On March 25th, 2026 the Norwell MA Public Library was proud to host the Norwell Historical Society for a special presentation featuring historian Marjory Gomez O’Toole as she examined King Philip’s War, 350 years after the 1676 fight which took place in what is now Norwell. Click here for the 68-minute video posted on April 7, 2026 by the Norwell Public Library.

Marjorie Gomez O’Toole (above, left), who has an MA in Public Humanities from Brown University, has been the Executive Director of the Little Compton (RI) Historical Society for 15 years, and is the author of If Jane Should Want to be Sold: Stories of Enslavement, Indenture, and Freedom in Little Compton, RI.

O’Toole discussed enslavement, the little-known secret behind the fighting, and taught us why history rarely mentions this troubling fact.

From the first kidnappings of Indigenous men in the early 1600s to the slavery that followed both the Pequot War and King Philip’s War, she covered how Indigenous enslavement became a common practice in New England.