Grivno to discuss Hernando De Soto at Nov. 22 meeting of Natchez Historical Society

Wed, 11/16/2022 - 01:58pm

Dr. Max Grivno, a faculty member in The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) School of Humanities, will talk about Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto at the November meeting of the Natchez Historical Society (NHS).

Grivno’s presentation is titled, "Hernando De Soto and the First European Contact with the Mississippi Civilization of the Lower Mississippi Valley." It will be given at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22 at the Historic Natchez Foundation at 108 S. Commerce St. The program will follow a social time set for 6:30 p.m.

Dr. Grivno said he is happy to be speaking again before the NHS. “The lecture covers an important, but often overlooked, period in the region's history,” he said. “It shows not only the devastation caused by De Soto's raid in the southeast, but also considers how Native people built new societies in its aftermath."  

An associate professor of history at USM. Dr. Grivno holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland-College Park, where he also earned his master’s degree; he completed his bachelor’s degree at St. Olaf College. He is the author of Gleanings of Freedom: Free and Slave Labor along the Mason-Dixon Line, 1790-1860 (University of Illinois Press, 2011); and Historic Resource Study, Ferry Hill Plantation (Forgotten Books, 2017). In addition to Mississippi History, Dr. Grivno’s expertise is in Antebellum South, Slavery, and Economic and Labor History.

For information about the Natchez Historical Society, visit http://natchezhistoricalsociety.org/67001.html.