Visualizing Virginia Indigenous History in Vast Early America

Free lecture with registration. Fallon Burner, M.A., is a Vast Early America historian of the Indigenous Eastern Woodlands, and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in History at William & Mary. Her work centers on the histories of Virginia’s Indigenous peoples, with a focus on oral history, women’s stories, material culture, and language revitalization. She is especially passionate about addressing the gaps in how Virginia Indians have been represented—or left out—of visual and written records after the early 1600s.

Fallon grew up in Yorktown, Virginia, and has long been dedicated to sharing the region’s layered history with the public. She was the first Indigenous Historian at Colonial Williamsburg and served as Manager of the American Indian Initiative, where she led museum programs that highlighted Native perspectives and built relationships with Virginia tribes. In 2023, she architected Colonial Williamsburg’s Brafferton Remembrance Year, a wide-reaching initiative honoring the legacy of the Brafferton Indian School and its Indigenous students. In 2025, she was named the William Kelso Fellow for her work in Indigenous history and public scholarship.

She has been featured on Revolutionary War Weapons for PBS NOVA and contributed to the upcoming PBS documentary Liberty of Conscience: The Colonial Founding of Maryland. Fallon holds a B.A. in History from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.A. in History from the University of Saskatchewan, where her award-winning research focused on Wendat and Wyandot language revitalization across the U.S. and Canada.

You may also like the following events from St. Luke's Historic Church & Museum:

• This month, 23rd August, 11:00 am, Cemetery Preservation Workshop in Smithfield
• Next month, 6th September, 09:30 am, Born from Conflict: A 17th Century Living History Event in Smithfield
• Next month, 20th September, 11:00 am, Cemetery Preservation Workshop in Smithfield