Programs:
GOING NATIVE
Our West has been called “the most American part of America, and, over the centuries, the “West” has been the Tidewater, Piedmont, Appalachians, the Mississippi, and all the way to the Pacific. At every geographic juncture, the West presented the next new frontier, that place where our Euro-American ancestors said “savagery met civilization.” Today, most of us are more discerning with our words, and we know, at times, it was hard to know who was the savage, but there is and was no doubt that those “civilized newcomers” could learn a great deal from the “so-called” savages.
From a new vocabulary, to the clothes and shoes they wore, trade goods, food, and ways of war, to name five of life’s aspects, on the next frontier, Euro-Americans, slowly but surely, saw themselves GOING NATIVE!
A little about our speaker Bob Fleck: Years walking the family farm, on land the Susquehannock and Lenni Lenape knew, and four prior generations of teachers pointed Bob Fleck, 70, toward a lifetime of study, learning, teaching, and appreciation of the Native peoples who inhabited North America and contributed and still contribute so much to what became the people and culture of the United States of America. Educated in Berks County’s public schools, Bob earned his B.S., in Education, with an emphasis in American History and his M.A, in American History, from Kutztown State College. For over thirty-five years, he taught history and other social studies, at Exeter Township Senior High School.
As an historical re-enactor, portraying various personae, from 1750 into the 1830s, Bob has spent many hours exploring, studying, and living the lives of the Lenni Lenape and Euro-Americans, as they met, lived with, and adapted to the new and strange cultures that confronted both peoples.
 
Program Chair, Matt Vardjan
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