Joseph M. Hall Jr.

Joseph McLean Hall Jr. is a professor, writer, and historian at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine where he specializes in early modern American and Atlantic history, particularly focusing on Native American, European, and environmental interactions in North America. He is a nationally recognized historian for his research in Native American history and in addition to his work in academia, he often writes articles that contribute to newspapers and gives presentations to public audiences. Hall is currently working on a book project concerning the Maine Coast and the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area in collaboration with Bates faculty in the natural sciences. He is an associate professor at Bates in the History department and the Environmental Studies (ES) program, having recently chaired the ES program and multiple hiring committees for new ES faculty. He also received the 2009 Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching and the honor of delivering the 2018 Convocation Address at Bates.

Hall is originally from Newport, Rhode Island and received his B.A. at Amherst College (1991) and his M.A. (1995) and Ph.D. (2001) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is the author of many articles, essays, and popular books including Zamumo’s Gifts: Indian-European Exchange in the Colonial Southeast (2012) and Making an Indian People: Creek Formation in the Colonial Southeast, 1590-1735 (2001). His works have been positively reviewed and cited in peer-reviewed journals such as The Journal of Southern History, The Florida Historical Quarterly, The William and Mary Quarterly, and Maine History.

Hall focuses on teaching rather than research and offers a diversity of courses at Bates, many of which are cross-listed in the Africana, American Studies, and/or Environmental Studies programs.

Current Courses
 * Black Struggles Against American Slavery
 * Historical Methods
 * Native American History
 * New England: Environment and History
 * Origins of New Nations, 1500-1820
 * The Revolutionary Black Atlantic, 1770-1840
 * This Land is Whose Land?
 * U.S. Environmental History
 * Wabanaki History in Maine