Local teacher to speak at Fort Necessity
FARMINGTON — The Friends of Fort Necessity Lecture Series will feature local history teacher Joshua Scully from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in the visitor’s center at Fort Necessity National Battlefield.
Scully, a graduate of California University of Pennsylvania, will discuss “From Quebec City to Port-au-Prince: The Ambitious Rise and Sudden Fall of France’s North American Empire.”
The presentation focuses on French land claims in North America and their importance, both economically and politically, to France’s empire.
“Mr. Scully’s presentation will give visitors a unique look at early American colonial history,” said MaryEllen Snyder, chief of Interpretation and Visitor Services at Fort Necessity.
“Often, when we learn about our colonial history, it is dominated by the perspective of the British. This is a good opportunity for visitors to explore the history of North America from a French point of view.”
Topics of the discussion will include French motivation for colonization, French-Native American relations, the importance of Southwestern Pennsylvania to the French Empire, reasons for the French and Indian War and the decline of French influence in North America.
While at California University, Scully extensively studied the exploration and colonization of North America, focusing on Greenland and Canada. He is a geography and American history teacher at A.J. McMullen Middle School in Markleysburg.
For more information on this and other programs at Fort Necessity, call 724-329-5512 or go online to the park’s web site at www.nps.gov/fone.