Author: jlreid

A member of the Snohomish Indian Nation, I am an associate professor of History and American Indian Studies at the University of Washington. My research agenda largely focuses on Indigenous marine space, although I am interested in a wide range of intersecting research fields, including Indigenous peoples, the North American West, Pacific worlds, US history, and environmental history. Yale University Press recently published my first book, The Sea Is My Country: The Maritime World of the Makahs, in the Henry Roe Cloud Series for American Indians and Modernity.

This examines the Makah Nation’s historical relationship with the ocean. I am currently researching a project about indigenous explorers in the Pacific Ocean, specifically focusing on those individuals who voluntarily traveled throughout the Pacific from the late eighteenth through late nineteenth centuries. At the UW, I teach courses in American Indian history, history of the North American West, and environmental history.

This digital history project is a capstone assignment for a course I regularly teach. Titled “Indigenous Leaders & Activists,” the course explores Indigenous leaders and activists across the world and throughout time. By reading about these leaders, students will examine issues of power, sovereignty, identity, and the role of the individual in influencing the course of history.