that the most intriguing dimension of colonial Indian education came with the individuals who tried to work across cultures. We learn of the remarkable accomplishments of two Algonquian students at Harvard, of the Creek woman Mary Musgrove who enabled James Oglethorpe and the Georgians to establish peaceful relations with the Creek Nation, and of Algonquian minister Samson Occom, whose intermediary skills led to the founding of Dartmouth College. The story of these individuals and their compatriots plus the numerous experiments in Indian schooling provide a new way of looking at Indian-white relations and colonial Indian education.

Cultural boundaries exist wherever cultures encounter one another. During centuries of contact between native peoples and others in America, countless intermediaries-artists, students, traders, interpreters, political figures, authors, even performers-have bridged the divide. Between Indian and White Worlds: The Cultural Broker provides a new understanding of the role of these mediation in North America from 1690 to the present.Cultural brokers have shared certain qualities-in particular a thorough understanding of two of more cultures. Living on the edge of change and conflict, they have responded to evolving and unstable circumstances or alliances with a flexibility born of their determination to bring understanding to disparate peoples.No composite portrait can encompass the complexity of the brokerage experience. To convey the many roles of these intermediaries, editor Margaret Connell Szasz has brought together fourteen distinct portraits, crafted by prominent scholars of Indian-white relations, of brokers across the continent and throughout three centuries of American history-in the colonial world, during the expansion of the republic, in the Wild West, and in the twentieth century.This fascinating and inspiring collection speaks eloquently of life on the cultural frontier. Key figures in our pluralistic heritage, cultural brokers are no less important today, as society continues to struggle with diversity.

Two indigenous cultures encounter Scottish educators in the eighteenth centuryThe Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) was founded in 1709 by Scottish Lowlanders for the education of Highlanders: specifically to convert them from the Gaelic language to English, from the Episcopal faith to Presbyterianism, and from latent Jacobitism to loyalty to the crown. In a transatlantic translation of this effort, the ""Scottish Society"" also established itself in the New World to educate and assimilate Iroquois, Algonquin, and southeastern Native peoples.In this first book-length examination of the SSPCK, Margaret Connell Szasz explores the origins of the Scottish Society's policies of cultural colonialism and their influence on two disparate frontiers. Drawing intriguing parallels between the treatment of Highland Scots and of Native Americans, she incorporates multiple perspectives on the cultural encounter, juxtaposing the attitudes of Highlanders and Lowlanders, English colonials and Native peoples, while giving voice to the Society's pupils and graduates, its schoolmasters, and religious leaders.Featuring more than two dozen illustrations, Scottish Highlanders and Native Americans brims with intriguing comparisons and insights into two cultures on the cusp of modernity. It is a benchmark in emerging studies of comparative education and a major contribution to the growing literature of cross-cultural encounters.

The Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) was founded in 1709 by Scottish Lowlanders for the education of Highlanders: specifically to convert them from the Gaelic language to English, from the Episcopal faith to Presbyterianism, and from latent Jacobitism to loyalty to the crown. In a transatlantic translation of this effort, the “Scottish Society” also established itself in the New World to educate and assimilate Iroquois, Algonquin, and southeastern Native peoples.In this first book-length examination of the SSPCK, Margaret Connell Szasz explores the origins of the Scottish Society’s policies of cultural colonialism and their influence on two disparate frontiers. Drawing intriguing parallels between the treatment of Highland Scots and of Native Americans, she incorporates multiple perspectives on the cultural encounter, juxtaposing the attitudes of Highlanders and Lowlanders, English colonials and Native peoples, while giving voice to the Society’s pupils and graduates, its schoolmasters, and religious leaders.Featuring more than two dozen illustrations, Scottish Highlanders and Native Americans brims with intriguing comparisons and insights into two cultures on the cusp of modernity. It is a benchmark in emerging studies of comparative education and a major contribution to the growing literature of cross-cultural encounters.

Abraham Lincoln’s faith has commanded more broad-based attention than that of any other American president. Although he never joined a denomination, Baptists, Presbyterians, Quakers, Episcopalians, Disciples of Christ, Spiritualists, Jews, and even atheists claim the sixteenth president as one of their own. In this concise volume, Ferenc Morton Szasz and Margaret Connell Szasz offer both an accessible survey of the development of Lincoln’s religious views and an informative launch pad for further academic inquiry.