Covered With Night by Nicole Eustace

This is an in depth examination of what led up to the The Albany Treaty of 1722, also known as the Great Treaty. At 300 years old this year, it is oldest continuously recognized Indigenous treaty in Anglo-American law. It not only is a record of later land cessions and claims, both colonial and under the United States, but also memorialized the previously referenced Indigenous condolence ceremonies, and requested the release of the alleged murderers, recognizing Native American principles of restorative justice embedded in balanced values of pluralism and communalism in which lies the culture clash described in the text. It all started when a Native American man, trading with two Pennsylvania brothers, was murdered, and the overarching efforts on the part of the colonial government were not only to determine possible guilt and punishment of the two murderers, but also to head off a possible war and continue to maintain current trade, land acquisition efforts, and friendly relations between the neighbors. The title refers to the indigenous perception that murder covers the community with darkness at the loss of one of its own and the necessity of replacing that member either with someone from the murderer’s community and/or providing some sort of reparations or compensation for the loss of the deceased’s presence. The narrative about what Native American values and the perception of justice and community are nicely juxtaposed against the narrow and Western views of the colonists