18 10 189 https://www.dawnlandvoices.org/collections/files/original/082755913d753523fd94ff07968410de.pdf eaee36babd8ded07e628ae12b1e1c9f8 PDF Text Text W abanaki News fro m th e 121 st M aine Legislature O ctober 2003 Casino valuable to the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy Nation Representative Donna Loring: A voice for Rep. Loring Appointed House Chair of The Task Force to study the the Penobscot Nation (Reprinted with permission from the of the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy impact of a Maine-based Casino Times Record) by Michael Reagan, Times Record Staff Donna Loring had never visited a ca­ sino until she went to Foxwoods in Con­ necticut last year. She tried the slot ma­ chines and broke even. Unlike most of the fortune seekers who visit the casino, Loring wasn’t there to get rich or gain a taste of the high life. The Richmond resident, who has represented the Penobscot Nation as a nonvoting member of the Legislature since 1997, was on a mission to learn more about what will be at stake for the people she represents when Maine voters go to the polls in No­ vember to decide whether casino gambling will be al­ lowed in the state. A refer­ endum question on the No­ vember ballot will ask Maine voters to allow Na­ tive American tribes to open a casino, with parts of the profits going to state education funding and tax relief. Loring questioned what benefits a casino could bring to Maine until she considered the economic stability it would give to her own people. Income from casinos could go toward helping lo­ cal schools preserve their own culture, she said. It would also create opportunities for Maine tribes to share their heritage with others, as has been the case at Foxwoods, which is home to the world’s largest Na­ tive American museum. Economic boon As the elected representative of the Pe­ nobscot Nation, Loring offers a critical per­ spective on the hotly debated casino issue saying she would speak publicly in favor tribes running a casino. In the summer of 2002, then House This would give us a real economic tool Speaker Machael Saxl appointed me to to start developing, if we want to, ” Loring be the House Chair o f the Casino Study said. Task Force. Ttom her perspective, the benefits of 1 was the first Tribal representative opening a casino would not be limited to to be appointed as House Chair of any Maine’s Native Americans. Along with committee. helping the tribes in Maine invest or open I was proud and honored to receive businesses of their own, she believes a such an appointment. casino could provide jobs to Maine people The task was not an easy one. I re­ in difficult economic times. mained silent throughout most of the This casino is the biggest economic process. My appointment as House Chair project the state has seen in the last 20 caused much suspicion on behalf of the years,” Loring said. anti-casino interests. This suspicion caused a chilling effect in my participa­ tion. I did however write a letter that I insisted be included in our final task force study report. The letter reads as follows: December 30, 2002 Dear Maine legislators and citizens, Enclosed is our Task Force Report on the impact of a new casino resort in Maine. The report presents the testimony we heard please turn to page 2 VOTE YES! Her criticism of those who have mo­ bilized opposition to a Maine casino is that no one has suggested other job-related al­ ternatives. When you’re wealthy, you can afford to sit back and not allow any economic development in your backyard,” Loring said. The casino debate highlights the growing gap between Mainers who live comfortably and those who straggle. The conflict offers a twist on the notion of two Maines,” for as Loring sees it, the casino debate divides the state by class rather than geography. please turn to page 5 RESORT CASINO Rep. Donna M. Loring RR1, Box 45, Richmond, ME 04357 �Fall 2003 Wabanaki News page 2 Rep. Loring Appointed House Chair from page 1 Rep. Loring addresses Executive Board of NAACP Thank you for inviting me here today to speak to you. and the information we gathered. I stand before you as a representative of the Pe­ We did the best job we could in a limited amount nobscot Nation and my words will be on their behalf of time with a limited amount of resources. This re­ only. port provides the basic information on the subject. It I cannot speak for the Passamaquoddy Tribe. is a good beginning. It is now up to you as fellow leg­ I would like to begin by talking about the history islators and Maine citizens to review the material, to between the tribe and the State. conduct follow-up-studies, and to draw your own con­ The words of William Cronon come to mind. clusions. “Why the past matters” There will always be questions about building a .. .the past is responsible for everything we are. It resort casino here in Maine. This is obvious. But we is the core of our humanity. The past is the world out do have an advantage here in Maine in that we are in a of which we have come, the multitude of events and position to use the knowledge and experience gained experiences that have shaped our conscious selves and from other states in a positive and creative manner. It the social worlds we inhabit. To understand how and is my personal hope that we can find ways to use this why we live as we do. We cannot avoid appealing to knowledge not to destroy but to build, to focus on the past to explain how and why we go to be this progress, to open the door to partnership with the tribes, way...” and to create something totally unique to Maine. Prior to the arrival of Europeans on our shores we I would like to thank my fellow Task Force mem­ lived in a land that we were an integral part of physi­ bers for their participation, their intelligent discussion, cally and spiritually. We had our own governments and and their civility in dealing with such an emotional our hunting and fishing territories were scattered issue. I would also like to thank all those who testified throughout the eastern seaboard. Our numbers have before our committee, as well as those who just came been estimated to be anywhere from fifteen to thirty to listen. Finally, I want to specially thank the previ­ thousand. We hunted and fished seasonally. Our bound­ ous Speaker of the House, Michael Saxl, for appoint­ aries were usually rivers, lakes, ponds, and streams as ing me as House Chair of the Task Force. well as where we could find specific animals, fish, My appointment made Maine legislative history. fowl, plants, trees and herbs at certain times of year. It was the first time an Indian representative has ever We believed that everything from rocks to humans, to been appointed to be house chair of any committee or plants, and rivers even the wind had a spirit and these task force. must be respected. Our very lives depended on our The appointment came as a surprise. Although I treatment of this sacred environment (as it does to­ knew the political environment around the November day). When Europeans arrived on our shores they ar­ elections would make the Task Force a political light­ rived with concepts and beliefs that we could not un­ ning rod, I accepted it, and have not regretted my de­ derstand. They came here with one thing in mind and cision for a moment. that was to control our lands and our resources. (The Let me add a few thoughts on the subject of casi­ world as we knew it changed forever.) They were will­ nos. For decades the word “casino” was used in whis­ ing to do anything and use any means to accomplish pers in the legislative hallways for fear it would kill their goals. As an example of this ruthless effort to any \n \\ associated it. T h e P enobscot and P assa- maquoddy tribe brought the word “out o f the closet” so to speak, by announcing that they were planning to introduce legislation that would allow them to build a casino in Maine. There were some who argued that our task force should not consider the tribal connec­ tion when studying the issues surrounding a resort ca­ sino. But this made no sense- for without the tribal legislation, there would have been no Task Force. The reality is that a resort casino is a development project presented by the tribes to the State. The tribes even conducted their own economic impact study. This is nothing unusual. Any responsible business owner or developer would do the same. Our Task Force was criticized for considering that eco­ nomic impact study in its deliberations because the study was felt to be biased or tainted. This too makes no sense. When a business—tribal or otherwise—con­ ducts an economic feasibility study it is to see if its investment will be successful and profitable. Inves­ tors are not interested in rosy or unrealistic projections. The tribal study was reviewed by two prominent Maine economists and found to be credible. Quite honestly, I feel strongly that had this project been less controver­ sial, the economic development plans and the integ­ rity of the tribes would never have been questioned. I want to thank the tribes for allowing the task force access to their study. It was the only study available that analyzed the impacts of a new resort casino on Maine in particular. In closing, I encourage you to learn all you can about this issue, to distinguish facts from myths, and to deal with opposing views with civility. Again, this report is intended to be the beginning of a serious dia­ logue on the resort casino issue in Maine, not the end. Since'dy. ^ Donna M Loring, Representative House Chair eradicate us A proclam ation by Spencer Phips, L t G ov­ ernor of Massachusetts reads: .. .For every Male Penobscot Indian above the age of twelve years, that shall be taken within the time aforesaid and brought to Boston fifty pounds. For every scalp of a male Penobscot Indian above the age aforesaid, brought in as evidence of their be­ ing killed as a foresaid, forty pounds. For every female Penobscot Indian taken and brought in as aforesaid and for every male Indian pris­ oner under the age of twelve years, taken and brought in as aforesaid. Twenty five pounds. For every scalp of such female Indian or male In­ dian under the age of twelve years, that shall be killed and brought in as evidence of their being killed as afore­ said, twenty pounds. They had a value system that sought to accumu­ late wealth at any cost including genocide. Indian people were treated like animals by the English. It is not surprising that during the Revolutionary war when asked to fight on the American side by George Washington we agreed. When the war was won we made a treaty with Mass and in 1818 the treaty was renewed and finally when Maine petitioned Mass for separation one of the conditions was that Maine take over its treaty obligations to the tribes. Once this was done Mass please turn to page 11 LD 1525 “An Act to Clarify the Freedom Of Access Laws as They Pertain to the Penobscot Nation” The Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary voted to Carry over the bill on request of rep­ resentative Loring until next session. The com­ mittee further agreed to send a letter to the Maine Indian Tribal State Commission re­ questing they review the bill as it pertains to the Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act and make recommendations. The recommen­ dations and the bill will be Reviewed during the second session of the 121st. I House reverses smoking ban stance Reprint with permission Bangor Daily News May 13,2003 by A. J. Higgins AUGUSTA - The tribal representative for the Penobscot Indian Nation convinced members of the House on Monday to reverse an earlier vote, setting the stage for the possible derailment of a bill banning smoking at bingo games. On May 1, the House gave initial approval to a proposal to prohibit smoking at all bingo games in the state. But as the measure was heading toward final enactment Monday, the lawmakers voted 74-55 to exempt the tribe’s high-stakes bingo games. Last week, the Maine Senate voted 19-14 in favor of the original bill and against a similar amendment offered by Sen. Mary Cathcart, D-Orono, to exempt the tribe’s games. Both houses of the Legislature now must try to resolve their differences over LD 227 if the bill is going to become law. “And I wouldn’t dare guess how that’s going to come out,” said tribal Rep. Donna Loring, who argued that the exemption issue pivoted more on tribal sovereignty and economics than a desire to promote smok­ ing. Loring now has two ways to win. The Senate could reconsider its action and side with the amended House version of the bill. The Senate also could stand firm on its own version. If the Senate stands pat and the House also refuses to reconsider, the bill then would die between the houses unless a compromise is struck. The tribe’s high-stakes games, held seven weekends per year, generate more than half of the Penobscots’ general fund for community services. Loring said the tribe had conducted a study to determine the financial loss that would result from a smoking ban at the high-stakes games and concluded that emergency services on Indian Island would all but disappear if the bill as formerly written were to become law. Additionally, she said 75 part-time jobs related to the games would be lost, along with some full-time jobs. Many lawmakers feel strongly about smoking, which has been linked to increased health costs and worker absenteeism, and about the potential dangers to employees subjected to secondhand cigarette smoke inhalation. Others objected to the notion that the Legislature should be making laws that do not apply to all Maine residents. “If we feel the need to protect the people of the state of Maine from themselves regarding smoking and health, then why don’t we have the need to protect the Native Americans of this state?” asked Rep. Julie O’Brien, R-Augusta. “I see a flashing neon sign and it says: ‘Hypocritical.’” Loring’s arguments were bolstered by Rep. Matt Dunlap, D-Old Town, who pointed out that the hand­ ful of games sponsored by the tribe through a 1992 act of the Legislature attracted a loyal following of smoking participants, many of whom dine, shop and rent motel rooms in Greater Bangor. “These people can make a choice, and they’re going to go where they feel most at ease and most comfortable,” he said. “The smoking issue could very well help them make their decision to not come to the Penobscot high-stakes bingo which could pose a significant downward turn in their revenues.” The bill now moves onto the Senate’s daily calendar and will be scheduled for further action at the discretion of the Senate president. ______________________________ �Wabanaki News page 3 Fall 2003 Honoring the service to her country of Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa Archie Ortiz of Native American Veterans of the Vietnam War salutes a photo of Piestewa after placing a POW/MIA flag next to the display Joint Resolution passed by both Maine House and Senate Thank you Mr. Speaker Men and women of the House. Pfc Lori Ann Piestewa was honored during a memorial service at the Women in Military Service at Arlington Cem­ etery this past memorial day. Pentagon officials for the first time publicly stated that she fought back.. “She drew her weapon and fought arid did it with courage and honor” stated Shirley Martinez Deputy Secretary of the Air Force. A Congressman from Arizona said “She fought tooth and nail along side a by Donna M. Loring I had been following the story of the 507th Maintenance Company Since March 23rd when they were ambushed. 1 was particularly interested when it was known that one of the missing was a 23 year old female Native American soldier of the Hopi tribe. I couldn’t help but identify with her and the Hopi community from which she came. When I heard the news of her death on Saturday my heart was very heavy and my thoughts and prayers went to her family and those that knew her and loved her. I couldn’t help but think of my experience in Vietnam as a Pfc and only 19.1 wondered then what I was doing there and I’m sure she must have had those same thoughts. I wrote a poem about that confusion and although it was written thirty five years ago somehow I think Lori Ann Piestewa would agree. I read this poem in the House chamber in her memory and in honor of her warrior spirit and ultimate sacrifice. sergeant to give other soldiers time to Wayland and her three year old daugh­ climb out. Her last stand was fighting with ter Carla. Freedom is not free. The price is all her might, defending her own people. paid not only by the dead but by those She fought with courage and valor”. She was the first Hopi woman and who must live without their loved one. Native American woman to die in com­ The empty space may never be filled. According to Hopi legend if a per­ bat in defense of the United States. She was a daughter, a sister, a son had a good heart when he or she died their spirit would return to the earth in mother, a friend. She has had a mountain and a high­ the form o f moisture. Perhaps because way named after her and over twenty it is so treasured in that dry and arid cli­ mate for it’s life giving and life nour­ one tribes have paid homage to heT. But after the ceremonies, the songs, ishing qualities. Lori was known to have a good the poems, the gifts there is an empty space that will always be felt by her fam­ heart to love life, people and above all her family and friends. ily and especially her children. On the day the Piestewa family was Lori’s son Brandon turned five years notified of her death an unusual event old on Memorial Day. Rose pedals were ceremoniously placed in the reflection occurred in her home town of Tuba City. pool by her father Terry, her mother Moisture fell back to earth in the pure P riscilla, her brothers Adam and white form of snow. J M a t F o f in te r im * jfn tb r ijjm r o f (£Htr £Lcnrb QtXuo ^thousand artd iXfrtw It’s titled “The Other World”: I stepped o ff the “Freedom Bird” into another world a world o f profound beauty and yet a world o f desolation and despair. Just as a new born babe comes into the world so came /.... Into a world I knew nothing o f unto a people I knew nothing of. Why was I here? JOINT RESOLUTION IN MEMORY OF UNITED STATES ARMY PRIVATE FIRST CLASS LORI ANN PIESTEWA, THE FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN SOLDIER KILLED IN ACTION IN THE IRAQ WAR U 3 H E R E A 2 ? United States Army Private First Class Lori Ann Piestewa was die first American woman to fait in combat during the recent war with Iraq and she died a hero’s death when her unit was ambushed by enemy troops; and I M H E E 8 E A 2 ; Lori Ann Piestewa was a 23-ycar-old Hopi Indian, a native o f Arizona, a mother of 2 young children, a sister, a daughter, an aunt and a friend to many and her untimely death has created a void in the lives o f those loved ones who survive her; and I 8 3 H B R E A 2 ? Lori Ann Piestewa grew up in Lower Moenkopi, Arizona and had been a leader in the Tuba City Unified School District Junior ROTC program and was the daughter of a Vietnam War veteran and granddaughter of a veteran o f World W ar II and she joined the United States Army 4 1/2 yeans ago; and t i J H E E x E A S ? Lori Ann Piestewa exemplified the spirit of sacrifice, honor, trust and commitment and her ultimate sacrifice will not be forgotten by her grateful nation; now, therefore, be it I walked down the war torn streets o f the village not knowing the answer. As I walked I looked down and saw the tattered remains o f a newspaper... and on the front page a picture o f a man holding the lifeless body o f his infant son. That Wc, the Members of the O ne Hundred and Twenty-first Legislature now assembled in the First Regular Session, on behalf of the people wc represent, take this opportunity to express our sincere condolences to the loving family of Private first Class Lori Ann Piestewa; and he it further KE&COOIE0: That suitable copies o f this resolution, duly authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to Ihe Piestewa family and the Hopi Tribal Council with out deepest gratitude and respect for her sacrifice on behalf of the People o f the State of Maine and the Penobscot Nation and with our best wishes and appreciation. i n S m a ll* <£Bumbrr U nder S uspension o f Rules Read am i Adopted Kauiar o f Lirpr«%mlalu>rs RcirtI him} Adopted There was emptiness in his eyes as tears o f a life time flowed down his face. In that instant I knew the answer. Sent for Cwtcuwencc OjcJcictj sent Forthwith ? • y> M1UJCT.NTM Macl-ARLAND C M k *»f the Hosts* I was here to help save this country This other world PATRICK rO L V m .L and in so doing Save Mine... May we never forget the price that is paid for our freedom. -hme «I, £11113 Speaker o f Ihe I 1 <kinc o f R Spemutwed R j i Rep. D onna M.’W fin# «>! P ttio h tt* # Nation by Donna M. Loring resentunve* , a / .June X &U13 Confnnr �Wabanaki News page 4____________________________________________________ Fall 2003 A Social History of Maine Indian Basketry by Harald E. L. Prins and Bunny McBride Used by permission o f the authors Centuries ago, the ancestors of the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Micmac Indians, living in what is now Maine, survived primarily as mi­ gratory hunters, fishers, and gatherers. In the southern areas of the state, they also cultivated crops, in particular com, squash, and beans. Archaeological records predating European contract and written records during the early contact period reveal that baskets were integral to native households in this region. The Indians constructed a wide variety of woven containers, using rushes, cattails, sweetgrass, spruce roots, or Indian hemp. They used birch bark to make everything from delicate cups to twogallon pails and often embroidered them elaborately with dyed porcupine quills. Each household, no doubt, had an array of baskets tucked or hanging here and there. They held domestic supplies in­ cluding sewing materials, dried medici­ nal herbs, craved spoons and ladles, and fibers for weaving bags or braiding ropes. In the early 1600’s, the traditional life of Maine’s indigenous peoples came to an abrupt end when bearded white strangers landed on their rocky coast. The newcomers brought all kinds of welcomed trade goods, such as cloth, guns, iron tools, and copper kettles. But they also brought alcohol and deadly and hanging down; and others adorn them with silver rings, which sometimes hang even from their noses... The women also wear European dresses draped over their shoulders and coming down only to their knees, their legs and feet covered with {red or blue cloth stockings and deer or moosehide moc­ casins decorated with red porcupine quills}, They, too, wear earrings, brace­ lets, and similar ornaments, and a few of them have pointed caps decorated with glass beads or wampum...” Castiligoni also gives insight into the native economy and crafts of that time: “The occupations of the women consist in raising a little com, working on the canoes, on stockings, shoes, and other ornaments, and in making birchbark baskets and pouches, and also dishes and bowls that hold water, which they use on their journeys.” Between 1763 and 1820, the white population soared from 24,000 to 300,000 expanding from the coastal re­ gion south of Pemaquid ever deeper into Indian lands. While many white settlers farmed and fished, others set their eyes on the rich timber stands at Penobscot and beyond. They axed tall pines, con­ structed one sawmill after another, and built dams which blocked the annual fish runs upriver. Moreover, white hunters preyed heavily upon the once abundant deer, moose, caribou, and precious furbearing animals. With each succeed­ ing year, the settlers encroached further placed birch bark as the favored mate­ rial for baskets among Native Americans in Maine. When hammered repeatedly, an ash log separates along its annual growth rings into thin sheets that can be spliced into strips (“splints”) for weav­ ing. Although it is not the only tree that yields splints when pounded, brown ash was highly valued for its long grain, flex­ ible strength, and durability. According to one contem porary M aliseet basketmaker, ash splints are strong enough to tow a car and were once used for horse harnesses. Impoverished, at times, small bands of related native kinfolk roamed the countryside in the early 1800’s. In their search for a livelihood, they built small temporary encampments near white Indians planted oats, com, and potatoes. Interestingly, the agent also noted that he paid fifty cents “for fetching down basket stuff, indicating the some native basketmakers in Old Town needed sup­ port. In 1838, “to encourage industry and promote civilization among the Indi­ ans,” the State Legislature passed a bill to subsidize Indian farmers, empower­ ing Indian agents to pay them a “bounty” for each bushel of crops harvested. However, numerous Indians were not enthusiastic about farming, prefer­ ring a nonsedentary life with the free­ dom to come and go as they pleased. They worked seasonally as day labor­ ers, woodsmen, and artisans, peddling their m uscle and crafts diseases. vAvvcYv w reaked havoc amowg, orvIrYdram resources, mcreasmgVy thw art­ settlem ents and m anufactured a variety the native peoples, killing between 75 and 90 percent o f them. It is estimated that when the Europeans arrived, some 30,000 Indians inhabited the region within the bounds of contemporary Maine. By 1620, diseases had reduced their numbers to a few thousand and shattered the intricate interdependencies of their traditional mode of subsistence. Almost as quickly as the indigenous population died, the colonial population grew. With little choice but to adapt to the new conditions around them, native survivors became specialized as market hungers. They spent the long winter months trapping fur-bearing animals, especially beaver. Come spring, they traveled in birch bark canoes to coastal trading posts to exchange the valuable furs and hides for sundry manufactured goods from abroad. They also traded their crafts, including their birch bark baskets and pouches decorated with col­ orful quill mosaics - although these were incidental exchange items compared to furs. Throughout the colonial era, this way of life continued, albeit with many ups and downs due to repeated land-grab wars, various epidemics, periodic game depletions, and unpredictable market fluctuations. Luigi Castiglioni, an Italian traveler who visited the Penobscot Indian village at Old Town in the 1780’s, provides us with a vivid picture of these tribespeople during this period: “{They are attired in) European dresses and shirts, and uniforms of French and English soldiers. A few wear European-style hats, deco­ rated with feathers... Some paint their faces red and black in various designs, others have the cartilage of their ears cut ing traditional native life in Maine. Indian complaints about white tres­ passers were frequent but mostly inef­ fective. Finally, greatly concerned about their physical survival, the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy signed treaties in the late-eighteenth century with the gov­ ernment of Massachusetts, which rep­ resented Maine until its statehood in 1820. They ceded most of their tribal homelands in exchange for government protection of tracts reserved for their ex­ clusive use and for annual allotments of certain goods - com, pork, wheat flour, molasses, tobacco, chocolate, blankets, red and blue broad cloth, gunpowder and shot, and some money. The maliseet and Micmac roaming norther Maine’s wood­ lands, however, did not sign such treaties. With the undermining of their life as hunters, fishers, and gatherers, many native turned to wage labor and artisanry. In 1798, for instance, a pros­ perous white entrepreneur on Vinalhaven island in Penobscot Bay employed several Indians, some local and others from Canada, “in felling trees, catching eels, making baskets...” Probably, these were ash splint baskets rather than the traditional birch bark containers and woven bags which Indi­ ans made for their own use. Maine In­ dian splint basketry emerged in the his­ torical record about this time and gained prominence over the next 150 years as tribespeople responded to a growing demand among white settlers for sturdy utility baskets and, later, to a demand for “fancy” splint baskets among a bur­ geoning seasonal tourist population. During the nineteenth century, brown ash (fraxiunu negra) firmly re­ of woodcrafts such as tubs, boxes, toys, broomsticks, axe handles, and baskets all of which they peddled from door to door. Regretfully, there is little histori­ cal documentation of their ephemeral presence during this period. However, in an article about his early nineteenthcentury childhood in Hallowell on the Kennebec, author John S.C. Abbott pro­ vides a wonderful window on this past: “Every winter several families of Penob­ scot Indians came to Hallowell, and reared a little cluster of wigwams in the dense forest which covered the sides of Winthrop Hill... I spent many silent, dreamy hours by the wigwam fire, lis­ tening to the musical and monotonous chatter of the Indian women, as, with nimble fingers, they wove their bril­ liantly colored baskets from thin strips of the ash tree.” Another peek at Indian life in this period comes from Hallowell’s midwife Mrs. Ballard. In late winter, 1809, she noted in her diary: “Elizabeth, the In­ dian here, I let her have potatoes... The little Indian girl gave me a basket.” When Maine became a state in 1820, the governor appointed Indian agents to supervise official affairs on the Penob­ scot and Passamaquoddy reservations. In 1824, the Penobscot agent reported that these Indians “are aware that they cannot longer depend on hunting for subsistence, and are desirous to engage in agricultural employment (and) have hopes that the time will come when in­ stead of being considered as ignorant and miserable paupers they will become and be estimated as a useful class of citi­ zens.” That summer, horses were hired to plough Penobscot clearings and the throughout M aine. I t w as a precarious ex iste n ce, so m e tim e s su p p lem en ted Both photos of baskets used by permission of the Maine Indian Basket Makers Alliance with begging. Among the meager records about Indians during this period is an 1840 let­ ter written to the state by Mary Neptune Nicolar, daughter of John Neptune, lieu­ tenant governor of the Penobscots. Mary’s husband, Tomer Nicolar had died, leaving her with eight children, and she petitioned the state for support, writ­ ing: “...with all my exertions making moccasins and baskets I have hardly been able to provide necessary food and clothing for my children... some of my boys have now become large enough to plant potatoes, beans and com, and are willing to do it like white men, to assist me in supporting the younger children. The land wants clearing and some must be plowered in season, and this I must hire, done by white men and with money.” Three years later, Mary and her chil­ dren were among a small band of Pe­ nobscot Indians who spent the winter months in the woods of Winthrop Hill on the fringes of Hallowell, making bas­ kets and living in wigwams. Mary traded her baskets for foodstuffs at Asa Gould’s store. In his records, Gould noted, “She has been industrious and made and sold baskets enough to sup­ port her family so far this winter.” But as winter wore on, survival grew more difficult. Gould noted Mary bought medicine for her children who were “confined by sickness;” he added, “they have no means of support and are unable to get away without help.” Even­ tually, in nearby Augusta, the Commit­ tee of the Indian Council allocated 15 dollars to Mary from the Indian Fund, enabling please turn to page 8 �Fall 2003 — -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------— Representative Donna Loring: Former Gov. Angus King strongly opposed any plan to build a casino in Maine when he was in office and has considered joining the Casinos No!” campaign, which is spreading the word that a casino would cause more harm than good. King argues that a casino would not benefit Maine busi­ nesses and hurt Maine’s image as an out­ door destination for tourists. Loring said the image of a pristine Maine as a tourist destination only works well for people who can afford it. How can he possibly get it?” Loring said of King. How can a guy with all that money understand what it’s like to be in poverty?” Grassroots support The November referendum about ca­ sinos will hinge not on the influence of the former governor, but on the average Maine voter, she said. And based on con­ versations with her Richmond neighbors, Loring said there’s more support for the casino plan on Main Street than under the State House dome. A woman at Front Street Market told Loring this month, I hope you guys get this casino up here. I’m tired of going to Foxwoods.” A sampling of comments from local people shows support for a casino in Maine, Loring said. Front Street Market cashier Erika Adams said she does not work the early-morning shift when Loring stops by, but said she makes an­ nual trips to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. That would be great if we had a ca­ sino,” she said. If I did vote. I ’d vote yes.” At Richmond Variety, owner Dan A Wabanaki News page 5 voice for the Penobscot Nation Chapman said he will vote in November. But he said he has not followed the de­ bate about casinos and has not yet formed an opinion. Chapman said he will read up on the subject and try to get his information from the news on television, where a new ad to promote the casino measure began airing this week. That ad drew harsh criticism from Casinos No!, which criticized it for being produced by a firm outside Maine and lacking in substantiation for claims that a casino would create jobs and pro­ vide property tax relief. Patricia Pickett and her husband Donald have traveled across the United States and Canada, visiting casinos along the way. I know how much money I can use and how much I can’t,” Patricia Pickett said, adding that she and her husband will vote in favor of a casino opening in Maine. A casino could bring jobs to the state, Pickett said, and organizers are not ask­ ing for anything in return. If a casino re­ quired state money to open, she said she could just go to Connecticut. Part of her reasoning for backing the casino plan came from the belief that government should not become involved in people’s lives. How I spend my money is my busi­ ness,” she said. Spreading the wealth Loring has received phone calls from people in various Maine communities to suggest a casino should be built in their towns. Penobscot Chief Barry Dana has heard similar comments. When driving through a Maine town once, he was recog­ nized by members of a road crew, who shouted. Hey, Chief! We want acasino here.” A casino would provide a huge boost to the state’s economy and generate rev­ enues to fund programs that are axed or cut during lean budget years, Dana said. A casino in Maine could bring in $125 million a year for education and tax re­ lief, he argued. For the Penobscot Nation, profits would allow health care coverage for all of its members, rather than the 25 percent who have coverage today. Most of the tribe’s estimated 2,000 members live throughout Maine and New England. With income from a casino, Dana said the tribe could start a business such as a birch bark canoe company or a fiddlehead cannery. Loring referred to the casino pro­ posal as something that will give the tribe sustainable sovereignty.” The tribal representative did not support a proposed casino bill in the Legislature and prefers to have voters decide the matter in November. Part of Loring’s support for changing the law to allow Native Americans to open a casino comes from the fact that the state already runs a large gambling operation of its own, the Maine State Lottery. They’re gambling and they have these scratch tickets all over the state,” Loring said. Turn on a television, she said, and people can see ads for Tri-State Megabucks and the Maine State Lottery. That’s a double standard and that’s hypocritical,” she said. I totally believe that.” Battle tested T he 54-yeai-o\d could play a part in the referendum campaign this fall, and she has been in difficult battles before. Loring from page i served in the Women’s Army Corps for three years and served a one-year stint in Vietnam. She was posted at Long Binh Army Base in South Vietnam during the Tet Offensive in January 1968. During that Viet Cong attack and siege, the base was cut off from other American military forces for 10 days. People in Maine heard rumors the base was overrun, Loring said, but she and oth­ ers there survived. Loring’s tenure in the WACs prepared her for working at a disadvantage, some­ thing she often finds herself doing as a nonvoting member of the Legislature. She and other members of the all-female unit could not carry guns. An armed sentry and strands of concertina wire helped to pro­ tect them, she said. For the Penobscot Nation, Loring’s work in the State House continues the ef­ forts of many women who have repre­ sented them and advocated for the tribe, Dana said. They seem to get the attention of people they work with,” he said of the women who have represented the tribe in the Legislature. Part of the ability Dana saw may de­ rive from Loring’s work experience. She served as police chief for the Penobscot Nation from 1984-1990, the first female police academy graduate to serve as a po­ lice chief in Maine. In 1992, she became the first woman to be director of security at Bowdoin College, a position in which she served until March 1997. After years of defying long odds, Coring, dem ands respect as a voice tor those who see a casino as a route out of poverty for Maine’s Native Americans. Issues You W ill Be Voting On Nov. 4, 2003 ~ Please take tim e to vote In their correct order, the questions scheduled to appear on the N o­ vember 4, 2003, statewide ballot are: Citizen initiatives: Q uestion 1 (Citizen Initiative and Competing Measure) (Citizen Ini­ tiative) A. D o you want the State to pay 55% o f the cost o f public education, which includes all spe­ cial education costs, for the pur­ pose o f shifting costs from the property tax to state resources? (Competing measure) B. D o you want to lower property taxes and avoid the need for a significant in­ crease in state taxes by phasing in a 55% state contribution to the cost o f public education and by provid­ ing expanded property tax relief? (AgainstAandB) C. Against both the Citizen Initiative and the Com­ peting Measure Question 2 (Citizen Initiative) Do you want to allow slot machines at certain commercial horse rac­ ing tracks if part o f the proceeds are used to lower prescription drug pollution problems; (5) The sum o f grants to construct and renovate costs for the elderly and disabled, $5 0 0 ,0 0 0 for the overboard dis­ public libraries and to improve and for scholarships to the state uni­ charge removal program to provide versities and technical colleges? grants to municipalities and indi­ community access to electronic resources? Q uestion 3 (Citizen Initiative) D o you want to allow a casino to be ran by the Passamaquoddy Tribe and Penobscot Nation if part o f the rev­ enue is used for state education and municipal revenue sharing? Bond questions: Question 4 (Bond issue) D o you fa­ vor a $6,950,000 bond issue for the follow ing for the follow ing pur­ poses: (1) The sum o f $2,000,000 to construct and upgrade water pol­ lution control facilities; providing the state match for $10,000,000 in federal funds; (2 ) T he sum o f $1,500,000 to provide grants to con­ struct water pollution control facili­ ties; (3) The sum o f $500,000 to clean up uncontrolled hazardous substance sites; (4) The sum o f $500,000 for the small community grant program to provide grants for rural communities to solve local viduals to eliminate licensed over­ board discharges to shellfish areas, Question 6 (Bond issue) D o you great ponds and drainage areas o f favor a $63,450,000 bond issue for less than 10 square miles; (6) The improvements to highways and sum o f $1,200,000 to support drink­ bridges, airports, state-ow ned ing water system improvements that ferry vessels and ferry and port fa­ address public health threats, pro­ cilities and port and harbor struc­ viding the stat match for $4,140,000 tures; development o f rail corri­ in federal funds; and (7) The sum dors and improvements to railroad o f $750,000 to construct environ­ structures and intermodal facili­ mentally sound water sources that ties; investment in the statewide help avoid drought dam age to public transportation fleet and public park and ride and service crops? facilities; statewide trail and pe­ Question 5 (Bond issue) D o you fa­ destrian improvements; and ex­ vor a $19,000,000 bond issue to pansion o f the statewide air-medi­ make repairs, upgrades and other fa­ cal response system through con­ cility improvements and enhance struction o f hospital helipads, access for students with disabilities building additional refueling fa­ and upgrade classroom equipment cilities, upgrading navigational at various campuses o f the Univer­ system s and acquiring training sity o f Maine System; the Maine equipment to improve access to Maritime Academy; and the Maine health care that makes toe State Community College System, which e lig ib le for $ 2 1 7 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 in was formerly the Maine Technical matching federal funds? C ollege System , and to provide �Wabanaki News page 6 Fall 2003 Testimony of Rep. Donna M. Loring on November 5, 2001 before a committee to Review The Child Protective System Good Morning Senator Turner, Rep­ resentative LaVerdiere And members of the Committee I am Representative Donna M Loring, of the Penobscot Nation I am here today to bring to the committee’s attention the situation that exists in Houlton between the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and the State of Maine. First I would like you to hear a little bit about the Indian Child Welfare Act. 25 USCA ss 1901. states: see attached federal law. The whole purpose of the Act is to protect Indian Children from being taken away in great numbers from their cul­ ture and their heritage. The Indian Child Welfare Act was crafted and passed by the US Congress and supersedes any conflicting laws. Today in Houlton the Houlton Band of Maliseets face an unprecedented tak­ ing of their children by the State, twentynine children in the past five years. I see this not only as a failure on the part of DHS to place Indian children in extended families but also a failure on the part of the judicial system to implement the In­ dian Child Welfare Act. The loss of that many children to a tribe numbering ap­ proximately six hundred members is noth­ ing less than genocide. When an Indian Tribe loses it’s children it loses it’s future. These numbers are more than five times the national average. The vast ma­ jority of children taken are being placed in non-native foster care homes. Paren­ tal rights are being terminated at an alarming rate. I ask this committee to focus its attention on this issue and ask you why is this happening? Are DHS workers following Indian Child Welfare Act procedures? More importantly are the proper procedures being followed by the court system? Are Judges informed and are they implementing the Indian Child Welfare Act procedures in their Indian Child Welfare hearings? As some of you know I am a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary. Last month we held Judicial Con­ firmation hearings. During those hear­ ings I asked at least two judicial candi­ dates if they were familiar with the Indian Child Welfare Act. One of the candidates was honest enough to say no he was not. I received a letter from that individual a few days later wanting me to know that he had become familiar with the Act. He said and I quote.’ln particular, I am now mindful of the underlying pur­ poses of the Act to protect the interests not only of individual Indian children and families, but also the interests of the tribes themselves in achieving long term tribal survival. Among other things I am also now mindful of the heightened evi­ dentiary standard of proof beyond a rea­ sonable doubt as a precondition to the termination of the parental rights of an Indian parent. I hope that I am never called upon to apply this law in the per­ formance of my judicial responsibilities but should that occur, I have you to thank for calling the Act to my attention and I do thank you for this contribution to my continuing legal education.” I would think that if this Judge did not know about the Indian Child Wel­ fare Act then there must be others. I do not like to criticize without of­ fering some recommendations. One of my recommendations to you would be to provide training to the judiciary on the Indian Child Welfare Act. The train­ ing could be accomplished by using ex­ perts in the field on a national level. There is a disconnect between the State Court system and the Tribes on many levels. There should be an Indian advo­ cate placed within the State Court sys­ tem to be a liaison between the courts and the tribes. An Indian advocate could help fill this void. Finally, the Houlton Band of Maliseets does not have their own Court system to hear their child welfare cases. I have submitted a bill this session that will allow the Houlton Band of Maliseets to bring their child welfare cases to the Penobscot Nation’s Tribal Court until they can create their own court system. I strongly urge this committee’s full support of that bill and the above recommendations. Thank you. Fjord Seafood donates salmon to Maine Tribes The donated Atlantic Salmon were brood stock, part of Fjord seafood’s (At­ lantic Salmon of Maine) all-natural fam­ ily selection program that produces the Maine Strain Atlantic Salmon. All Maine strain salmon are the same species and subspecies as Maine river salmon, which blends together North American and European salmon bloodlines. Citing the Endangered Species Act, listing the Atlantic Salmon in Maine riv­ ers, the National Marine Fisheries Ser­ vice ordered all salmon with European genes removed from Maine waters by 2006. As a result of that order, Fjord sea­ food faced the prospect of destroying thousands of premier salmon. Fjord be­ lieves that the National Fisheries Service is wrong, and that their Maine strain salmon pose no threat to their cousins in the Maine rivers. They feel this is a devastating policy for the future of aquaculture, and it has no scientific bases. Fjord wanted to do something positive with the salmon. The idea of do­ nating the salmon to the tribes emerged onH Pp.nnhsmt Representative Donna Maliseets, state reach deal on Indian child welfare by Wayne L. Brown, Bangor Daily News, Tuesday, 09/17/2002 HOULTON - Representatives of the Houlton Band of Maliseets and state government Monday signed a historic agreement that will give the tribe con­ trol over its child welfare issues. The agreement gives the tribe partici­ pation in such matters as custody cases and placement of children in foster care so that those children can continue to func­ tion within the tribal community. “This is an exciting day for Maliseet people,” said Maliseet Chief Brenda Commander before a formal signing ceremony. “Until today, the tribe has had no say in what happened to its most precious resource - its children,” she said later to a group of about 50 people who gath­ ered at the tribal community center for the signing. Participating in the signing were state Attorney General Steven Rowe and Kevin Concannon, commissioner of the Department of Human Services. Officials from the Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe who assisted the Maliseets in their negotiations with the state also attended. The tribe long has been concerned that in child welfare matters, Maliseet children were being removed by DHS from the tribal community. That, they said, was contraiy to the intentions of the 1978 federal Indian Child Welfare Act. Christopher Francis holds one of the huge salmon scot Nation volunteered to coordinate the entire effort. He did a tremendous job. On January 16 and 17th. 2003 Clem’s planning became a reality and approximately 1.200 Atlantic Salmon weighing as much as 30 pounds each were delivered to the five native com­ munities in Maine bv the truck load. The Penobscot Nation, Aroostook Micmac and the Houlton Band distrib­ uted salmon to their tribal members. At Penobscot a processing team was set up and the salmon was cut into fillets with alot of the salmon frozen by the tribes for use throughout the winter and sum­ mer months for sustenance and for cer­ emonial events. “We are delighted that the salmon will provide healthful food to the tribal members who value salmon so highly in their customs and traditions. With this gift we celebrate and honor the Maine Tribes” said Dave Peterson, CEO of Fjord seafood USA. The Penobscot Nation sincerely thanks Fjord Seafood USA for it’s gen­ erous and thoughtful gift. Perhaps there Chief Barry Dana and Rep. Loring join Fjord president Davia Peterson is room in the future for us to work to­ watching Theodore Dana Mitchell cut fish. At far right, Steve Page, gether. Fjord Compliance Officer looks on Loring was contacted by Fjord to see if the tribes would be interested. Represen­ tative Loring was very pleased to say “Yes! Absolutely!” She began contact­ ing the tribal chiefs who in turn ap­ pointed a number of individuals to help organize the Giant salmon project. Clem Fay a wildlife biologist for the Penob- The law says the tribes should make decisions abonv \i\c 'Neiiare oi Indian children, without state interference. It stipulates that Indian children be placed first with extended family, and then with tribal homes or other native homes. As a last choice, an Indian child may be placed with a non-native family. Commander said Monday that in welfare cases involving Maliseet chil­ dren, DHS had been placing Maliseet children outside of their families or the tribe at a rate three times what it was for nontribal children. In those cases, tribal leaders said, they were losing a part of their heritage each time a child was removed from In­ dian culture. “Children are very impor­ tant ... to tribal culture,” said Donna Loring, the Indian representative to the Legislature. Rowe agreed. “There is no resource more impor­ tant or more vital to the tribes than their children,” he said. “Our shared goal has been protection of Maliseet children and their heritage.” Concannon said the agreement marked “a day that’s been long in com­ ing,” adding that he was optimistic that the work that had been done so far would form the basis for what needs to be done. Monday’s signing was only part of the process. The tribe still must develop a child- welfare code, expand its child welfare services program and establish a tribal court. Until a Maliseet court is established, the Maliseets will use the courts of the Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe. “The youth are our future,” Com­ mander said. “[Today] we are paving a new path that will lead to a more posi­ tive future for our entire community.” �This has been paid for and authorized by Think About It, PO Box 8727, Portland, ME 04104, John Menario, Treasurer �Frequently Asked Questions About the Proposed Resort Casino W ho will get the jobs? W ho will come to the resort? The vast majority of the jobs in the resort will be filled by Maine resi­ dents. Jobs will be advertised in Maine first and the resort will provide training through its own school and through courses offered at existing in­ stitutions of higher education. Maine people will be trained in a wide range of careers including, accounting, security, hospitality, and gaming. 85% of the revenue generated from this resort will come from out of state. Most of the visitors will come from Massachusetts and New Hamp­ shire. The resort will have a 60,000 square foot convention center that will attract visitors from all over the country. On average, casino patrons are above average in income. How will the resort im pact other M aine businesses? How can I contribute to the cause? The resort will spend $100 million a year buying goods and services from Maine companies every year. Employees of the resort will be paid another $130 million per year, which they in turn will spend buying goods and services in Maine. These amounts, when added to the $130 million that the resort will pay in taxes and the $50 to $100 million in profits that Maine Tribes (as owners of the resort) will receive and spend or reinvest in Maine, will materially improve conditions for other Maine businesses. And the $30 million per year that the resort will spend outside Maine on ads boost­ ing Maine tourism (six times the amount currently being spent by the State), will sub­ stantially help Maine’s tourism industry generally. The State of Connecti­ cut recently released a report showing that Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun boosted tourism across the state. C arston, Fred, Lott, W illiam and M cmillen, Stan. The Economic Impact o f Connecticut’s Travel and Tourism Industry, Storrs, CT: C onnecticut Center For E conom ic Analysis, May 2003) Other reports show local hotel occupancy increas­ ing from 40 to 80%. We are not looking for financial contributions, but we do need your help. Talk to your friends and neighbors about why this proposal is so important. If you would like to volunteer in your local community, please e-mail us or call 888-421-2991. And, above all, make sure you get out and vote on November 4! Will approval of this casino inevitably lead to the creation o f more ca­ sinos? The vote in November will authorize only one casino. Any additional casino would have to be authorized by the State legislature or a subsequent vote of the people. How will it affect area businesses? The resort will help businesses throughout Maine by bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars from out-of-state customers. Local businesses will ben­ efit by selling goods and services to the resort, its employees and guests. Will the resort pay taxes? Yes. In fact, the resort will be the largest taxpayer in Maine. Instead of an income tax (which in Maine is a maximum of 8.93% of net profit, after deduction of all costs and expenses), the resort will pay 25% of the gross revenue from its slot machines, before the deduction of any costs or expenses. This is the same tax rate paid by the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut (which are the largest taxpayers in that state), and will produce an estimated $100 million a year in gaming tax revenue for the State of Maine. (Klaus Robinson QED Hospitality Consulting, Proposed M aine Resort Casino: Im pact Study, Presentation to the Maine Gaming Study Task Force, September 30,2002) Will the resort increase gambling addiction? W hat will the resort look like? Absolutely not. Former Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Court, Daniel Wathen has stated that the Act “unequivo­ cally” prohibits minors from entering any place where gaming is occurring. Gambling addiction is a serious problem that demands real attention. A c co rd in g to a re c e n t study by th e H arvard M e d ic a l School 3.5% of Ameri­ ca n s s u ffe r from som e form o f gam bling problems. The study finds, how ­ ever, that there is no material link between the percentage o f people with a gambling problem and proximity to a casino. The fact is that there are al­ ready plenty o f opportunities for people with gambling problems to get into trouble. Our collective goal must be to help people meet this addiction. Maine is one o f 14 states that does not even have a chapter o f the National Council on Problem Gaming. The proposed resort will help fund such a project and provide help for M aine people with gambling problems. Why are big companies like MBNA opposing the resort? Will the resort cause more crime and bankruptcy? We cannot understand why anyone would want to prevent the creation of 10,000 good paying jobs in Maine. We can only conclude that compa­ nies like MBNA (who issues the credit cards for Harrah’s and other major casinos) oppose this project so they can continue to find people who will work for low wages and few or no benefits. No. The major recent government studies have found no link between casinos and crime or bankruptcy. (General Accounting Office, 2000. Im ­ pact of Gambling: Economic Effects More M easurable than Social Ef­ fects , April 2000, p.2-3) Crime is largely a function of unemployment and poor economic conditions. Bankruptcy is largely a function of the avail­ ability of credit cards. (Link to recent News Paper ADD-RICH) Crime has not materially increased in the towns around Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. There is no evidence of organized crime at or around either of the casinos in Connecticut. In fact, the crime rates in the towns that surround Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun are significantly lower then the crime rates in the retail areas in Maine, including, Kittery, Freeport and South Portland. (Maine State Police and the Connecticut State Police, 2 0 0 0 ) 'W vt re s o rt nn'\WVie. WWv m sVy\e o i rt\e g ra n d N ew ¥Lrvg\and re s o rts o f a hundred years ago. It w ill be surrounded by an 18-hole championship g o lf course. The resort will include a range o f outstanding restaurants, shops, and conference facilities, plus a theater with top-of-the-line entertainment. Will kids be able to gamble at the resort? How many job s will be created? There will be 2,000 jobs during construction and nearly 5,000 perma­ nent, full-time jobs in the resort itself. The full-time jobs will include a range of occupations from maintenance, restaurant, gaming, and house­ keeping workers to computer, accounting, marketing, management, and ad­ ministrative personnel. The average earnings will be in excess of $31,000 with comprehensive health benefits. How will the resort impact housing and schools in York County? Who will build the resort? The resort casino will be designed and built by Mamell Corrao, the leader in the hospitality industry. Mamell Corrao built the world famous Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas. Mamell has entered into a project agreement with the Maine Building Trades that provides a hiring preference for Maine workers and ensures that any contractor, union or non-union can bid on the work so long as their employees are paid good wages and benefits, includ­ ing health coverage. The resort casino will mean more good jobs in the Sanford area. That will lead to stronger property values and increased revenue for local schools. A recent study by Charlie Colgan, the former State Economist found that there are 5,000 unemployed people in York County and another 17,000 people who commute further to work than they would like. In Sanford nearly one in every fourteen people is unemployed. (M aine Departm ent o f L a­ bor, Bureau o f Labor Statistics, June 2003) The bulk o f the jobs at the resort will be filled by people in these two categories, people who already have homes. Charlie Colgan, forecasts that population in York County will increase by only one twentieth o f one percent per year because o f the pres­ ence o f the casino. �Layout of proposed Casino in Sanford LEGEND:_________ A B C D E F G H I J K _____ Grand Hotel Casino Parking Garage Theater Restaurants & Shops Convention Center Support Services Golf Clubhouse 18 Hole Golf Course Guest Parking Employee Parking ^ / \ / Perkins Marsh Brook �CASINO INFORMATION FOR TRIBAL MEMBERS JUST A FEW AREAS WHERE CASINO FUNDS WILL IMPROVE OUR STANDARD OF LIVING: •INDIAN PREFEERNCE FOR ALL CASINO JOBS •INTERNSHIPS IN AREAS OF INTEREST •MARKET FOR ALL WABANAKI CRAFTS •HEALTH CARE AVAILABLE TO ALL TRIBAL MEMBERS •EDUCATIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS TO SCHOOLS OF CHOICE •NEW MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTER •UTILIZATION OF INDIAN DESIGNERS AND SCULPTERS •NEW ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE BUILDINGS •NEW HOUSING • SMALL BUSINESS START UP FUNDS •AND MUCH, MUCH MORE! �Wabanaki News page 6________________________________________________________________ Fall 2003 A Social History of Maine Indian Basketry from page 4 her and her offspring to travel by stage­ coach to Bangor, connect with a train on the newly constructed railway to Old Town, then take the canoe ferry home to Indian Island. In 1851, Maine’s Governor Hubbard remarked in his annual address to the State Legislature that many Indians were now “in a condition bordering upon pau­ perism... A part of them, at some sea­ sons of the year, eke out a miserable existence by leading a wondering gipsy­ of items particular to European taste (baskets to hold hats, combs, sewing materials, handkerchiefs, pies, and pic­ nic lunches), and embroidering them with ribbon-thin splint “curlicues” that reflected the tourists’s fondness for Vic­ torian elaboration. In 1873, during the agricultural cri­ sis in northeast North America, the Pe­ nobscot Indian agent reported that al­ though Indian farming efforts “have been met with a fair degree of success... like life amongst our white population, supplying them with baskets and other articles of Indian ingenuity” Ten years later, according to a re­ port by the Penobscot Indian agent, many Indian men were “engaged in ag­ riculture in the summer season, and at other seasons of the year more or less in hunting, in the logging swamp, and in driving lumber in the spring. Of the rest, a portion are engaged in making canoes, baskets, moccasins and snowshoes.” About this time, wealthy sportsmen began venturing to the Maine woods, lured by the state’s reputation as a rich hunting and fishing area. Seeking employment, local Indians presented themselves as guides to the weekend adventurers, tak­ ing them through the wild interior water­ ways in their birch bark canoes. For in­ stance, an official report in the 1870’s noted that Passamaquoddies at Peter Dana Point “take parties fishing to Grand Lake Stream, and are well-paid for their time, and the use of their canoes.” In the wake of these early sportshunters came vacationing “rusticators” - rich city slickers looking for a respite of simple life and communing with nature. Coastal resorts cropped up in places like Bar Harbor, Booth Bay, and Greenville. By 1872, there were 15 hotels in Bar Harbor, and Frenchman Bay was replete with the sailing yachts of bluebloods from New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. Indians greeted their arrival as an economic opportunity; each summer they set up camp near the re­ sorts where they made and marketed “fancy” splint and sweetgrass baskets among the tourists. While most Native Americans in Maine wore European clothing by this time, it was not uncommon for basketmakers to don traditional native garb to attract attention when selling or making baskets near resorts. They also attracted buyers by making a new array the general depression of business has shortened the term of, and lessened the wages for their usual labor in the differ­ ent branches of lumbering operations.” However, he continued, “they have met with good success, generally, in the sale of baskets and other wares (such as axe handles, staves, shingles) of their own manufacture.” A year later, he reported that “their labor has not been in great demand, consequently low prices and short terms for their labor have pre­ vailed. In the sale of baskets, toy ca­ noes, and other articles of their home manufacture, they have met with better success, and the demand on them for fancy wares, and of original and pecu­ liar designs, has called into active exer­ cise their inventive faculties.” The ninteenth century gave rise to an ever-increasing population of Indian basketmakers. The tourist market for fancy baskets, coupled with the demand for utility baskets among local towns­ people and farmers transformed entire indigenous communities almost com­ pletely into artisan settlements with the majority of the population directly en­ gaged, at least seasonally, in basket pro­ duction. In the 1900 census at Indian Island, 66 percent of the adult popula­ tion listed basketry as their major liveli­ hood, and this remained the case at least two decades into the twentieth century. To facilitate the speedier and more re­ fined production demanded by the tour­ ist market for fancy baskets, native craftspeople began using gauges to splice their splints and wooden forms (“blocks”) to shape their baskets. Splint basketry became so prevalent among Indians in Maine that it became their cultural calling card, even though it was not part of their traditional subsis­ tence pattern. According to anthropolo­ gist Ted Brasser, it simply “succeeded furs and shell money as a source of income from white colonists. The fact that this craft became a means of showing an In­ dian identity... merely reflects the degree in which they have lost that identity.” Yet basketry was not ideologically divorced from native tradition. It was a craft that fit neatly into the preferred in­ dependent life-style of M aine’s tribespeople. Echoing their traditional seasonal migrations for hunting/gathering/trading, ninteenth and twentieth century Indians of the Northeast moved about as seasonal laborers, digging po­ tatoes in the fall, lumbering in the win­ ter, river driving in the spring, raking blueberries and hawking baskets among farmers and tourists in the summer, and making baskets whenever there was a labor lull. Of particular note in Maine is the “Indian potato basket,” a sturdy round splint basket that has been used to bring in the state’s vast potato harvest for more than a century. Prior to 1920, Maine potato farmers imported the bulk of these baskets from Nova Scotia, where many Micmacs in particular were in­ volved in the cottage industry. But by 1916, the brown ash supply near Canada’s Indian reserves had sharply decreased and many Indians ventured to Aroostook County to “hunt ash” and par­ ticipate in the annual potato harvest. These people added to the force of local Micmac and Maliseet basket weavers living scat­ tered throughout norther Maine. Between 1920 and 1965 especially, potato picking and basketweaving were integral factors in the migratorial seasonal working pat­ terns of thousands of Northeast Indians. The heyday of the state’s potato industry was the mid-twentieth century, when acre­ age peaked at nearly 200,000 and it took nearly 40,000 pickers to bring in the crop. Since each picker had to have a basket, that period was no doubt the heyday of potato basketry as well. In 1950, mechanical harvesters were introduced and by 1965, only half of Maine’s potato crop was gathered by hand. Since then, a decrease in farm acreage and a steady rise in mechanical harvesting have diminished the tradi­ tional farming demand for baskets in Aroostook. Today, only 15 percent of the county’s potato crop is harvested by hand with Indian baskets. Not surprisingly, the cottage indus­ try of basket weaving is on the wane among Native Americans in Maine. In addition to the decreased demand from farmers, the increasing difficulty of find­ ing suitable ash, the introduction of wel­ fare, and the high-labor/low-cash-retum nature of the work have fed into the de­ cline. No more than three percent of today’s adult Indian population in Maine is engaged in basketry. These artisans have had to look far beyond farmers for a market. They sell roadside, hawk their baskets shop to shop, or participate in various craft fairs around the state. In 1984, the Aroostook Micmac Council, based in Presque Isle, started a business called the Basket Bank which buys, mar­ kets, and distributed Micmac baskets throughout New England. Splint basketry has never been an easy or truly profitable business for the Indians in Maine. It evolved from ab­ solute necessity more than from roman­ tic devotion to the craft. As Micmac basketmaker Sarah Lund of Frenchville puts it, “It grew out of the fact that choices were few and we had to eat.” Until the mid-1960’s, Maine’s native basketmakers were often paid for their wares with foodstuffs. “If I needed flour or baking powder or whatever,” says Sarah, “I’d make a half dozen baskets, go to the store and trade them in for the amount of groceries the store owner said they were worth.” Because basketry has never, in and of itself, been a sufficient means of live­ lihood for most native in this region, basketmakers have long been wary of the time restrictions imposed by accept­ ing basket orders and prefer to keep themselves free to follow both surprise and seasonal work and pleasure oppor­ tunities integral to an independent, semimigratory life. “We have orders,” claims Micmac basketmaker and migrant la­ borer Betsy Lark of Mars Hill. “They tie you in. I’d much rather make a batch when it suits me and sell by the road­ side.” Sarah Lund agrees. “I’ve stayed with basketry because I like being my own boss and setting my own hours. With all its headaches and uncertainties, there’s a kind of freedom in the busi­ ness that keeps me going.” Such comments imply that splint baskets are more than tools or aesthetic pieces. They are, in fact, cultural arti­ facts representing a particular value sys­ tem and way of life. Although appar­ ently probably not indigenous among Northeast Indians, in the last 200 years the craft has come to symbolize a stub­ born desire for distinct identity and selfdetermination among these people whose lives have historically been tossed about by political and economic forces often beyond their control. “Basketmaking is something that’s our own,” says one basketmaker. “One thing about it is that no one cane take it away from you. Once you learn, it’s a skill you’ve always got —a door you can walk through when all the others are shut.” Harald E. L Prins has been assistant professor of anthropology at Colby Col­ lege. His undergraduate work was com­ pleted in his native Netherlands, and he received his M.A. and Ph.D from the New School for Social Research in New York City. He serves as an advisor and research consultant for the Aroostook Micmac Council and produced the film “Our Lives in Our Hands” on the Micmac Indian basketmakers in 1985. He has written and lectured extensively on Maine’s Indian culture and recently served as project scholar for the exhibi­ tion “The Land of Norumbega” at the Portland Museum of Art, 1987-89. Bunny McBride received her M.A. in Anthropology with honors from Colum­ bia University. She has served as a vis­ iting professor in anthropology at Principia College in Illinois (1981,1984, 1986, 1988) and as an advisor and re­ search consultant for the Aroostook Micmac Indian Council (1982-88). Since 1976, she has also been a free-lance writer and editor for domestic and inter­ national publications with regular assign­ ments to The Christian Science Monitor. �Fall 2003__________________________________________________________________________ _________________________ Wabanaki News page 7 Rep. Loring addresses Executive Board of NAACP from p a g e 2 agreed to pay Maine $30,000 dollars. Maine renegoti­ ated the 1818 treaty in 1820 with the Penobscot and 1824 with the Passamaquoddy. After separation was granted by Mass, Maine in 1833 without the consent of the Penobscot took away 95% of Penobscot land consisting of four of the Penobscot townships one of those contained the sacred Mountain Katahdin. The state established a trust fund with $50,000 dollars it placed there for the townships. In subsequent years monies from the sale of timber, hay and shore rights as well as hydro power was also placed in the trust fund. The legislature authorized leases and sale of tribal lands without their consent and sold several of the Pe­ nobscot Islands without compensation. During this time tribal people suffered as we were no longer al­ lowed to maintain our way of life by traveling from place to place according to the seasons. In 1887 Louis Mitchell, Passamaquoddy representative to the state legislature described in a speech On the floor of the House the enormity of what had happened: “ .. .Just consider today how many rich men there are in Calais, in St. Stephen, Milltown, Machias, East Machias, Columbia, Cherry field and other lumbering towns. We see good many of them worth thousands and even millions of dollars. We ask ourselves how they make most of their money? Answer is, they make it on lumber or timber once owned by the Passamaquoddy Indians...How many of their privileges have been broken: how many of their lands have been taken from them by authority of the state? In 1833 the Penobscot trust fund was established with the $50,000dollars, The Passamaquoddy fund es­ tablished in 1856 by a deposit of $22,500 dollars. In­ terest on the deposits was supposed to be paid at six percent per annum. For a period one hundred and ten years. From 1859 for Passamaquoddies, 1860 for Penobscots until 1969, no interest was ever paid, but rather went for the annual use of the Indian agents. The states treatment of Indians was paternalistic. We who had once lived in abundance were now im­ poverished and wherever we went in the larger soci­ ety we faced prejudice, discrimination and injustice. We were lazy they said, yet our livelihood had been taken from us. We lived on welfare, it was said. Yet the so-called as­ sistance given to us was in fact income from products taken from our land or income from the rent and lease of our land. What was income was made to appear as welfare. The state courts also held no relief for us as the judges had the same oppressive views as the state. The following court cases give you a glimpse of the courts VOTE YES! THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY THAT WE WILL NEVER HAVE AGAIN IN OUR LIFETIME. EVERY VOTE COUNTS! WE NEED YOUR VOTE TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN! PLEASE VOTE ON NOVEMBER 4TH attitude towards Indians: In a case decided by the Maine supreme court in 1842 Murch v Tomer 21 Me.535 The court said “Im­ becility on their (the Indians) part, and the dictates of humanity on ours, have necessarily prescribed to them their subjection to our paternal control...” State V Newell, 84 Me. 465 (1892), the court fol­ lowing Murch said “Though these Indians...perhaps consider themselves a tribe, they have for many years been without a tribal organization in any political sense.. .They are as completely subject to the State as any other inhabitants can be.” Id at 468 (This at a time when Indian representatives were in the State Legisla­ ture representing tribal governments) One of the worst injustices to our tribes was our disenfranchisement. It was sanctioned at the highest levels of power in the state. On March 14th 1941 the Legislature requested on solem occasion to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court the following question: “If by legislative enactment a poll tax should be imposed upon the Indians living on reservations within the state, would said poll tax be such tax as within the meaning of section 1 Article 11 of the Constitution that it would entitle Indians, subject to such tax to vote?” Answer: March 19th, 1941 To Honorable Senate of the State of Maine: “The undersigned justices of the supreme court, having considered the question upon which their ad­ visory opinions were requested by senate order March 14th, 1941 inform the honorable senate that we are of theopinion that it is not within the scope of our duty to answer this question in view of the fact that senate paper 486 entitled “An act Permitting Indians to vote in state elections”, to which the interrogatory refers, not only does not conform with or justify the question submitted, but is inherently illegal and insufficient.” Although Indians were m ade citizens of this coun­ try in 1923 Maine Indians were not allowed to vote in US elections until 1954 and state elections until 1967. Indian agents and treatment of Indian people We were Forbidden to speak our own language Marriages and offspring kept track of Children were taken from their parents and sent to Carlisle Indian school at Carlisle Penn. 1899-1912 What was income was made to appear as welfare Self image suffered/loss of self-respect Faced prejudice, discrimination and injustice Land Claims Settlement Act: The Land Claims Settlement Act was signed into law in 1980. It is a document that presently defines our relationship with the state. The terms of the Act are as follows: 54.41 M to buy 300,000 acres (both tribes) 27.70 each 27M in trust fund from which we could draw in­ terest only (both tribes) 13.5 each Houlton band of Maliseets $900,000 dollars to pur­ chase 5,000 acres State retains certain jurisdiction. Maine Indian Tribal State Commission created What did the state get from the Land Claims? V A settlement of over 2/3rds of the state lands V State did not pay one penny V State kept majority of it’s jurisdiction V Tribes were excluded from any new Fed laws V State is held harmless for any past injustices V Tribes cannot sue for past abuses or stolen re sources. V State never has to admit any wrong doing I would like to close by stating that we are all brothers and Sisters with the same history of geno­ cide, oppression and abuse. I think of the history here in Maine of Malaga Island where Black and biracial families lived for generations and all of a sudden the state of Maine served them an eviction notice took over the Island even to the extent of razing the houses And digging up the dead so that no trace could be found of them. They did to your people what they wanted to do to ours and have never stopped trying. It is only by economic growth and stability that we can sustain our sovereignty and power to survive as a people. Martin Luther King In his last speech “I ’ve been to the Mountain” used a parable from the bible. He spoke o f the story o f a priest and a Levite seeing a man in need on the road and failing to stop to help, perhaps because it was a dangerous spot orvthe road to stop. M artin L u th er iking said “T h e priest and the Levite asked the question “If I stop to help this man what will happen to me? But the good Samaritan re­ versed that question and said If I do not stop to help this man what will happen to him.” I ask that you stop and help us in our quest for survival. People of color need to unite and work together. With your help we can ignite our own economic en­ gine and become economically self-sufficient. This is an opportunity that the people of color in Maine may never have again. Four Directions Development Corporation (FDDC) is a non-profit Community Development Corporation Financial Institution and a Community Development Financial Institution. FDDC is the first Native Governed CDC and CDFI in Northern New England, was established in March of 2001 MISSION- Its mission is to improve the social and economic conditions of the tribal members of the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot communities by investing in affordable hous­ ing, tribal business ventures and small and medium size businesses. BUSINESS LOAN PROGRAMS- FDDC offers several small to medium business loan programs as summarized below. Business loans are available for equipment, inventory, accounts receivable, working capital, business expansion and real estate. FDDC will consider alternate business financing requests as deemed necessary. Max Min Program Commercial $100,000 $10,000 Real Estate $25,000 $2,500 Business Assets Business Working Capital $2,500 $25,000 Products, rates and terms subject to change. Special conditions may be applicable to each type of loan. Term 60-180 mo up to 60 mo up to 60 mo FOR MORE INFORMATIO CONTACT: Susan Hammond, Executive Director, Phone/Fax (207) 866-6545 E-Mail shammond@fourdirectionsmaine.org � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Wabanaki Legislative News</em> (Oct. 2003) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Loring, Donna M. and Donald Soctomah Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University of New England Maine Women Writers Collection Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003-10 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cathleen Miller, UNE Julia Brush Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Donna M. Loring and Donald G. Soctomah. Used with permission. We thank University of New England for making digitized copies available. Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Document Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DV-449 https://www.dawnlandvoices.org/collections/files/original/e5053117d6b5e038a1090b9ea36e37a4.jpg ac1e826f39e985e5b7d237ce0642d1ff https://www.dawnlandvoices.org/collections/files/original/779e5214fafc8c00ff6b3b590c0924bc.jpg 88cd3776762f10af492275aed3697dac Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Abenaki Description An account of the resource Traditional Abenaki territory encompasses what is now New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as parts of western Maine, western Massachusetts, and Quebec. The Abenaki people comprise numerous bands and communities. In the United States, at this time, none of those groups is federally recognized. The Canadian government formally recognizes two reserves, at Odanak (St. Francis) and Wolinak (Becancour).<br /><br />Resources<br /><br /><a href="http://tribal.abenakination.com/" target="_blank">Mississquoi Abenaki Tribal Council</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://www.elnuabenakitribe.org/" target="_blank">Elnu Abenaki Tribe</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://www.abenakitribe.org/" target="_blank">Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://koasek-abenaki.com/" target="_blank">Koasek Traditional Band</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://www.cowasuck.org/" target="_blank">Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook Abenaki</a> (NH) Subject The topic of the resource Abenaki Indians Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Wall Basket</em> (late 1700s to mid 1800s) Description An account of the resource <p><em>Wall Basket, late 1700s to mid 1800s, Ash Splint, Abenaki, Housed at the Hopkinton Historical Society</em></p> <p>Probably used to store fruits and vegetables, this basket was made to hang on a hook on the wall (<a href="http://www.nhantiquarian.org/">Hopkinton Historical Society</a>). Wide-open spaces at the bottom of the basket would allow air to circulate facilitating the quick drying of food or other items placed in the basket (<a href="http://www.nhantiquarian.org/">Hopkinton Historical Society</a>). According to the Hopkinton Historical Society, there is a residue on the inside of the basket that may suggest something wet was hung to dry inside it (<a href="http://www.nhantiquarian.org/">Hopkinton Historical Society</a>). The strong handle would probably be able to support a heavy load. In addition, the edge of the basket is reinforced with a continuous splint in a spiral formation. The strength of the basket illustrates the skill with which baskets are made. Although the basket is utilitarian in nature, "red and black natural dyes were swabbed on the exterior of some of the splints and on the visible portion of the interior"(<a href="http://www.nhantiquarian.org/">Hopkinton Historical Society</a>). The visible black splints make a square checkerboard shape, which compliments the pattern of the plain colored splints. The black splints were dyed with natural dyes, which suggest the date of the basket to be from the late 1700s to mid 1800s (<a href="http://www.nhantiquarian.org/">Hopkinton Historical Society</a>).</p> <h4><strong>A Basket Speaks</strong></h4> <p>But what analysis can be gained by looking at a basket? How much can a basket say? In her essay, "The Cultural Work of a Mohegan Painted Basket," Stephanie Fitzgerald writes, "Baskets, which were and still are ceremonial and utilitarian objects used for transportation and storage of items, prayer ceremonies, and traditional games, function as communicative devices. In sum, by touching every aspect of daily Native life, both past and present, basketry is imbued with cultural and spiritual power" (Fitzgerald 53). As an object needed for daily use, baskets have a direct connection to daily Native life. Because a basket is connected to the community, both now and in the past, through the basket making process and through its functional uses, baskets form a big part of Abenaki culture and tradition.</p> <h4><strong>An Open Dialogue</strong></h4> <p>Non-native written documents are biased and looking at non-alphabetic texts can create a bigger picture and form a more complete version of history. In his article, "Oral Tradition as Complement," Gordon Day writes, "All through the period of discovery, exploration and colonization they caught only glimpses of the Indian's attitudes, motivations, and understanding of the situation, and they were obviously not in a position to observe many events which were witnessed by Indian observers" (Day). In other words, non-native texts cannot explain everything because there is much that was only seen through the Indian's perspectives. Additionally, non-native writers were often biased and could not understand the position of the Abenaki: "dialogue with indigenous records enable us to imagine a literary tradition routed in negotiation and dialogues - rather than simply conquest and colonial monologues as the foundation of American Literature" (Rasmussen 9). The possibility of "A literary tradition routed in negotiation and dialogues" is why baskets are included within this archive (9). They are witnesses to a larger picture of history. Furthermore, because the Abenaki are not federally recognized it is important to appreciate baskets as a form of documentation that proves the continuing presence of Abenaki people, culture and traditions. As part of the criteria for recognition includes “documentation of sustained unity and government,” baskets can only aid the goal (Lindholm)<strong>.</strong></p> <h4><strong>The Abenaki Today</strong></h4> <p>The Abenaki are not federally recognized, however, four Abenaki bands, The Missisquoi, the Koasek, The Nulhegan, and Elnu tribes, have Vermont state recognition. This state recognition is important because of three reasons. First, it allows their artisans to sell items with the Native American made label, which lets the artisans sell their wares for a higher price. This enables many basketmakers to be financially independent through their craft. Second, it “allows members to apply for some federal programs including housing and education grants” (Lindholm). It opens the doors for the society to progress. Third, it provides a positive emphasis on their idea of identity. In other words, they no longer have to fight as hard to convince others of their identification as Abenaki: "Wabanaki Basketry can be used by Wabanaki people to assert tribal sovereignty and promote decolonization" (Neuman 100). Basketry also works as an outlet of communication between natives and non-natives (Neuman). It enables the dialogue started by looking at native texts to continue.</p> <h4><strong>The Worth of a Basket</strong></h4> <p>By focusing only on written works, a heavily non-native view is explored. Baskets add an additional piece of the puzzle to the Abenaki view of the world. Baskets such as this one prove that the Abenaki had and continue to have their own concrete culture.</p> <p>Although this basket is utilitarian and not decorative as some of the fancy baskets in this archive, the “textuality” or literary worth of the basket is evident through its materials, its uses, and the careful process of basketmaking. This archive aims to be one of inclusion, not exclusion. By including both utilitarian and fancy baskets in context with their materials, the process of basketmaking, and the way that baskets continue to affect the Abenaki and other tribes today, a larger literary picture is formed.</p> <h4><strong>Works Cited</strong></h4> <div> <p><em>Dawnland: </em><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=GgnAR-rwsj0"><span><em>Abenaki Creation Story</em></span></a>. Youtube Video,n.d.</p> <p>Fitzgerald, Stephanie. "The Cultural Work of a Mohegan Painted Basket." Early Native Literacies in New England. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2008. 52-56. Print.</p> <p>Lindholm, Jane. "<a href="http://www.vpr.net/episode/53561/recognizing-vermonts-abenaki/"><span>Recognizing Vermont's Abenaki.</span></a>" <em>Vermont Edition</em>. Vermont Public Radio, 8 May 2012. Web. 13 July 2012.</p> <p>McMullen, Ann. <em>Key into the Language of Woodsplint Baskets</em>. Institution for American Indian Studies, 1987. Print.</p> <p>Mundell, Kathleen. <em>North by Northeast: Wabanaki, Akwesasne Mohawk, and Tuscarora Traditional Arts</em>. Tilbury House Publishers, 2008. Print.</p> <p>Neuman, Lisa K. "Basketry as Economic Enterprise and Cultural Revitalization: The Case of the Wabanaki Tribes of Maine." Wicazo Sa Review. 25.2 (2010): 86-106.</p> <p>Rasmussen, Birgit Brander. <em>Queequeg’s Coffin: Indigenous Literacies and Early American Literature.</em> Duke University Press Books, 2012. Print.</p> <p> </p> </div> <p><strong> </strong></p> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource late 1700s-mid 1800s Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DV-275 https://www.dawnlandvoices.org/collections/files/original/e9ec76a4d4f1974b4806ebf0b24f1bb1.jpg ba783f3dc1d777646b5a86471669e8ee Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Abenaki Description An account of the resource Traditional Abenaki territory encompasses what is now New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as parts of western Maine, western Massachusetts, and Quebec. The Abenaki people comprise numerous bands and communities. In the United States, at this time, none of those groups is federally recognized. The Canadian government formally recognizes two reserves, at Odanak (St. Francis) and Wolinak (Becancour).<br /><br />Resources<br /><br /><a href="http://tribal.abenakination.com/" target="_blank">Mississquoi Abenaki Tribal Council</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://www.elnuabenakitribe.org/" target="_blank">Elnu Abenaki Tribe</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://www.abenakitribe.org/" target="_blank">Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://koasek-abenaki.com/" target="_blank">Koasek Traditional Band</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://www.cowasuck.org/" target="_blank">Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook Abenaki</a> (NH) Subject The topic of the resource Abenaki Indians Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Yarn Basket</em> (c. 1760) by Penacook Abenaki Indians Description An account of the resource <p><em>Yarn Basket, c. 1760, Ash Splint, Penacook Abenaki, Housed at the Hopkinton Historical Society</em></p> <p>This ash splint yarn basket, dating to 1760, is one of the earliest baskets in our online archive. It is also one of the earliest known Penacook baskets. The early date is notable because most baskets around today are of a later date. Part of the Hopkinton Historical Society collection, this basket once held a label that read, "Ball Basket for Knitting Work/ Date 1760" and indicates that the basket would have been used as a holding place for yarn (<a href="http://www.nhantiquarian.org/"><span>Hopkinton Historical Society</span></a>). Additionally, a piece, meant to hold knitting needles, is missing. Splints of different sizes make up the rotund shape of the basket. Several splints are dyed black with a natural dye. Despite fading, red and yellow dye is evident on some of the splints. This basket boasts a friendship chain around the lid and at various points around its midsection (Hopkinton Historical Society). (The friendship chain is also present in another <a href="http://indnewengland.omeka.net/items/show/75"><span>basket</span></a> within this archive.) The basket boasts an equal mix of utilitarian purpose and aesthetic design. In other words, it fulfills both the functions of utility and decoration. This basket and others like it are a testament to the continuing presence of the Abenaki people long after they are said to have disappeared from New Hampshire. Much earlier than the popular fancy baskets of the late 1800s, the basket is a precursor that emphasizes the longstanding Abenaki tradition of basket making<strong>.</strong></p> <h4><strong>The Significance of an Early Basket</strong></h4> <p>The early date of this basket indicates that the Abenaki adapted economically much sooner than the fancy basket period: “Beginning in the 1700s, making and selling baskets and other traditional art forms became a means of survival that still allowed for the freedom to continue traditional ways” (Mundell 25). Not only were they selling utilitarian baskets to farmers but were creating more specialized baskets to fill specific needs such as this particular basket for yarn. Most baskets do not have such an early date because baskets were utilitarian in purpose: they were not preserved.</p> <h4><strong>Proof of a Continued Culture</strong></h4> <p>The tradition of making baskets as well as the stories that accompany the process are just as important as the physical object itself. While the presence of the physical basket reminds the younger generation about their ancestors, the actual process forms a deeper connection because they are performing the same acts as their ancestors (Mundell). The time, effort, and talent needed in creating the baskets leave a lasting effect. Baskets are an important aspect of Abenaki culture that underscores the tribe's adaptability and survival.</p> <p>For a long time, Abenaki people were hidden from mainstream vision and baskets such as this one help to reaffirm the continued presence of their culture and traditions. This basket emphasizes that the Abenaki people were not simply making baskets for profit. The designs and materials have a context that transforms this basket into a text that can be read. It expresses that while Abenaki basketmakers altered the specific types of baskets they made, they continued to express traditional and perhaps historical messages through their baskets. The functional aspect of baskets does not diminish its power of communication (Fitzgerald).</p> <h4><strong>Works Cited</strong></h4> <p>"Digital Collection: Abenaki Knitting Basket." Memorial Hall Museum Online. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, 2008. Web. 30 May 2012.</p> <p>Fitzgerald, Stephanie. "The Cultural Work of a Mohegan Painted Basket." Early Native Literacies in New England. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2008. 52-56. Print.</p> <p>Mundell, Kathleen. North by Northeast: Wabanaki, Akwesasne Mohawk, and Tuscarora Traditional Arts. Tilbury House Publishers, 2008. Print.</p> <p>Rasmussen, Birgit Brander. <em>Queequeg’s Coffin: Indigenous Literacies and Early American Literature.</em> Duke University Press Books, 2012. Print.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Penacook Abenaki Indians Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1760 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ana Caguiat, UNH 2012 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DV-272 https://www.dawnlandvoices.org/collections/files/original/4b4939526dd15564c9205c58087b9255.jpg b9d5c614c68927d87e47d87e0719237b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mohegan Description An account of the resource The Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut is based in Uncasville, a town named for the sachem who signed the Treaty of Hartford in 1638. Federally recognized since 1994, the tribe has a complex governmental structure including a Tribal Council, Council of Elders, and a Tribal Court. Mohegans have a long history of writing, from early missionaries including Samson Occom and Joseph Johnson to twentieth century Medicine Women like Fidelia Fielding, Gladys Tantaquidgeon and Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel. <br /><br /> <p><strong>Resources</strong><br /><br />The Mohegan Tribe's own <a href="http://www.mohegan.nsn.us/" target="_blank">website<br /><br /></a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Tantaquidgeon-Museum-670735376320195/?rc=p" target="_blank">The Tantaquidgeon Museum</a> on Facebook<br /><br /><br /></p> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <p><a href="http://libarchive.dartmouth.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/occom/id/2569/rec/1" target="_blank">"Herbs &amp; Roots"</a> (1754) by Samson Occom</p> Description An account of the resource <p>This 1754 herbal diary is a rare written record of indigenous medicinal practices from early New England. Part of the original manuscript is housed at Dartmouth College (link above); the other part is in the New London County Historical Society in Connecticut.  A full transcription can be found in Joanna Brooks’s <a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Collected_Writings_of_Samson_Occom_M.html?hl=zh-CN&amp;id=R9ELRhEdupMC" target="_blank">collection of Occom’s writings</a>. </p> <p><a href="http://www.pequotmuseum.org/Home/CrossPaths/CrossPathsSummer2004/NativeMedicineandthePauwau.htm" target="_blank">Jason Mancini</a>, a senior researcher at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, attributes the relative scarcity of Native medical remedies in the historical record to “fear, misunderstanding, and subsequent mischaracterization of Native beliefs,” as well as to the arrogance of European colonial physicians. He <a href="http://www.pequotmuseum.org/Home/CrossPaths/CrossPathsSpring2004/NativeMedicineThePowwow.htm" target="_blank">adds</a>, “in spite of the fact that many North American plants became part of the Euro-American ‘medicine chest,’ Indians were seldom given credit for ‘discovering’ their uses.”</p> <p>What prompted Occom to make this unusual record?  Joanna Brooks says that the death of Occom’s father, Joshua, in 1743 “fully ushered Samson into his responsibilities as an adult member of his family, kinship network and tribe. These weighty new responsibilities and his sense of the imperilment of Mohegan territory generated in Occom ‘a great Inclination’ . . . to improve his reading and writing skills” (14).  Meanwhile, English settlers brought diseases that proved disastrous to Native communities.  According to Brooks, Occom developed a close relationship with a Montaukett man named Ocus, who taught him how to treat the eyestrain that plagued him during his study with Eleazar Wheelock.  Ocus also shared over 50 additional herbal and root medicines useful for a wide range of ailments and purposes, from treating burns and digestive complaints to serving reproductive health and contraception. Perhaps Occom felt a record of these medicines should be left for survivors. After all, that is really what we learn from all of his writings—a constant sense of obligation or desire to regenerate the Mohegan tribe.</p> <p>But the herbal diary is often cryptic. It appears Occom purposely avoids any issue concerning the science of growing, discovery, and the timeliness in gathering of the herbs. Perhaps the diary was a ruse to satisfy the colonists’ curiosity about medicinal cures from plants.   Or perhaps he felt this knowledge was being effectively kept by Mohegan women who could read between the lines. In an email exchange in April of 2012, Melissa Tantaquideon Zobel, the current medicine woman and tribal historian, stated, “In Mohegan tradition women were the healers, which suggests gender issues may have come into play here in the denigration of indigenous medicine just as they did in old Europe.” Thus, in those places where Occom does not even name the herb or weed used in a specific cure, perhaps he was relying on the fact that the older generation instructed the young women which seed to plant for what, verbally transmitting their instructions for how medicine was to be prepared.          </p> <p>Samson Occom’s recording of these remedies marks the beginning of a Mohegan ethnobotanical literary tradition that continues to this day, from Medicine Woman Gladys Tantaquidgeon’s <a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/Folk_Medicine_of_the_Delaware_and_Relate.html?id=-xlxH4_nufQC" target="_blank">scholarly treatise</a> to the historical writings and novels of her protégé and descendant, Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel.  These writings blend both Mohegan and Euro-colonial traditions to preserve and promote indigenous knowledge.</p> <p>The very fact that they are written, and written in English (Tantaquidgeon adds botanical Latin), is a shift in traditional Mohegan ways of imparting knowledge.  Mohegan medicine people were and are thoroughly trained by elders, following them as they gather herbs and listening carefully to their knowledge.  They would not necessarily need to write this knowledge down, and they might not even want to, because wild plant populations are vulnerable to over collection, misuse and (as Winona LaDuke explains) biopiracy. Tantaquidgeon frames her Mohegan pharmacopeia by cautioning, “pick only what you need and leave some in reserve. The Indian practiced conservation in its true meaning” (68-69).</p> <p>Occom’s notebook therefore gives very few specifics.  His entry (#29) for wintergreen, for example, calls of “wintergreen and another herbe.”  He uses English standards of measurement (“3 quarts of water”), but doesn’t reveal other things: at what time does one pick wintergreen? When it is a sprout, fully grown or drying out?   On this same remedy, Tantaquidgeon says simply that wintergreen tea is “a warming beverage and a kidney medicine” (72).  These omissions urge those seeking cures to look towards more knowledgeable sources, like the tribes, for help.  They are a way of protecting traditional ecological knowledge even while they document the value of the cures. In the time Occom was writing that value was also monetary. Occom says he paid Ocus “in all 27 York money” for the information.</p> <p>This hybrid text connects readers to Mohegan herbal knowledge, but is also indicative of a more complex relationship, one with the utmost respect for the earth. In order for herbal medicine to be practiced successfully we must follow the ways of the Mohegans in order to sustain the land that serves us.</p> <h4>Works Cited</h4> <p>Brooks, Joanna, The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan Edited by Joanna Brooks</p> <p>Dartmouth University Archives, Rauner Special Collections Library<br /><br />Fawcett, Melissa Jayne. <em>The Lasting of the Mohegans: Part I, The Story of the Wolf People</em>. Uncasville, CT: The Mohegan Tribe, 1995.</p> <p>Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel. <em>Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon</em>. University of Arizona Press, 2000.</p> <p>LaDuke, Winona. “The Political Economy of Wild Rice.” <em>Multinational Monitor</em> 25, no. 4 (April 2004): 27–29.</p> <p> Occom, Samson. <em>The Collected Writings of Samson Occom, Mohegan: Literature and Leadership in Eighteenth-Century Native America</em>. Edited by Joanna Brooks. Oxford University Press, USA, 2006.</p> <p> Tantaquidgeon, Gladys. <em>Folk Medicine of the Delaware and Related </em> <em>Algonkian Indians</em>. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission,1972.</p> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Occom, Samson Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1754 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Verna Boudreau UNH '16 Jody Curran UNH '12 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Document Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DV-257 https://www.dawnlandvoices.org/collections/files/original/b1a64c2a8a197e522c5e8f57f35898ac.jpg 37d8675a57a18d94001bd2d72646df39 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Abenaki Description An account of the resource Traditional Abenaki territory encompasses what is now New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as parts of western Maine, western Massachusetts, and Quebec. The Abenaki people comprise numerous bands and communities. In the United States, at this time, none of those groups is federally recognized. The Canadian government formally recognizes two reserves, at Odanak (St. Francis) and Wolinak (Becancour).<br /><br />Resources<br /><br /><a href="http://tribal.abenakination.com/" target="_blank">Mississquoi Abenaki Tribal Council</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://www.elnuabenakitribe.org/" target="_blank">Elnu Abenaki Tribe</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://www.abenakitribe.org/" target="_blank">Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://koasek-abenaki.com/" target="_blank">Koasek Traditional Band</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://www.cowasuck.org/" target="_blank">Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook Abenaki</a> (NH) Subject The topic of the resource Abenaki Indians Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <p>Suzanne Rancourt</p> Description An account of the resource <p>Suzanne Rancourt is a Native American poet, veteran of both the United States Marine Corps and the United States Army, and a regular Jack of all trades (Erdrich). Rancourt connects with people through her poetry, as well as through other art forms, and through instructive positions and jobs she has held.</p> <h4><strong><br />About Her Life</strong></h4> <p>Rancourt was born and raised in west central Maine as part of the Abenaki Bear Clan, of which she is now an elder, though she currently lives in Hadley, New York(Archuleta 74; “Birthing the Drum” ; Birns 17). She not only has a Masters of Fine Arts in Poetry from Vermont College but also a Master of Science in Educational Psychology from University at Albany, SUNY (Erdrich). With her degrees and several abilities, Rancourt has coordinated Pow wows, and held workshops on several topics including drum making (“Birthing the Drum” ; Keyser). She has worked as a counselor for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in New York and has also worked as a parent education specialist for a Head Start Program in the northern part of New York (Rancourt 68; Erdrich). Among other things, Rancourt is also a singer/songwriter, a personal fitness trainer, a percussionist, an herbal educator, and a dance instructor (Erdrich) Rancourt is not afraid to try it all and to spread her knowledge to others.</p> <h4><strong><br />About Her Writing</strong></h4> <p>Suzanne Rancourt’s work has appeared in numerous locations. It has  been published in several literary journals including <em>Callaloo</em> and <em>The Cimmaron Review,</em> as well as many other anthologies (Rancourt “Poets &amp; Writers”). Her most notable work is her collection of poetry called<em>Billboard in the Clouds</em>, which won the Native Writer’s Circle of the Americas First Book Award in 2001, while some of her other pieces appear in <em>The Journal of Military Experience Volume II</em>.</p> <h4><strong><em><br />The Journal of Military Experience</em></strong></h4> <p><em>The Journal of Military Experience</em> contains prose, poetry, and artwork from veterans all across the United States. The goal of the journal is to express what it is truly like to serve and to “facilitat[e] a dialogue that can bridge the gap between civilians and those who serve” (<em>The Journal of Military Experience</em>). Rancourt published five different poems in this journal and while many of her other poems showcase stories of her life outside of the military, of her family, and of nature, the poems in this journal are packed with raw emotion all focused on her experiences in the military and army. Rancourt expresses the same intenseness that she does in her other poetry and remains true to her simplistic style for which she has been praised for (Birns 20). Her poems are rather short, but are packed with vivid images that speak of the aftermath of bombs, the tragedy of innocent deaths, and the confusion and exhaustion involved in serving.</p> <h4><strong><em><br />Billboard in the Clouds</em></strong></h4> Suzanne Rancourt’s poetry in <em>Billboard in the Clouds</em> covers three different themes: her childhood, her ancestors, and her current life. The poems about her childhood include descriptions of nature, her parents, and grandparents. Ancestral poems cover stories Rancourt has heard conveying deep connections between her people and their land. Finally, poems about contemporary life cover such topics as Rancourt’s life with her son, her current home, and, in some, hints of her military experience. Many of the works in this book are a lot longer than the works she published in <em>The Journal of Military Experience,</em> but she presents her stories and images with the same vivid realness as in those poems. Her style is very simple, not abstract or meant to confuse. It is more like a parent or a lover sitting you down to tell a story or to express an emotion. Her work is extremely approachable because it is relatable and allows the reader to enter into her life with understanding. “Whose Mouth Do I Speak With” is one of the forty poems that appears in the book and it tells a story about Rancourt’s father from when she was young:<br /><blockquote> <p>I can remember my father bringing home spruce gum,<br />He worked in the woods and filled his pockets<br />with golden chunks of pitch.<br />For his children<br />he provided this special sacrament<br />and we’d gather at this feet, around his legs,<br />bumping his lunchbox, and his empty thermos rattled inside.<br />Our skin would stick to Daddy’s gluey clothing<br />and we’d smell like Mumma’s Pine Sol.<br />We had no money for store bought gum<br />but that’s all right.<br />The spruce gum<br />was so close to chewing amber<br />as though in our mouths we held the eyes of Coyote<br />and how many other children had fathers<br />that placed on their innocent, anxious tongue<br />the blood of tree?” (Rancourt 21)</p> </blockquote> <h4><strong><br />On the Poem </strong></h4> <p>This poem allows the reader so much access to Rancourt’s life as a child. It becomes apparent that Rancourt had a positive relationship with her father growing up. He provides this special gift to his kids and Rancourt questions “how many other children had fathers” who would do something like this for them. The act of getting this gum almost seems like a ritual for her and her siblings. They beg at the father’s feet and we get this textual image of Rancourt’s father’s sticky clothing that gives off a piney scent. It is this image that pulls the reader into the moment with little Suzanne Rancourt. It is very casually mentioned by Rancourt that they did not have money, but that it did not matter. She is not bothered by the fact that her family cannot afford gum like the other kids and she seems to relish in what she has. She makes a big deal about how the spruce gum connects her to nature, how it was like “chewing amber” and holding “the eyes of Coyote” in their mouths. Then she goes on to describe it again as “the blood of tree,” almost as if the pleasure of chewing this golden, delicious thing was a gift or sacrifice of nature; the sacrifice of a Coyote’s eye or the gift of the tree’s blood. Rancourt also paints her father as being very connected to nature by telling us that he works in the woods and this comes up in a few other poems, one in which she describes her father speaking to the sky.</p> <p>It is through her poetry that Suzanne Rancourt stays so connected to her culture and to their relationship with nature. Suzanne wants to share with the world both where she comes from and where she has gone in life, all in the effort to keep alive the traditions, memories, and experiences that have defined her and her people.</p> <h4><strong><br />Works Cited</strong></h4> <p>Archuleta, Elizabeth. “<a href="http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f03be22b-fa53-44a0-8023-bcfd0fed007a%40sessionmgr114&amp;vid=3&amp;hid=17">Billboard In The Clouds.</a>“ <em>World Literature Today</em> 80.3 (2006): 74. <em>Academic Search Premier</em>. Web. 21 Mar. 2013.</p> <p> Birns, Nicholas. <a href="http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=91179a8f-0063-4cf4-98bd-11cfd29c92ed%40sessionmgr110&amp;vid=2&amp;hid=2">“The Other East Coast</a>.” <em>American Book Review</em> 26.3 (2005): 17-20. <em>Academic Search Premier</em>. Web. 21 Mar. 2013.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.heartbeatcollective.org/BirthingADrum">“Birthing a Drum”</a>. <em>Heartbeat Collective</em>. Web. Retrieved 4 April, 2013.</p> <p> Erdrich, Heid E., and Laura Tohe. <em>Sister Nations: Native American Women Writers on Community</em>. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 2002. Print.</p> <p> <a href="http://encompass.eku.edu/jme/"><em>The Journal of Military Experience</em></a> 2.2 (2012): Web.</p> <p> Keyser, Tom. “<a href="http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?sid=f03be22b-fa53-44a0-8023-bcfd0fed007a%40sessionmgr114&amp;vid=12&amp;hid=16&amp;bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3D#db=nfh&amp;AN=2W62481623319">Even in the heat, celebration: Native American heritage group holds powwow at sweltering Route 5S site.</a>“ <em>Times Union (Albany, NY)</em> 18 July 2010:<em>Newspaper Source</em>. Web. 21 Mar. 2013.</p> <p> Rancourt, Suzanne S. <em>Billboard in the Clouds: Poems</em>. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone, 2004. Print.</p> <p> Rancourt, Suzanne. “<a href="http://www.pw.org/content/suzanne_rancourt_2">Suzanne Rancourt</a>.” <em>Poets &amp; Writers</em>. Poets &amp; Writers, 9 July 2012. Web.</p> Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Tracy Lavallee, UNH '14 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource n.d. Language A language of the resource English Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DV-300 https://www.dawnlandvoices.org/collections/files/original/bfb0d92b7bf02a2c8fa8e120d8756602.JPG fc67250154e38fa6cfc12e1bcb5f718c https://www.dawnlandvoices.org/collections/files/original/50ac3abe087aa397cef1169ca6fc238e.jpg fad57435bb54b5c5f10176cdc4197164 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mohegan Description An account of the resource The Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut is based in Uncasville, a town named for the sachem who signed the Treaty of Hartford in 1638. Federally recognized since 1994, the tribe has a complex governmental structure including a Tribal Council, Council of Elders, and a Tribal Court. Mohegans have a long history of writing, from early missionaries including Samson Occom and Joseph Johnson to twentieth century Medicine Women like Fidelia Fielding, Gladys Tantaquidgeon and Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel. <br /><br /> <p><strong>Resources</strong><br /><br />The Mohegan Tribe's own <a href="http://www.mohegan.nsn.us/" target="_blank">website<br /><br /></a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Tantaquidgeon-Museum-670735376320195/?rc=p" target="_blank">The Tantaquidgeon Museum</a> on Facebook<br /><br /><br /></p> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Berry Basket with Floral Design (c. 1840) Description An account of the resource <p><em>Berry Basket, c. 1840, Ash Splint, Possibly Mohegan, Housed at Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum</em></p> <p>For generations of indigenous people, the art of basketry has been a primary source of economic survival and cultural preservation. Basket making is never a solitary process; from the gathering and preparation of materials, learning the many styles and techniques of basketry, to marketing and distribution, networks of people become involved and play crucial roles in their manufacturing. From traveling basket makers in Victorian times to present-day craftspeople showcasing their work in fairs and conventions, basketry continues to emphasize the importance of family life and oral tradition along with the relevance of non-text based communal literacy.</p> <h4><strong>The Meaning of the Floral Design</strong></h4> <p>This particular basket is a small berry basket featuring a floral pattern, alternating horizontal bands of red and blue, and a series of diagonal dash marks next to every flower. According to Wabanaki basket expert <a href="http://www.native-artifact-consulting.com/treasures.html"><span>Gaby Pelletier</span></a>, berry baskets tended to be made quickly and efficiently so they could be used to hold fruits that would be sold along with their container. The patterns on the sides may have been created using potato stamps, a method of decorating that quickened the production of baskets for selling purposes and according to Pelletier is highly unusual for Abenaki baskets to have. This basket’s floral design may have been used to attract white clients to the berries being sold by evoking imagery from European art styles; however it could also be interpreted as being a symbol of nature, thus showing the ability of indigenous people to maintain their cultural identity while still appeasing white settlers. Small berry baskets such as this were also helpful in allowing children to pick fruit alongside their families and enabling them to observe cultural traditions and learn valuable life skills. Yet Pelletier also explains that the basket's handle is indicative of European influence, as its attachments are too delicate for the wear that it would have received during berry picking, perhaps suggesting that this basket may have been sold as a souvenir rather than used for utilitarian purposes.</p> <h4><strong>The Importance of Family</strong></h4> <p>Family life always has been and continues to be a key factor in the preservation of the basket making tradition among Native Americans of New England. In the film<a href="http://www.folkstreams.net/film,94"><span> "Our Lives in Our Hands"</span></a> by Harold Prins and Karen Carter, a documentary examining Mi'kmaq basketry, the majority of people interviewed described their family as playing a crucial role in how they acquired their basket making abilities. Several of the people interviewed described how they learned through watching relatives weaving for years, echoing the importance of a non-text based form of literacy. While both men and women take an equal part in the process of weaving, men were traditionally more likely to go out into the woods to cut down and pound the ash trees that baskets were typically made from. However, one man interviewed did mention that due to the decline in passing down traditions such as basket making (and language), he has started showing his daughters how to make the tools such as axes needed to make splints along with his son.</p> <h4><strong>Relationship between Europeans, Natives, and Basketmaking</strong></h4> <p>Once colonists began arriving in New England, baskets became a link between the native people and the Europeans. Lisa Neuman's article "Basketry as Economic Enterprise and Cultural Revitalization" explains the history of basketry as a non-threatening economic enterprise: "Beginning in the 1860s, Wabanaki families began to set up summer encampments in Maine's famed resort area of Bar Harbor, on Mt. Desert Island, primarily to sell baskets and crafts to tourists and the island's wealthy summer residents. At Bar Harbor, Wabanaki families would sell door to door and invite potential customers to visit their encampments, sometimes dressing in clothing that met tourists' romanticized expectations of Indianness to attract sales (Neuman 93)". This method of sales enabled Indigenous craftspeople to introduce European settlers to their way of life, allowing these colonists to lift the veil and see them not as stereotypes, but rather as another culture with similarities to their own. The essay "'A Precarious Living': Basket Making and Related Crafts Among New England Indians" by Nan Wolverton reaffirms the communal nature of basketry: "Like basket makers, chair bottomers traveled to the homes of their customers, and there they performed their craft, often telling stories simultaneously. By spending many hours within the family circles, these artisans often earned the respect and friendship of their customers through their work and their stories" (Wolverton 356-357). Maintaining repeat customers was very common among Native basket members, and in some instances this resulted in lifelong friendships between whites and Native Americans. This sort of traveling salesmanship can be seen as bridging the divide between Native peoples and the white societies they lived on the fringes of through the trust gained through their craftsmanship.</p> <h4><strong>Basketmaking Today</strong></h4> <p>Today basket and craft fairs encourage communication between tribes as well as between native and non-native residents of New England. These fairs encourage non-native people to ask questions and learn through hearing directly from tribe members about their trade and culture. These conversations echo the early tenuous cross-cultural bridges made between Native people and the colonists whose homes they visited to demonstrate their craft and tell their stories in the 1800s. Annual craft fairs are also a way for members of the same tribe to get together and talk to one another face to face. These fairs provide an “opportunity to travel and spend time with relatives from around the region. Basket sales also provide people with the opportunity to promote cross-cultural awareness, and this can be intertribal as well as intercultural” (Neuman 97). The Mi'kmaq tribe also has a “Basket Bank”, a place where craftspeople making baskets can bring their work to sell for a fairer price than they might receive elsewhere, and in turn their baskets are resold as well as used for demonstrations or showcasing in museums. Websites such as the <a href="http://www.maineindianbaskets.org/"><span>Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance</span></a> provide information about upcoming basket and craft fairs with links to websites for tribes in Maine, museums, and national basket associations as well as showcasing their mission statements: preservation of natural resources such as sweet grass for future generations, expanding markets, and maintaining and handing down traditions for younger generations and other tribes.</p> <h4><strong>Works Cited</strong></h4> <p>Calloway, Colin G., ed. <em>Reinterpreting New England Indians and the Colonial Experience.</em> 2003. Print.</p> <p>Neuman, Lisa K. "Basketry as Economic Enterprise and Cultural Revitalization: The Case of the Wabanaki Tribes of Maine." Wicazo Sa Review. 25.2 (2010): 86-106. Print.</p> <p>Dir. Prins, Harold, and Carter, Karen. <em>Our Lives in Our Hands.</em> Northeast Historic Film. DVD.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <div> </div> <div> </div> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Emily Fortin, UNH '13 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1840 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Image used with permission of Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum, Warner, NH Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DV-269 https://www.dawnlandvoices.org/collections/files/original/3b1cab2851acc0999affb1da95d7b8df.jpeg 18c33afc624edc96f6757c08c0e38a17 https://www.dawnlandvoices.org/collections/files/original/fc0cd0680953086e4dbbdfcbebec6d77.jpeg 064d63f9c7c0938ddace16e7c38bd9e3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Abenaki Description An account of the resource Traditional Abenaki territory encompasses what is now New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as parts of western Maine, western Massachusetts, and Quebec. The Abenaki people comprise numerous bands and communities. In the United States, at this time, none of those groups is federally recognized. The Canadian government formally recognizes two reserves, at Odanak (St. Francis) and Wolinak (Becancour).<br /><br />Resources<br /><br /><a href="http://tribal.abenakination.com/" target="_blank">Mississquoi Abenaki Tribal Council</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://www.elnuabenakitribe.org/" target="_blank">Elnu Abenaki Tribe</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://www.abenakitribe.org/" target="_blank">Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://koasek-abenaki.com/" target="_blank">Koasek Traditional Band</a> (VT)<br /><a href="http://www.cowasuck.org/" target="_blank">Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook Abenaki</a> (NH) Subject The topic of the resource Abenaki Indians Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eel weir basket (c. early 1900s) Description An account of the resource <p><em>Eel Weir, c. early 1900s, Wood Splint, Abenaki, Housed at The Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum</em></p> <p>An unidentified fishing basket trap from the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner, NH, is likely an eel trap. Woven from wood splints, it stands nearly three feet high when stood on end. Museum staff is unsure of this basket’s exact date and place of origin, but Abenaki and other Native people in northeastern New England have long used trap baskets of this kind with their fishing weirs. Abenaki basket maker <a href="http://www.westernabenakibaskets.com/"><span>Bill Gould</span></a>, who makes similar items, explains that a trap like this “is set up under water and weighed down with bait inside.”</p> <h4><strong>What is a Fishing Weir?</strong></h4> <p>Fishing weirs, sometimes constructed of stone, and sometimes of wooden stakes, work “to obstruct the passage of the fish in order to facilitate its capture, and impound the fish so that it cannot get away" <a href="http://www.lutins.org/thesis/#3.1"><span>(lutins</span></a>). Weirs can capture fish traveling either upstream or downstream, usually during the spawning period, when they have the most fat. In a 1992 study of prehistoric fishing weirs in the northeast, allen lutins observes that “weirs and traps may be used independently, but their functions are often combined in a single structure when traps are used to collect the fish forced by the weir to a narrow outlet.”</p> <p>The oldest fishing weirs could be vast. Fredrick Johnson describes an enormous prehistoric weir found in 1913 under Boylston Street in Boston. Dating back to the Late Archaic period, it covers about two acres and includes some 65,000 stakes interwoven with brush wattling, or a mixture of shrubs and branches (27). The Late Archaic period occurred in 1250 BC-3800 BC (Fagan 202). According to Johnson, the difference in construction between this ancient fish weir and modern ones was that the stakes were not evenly spread out or of the same size (Johnson 57).</p> <h4><strong>Fishing, Baskets, and Culture</strong></h4> <p>Throughout New England, fishing has been an important means of subsistence for Native people, promoting a spiritual connection to specific places. Kerry Hardy finds that, for the Wabanaki Indians of Maine, waterfalls and ideal fishing spots historically determined the significance of villages: “The greater the obstacle, the better the harvest, and the more important the town” (62).</p> <p>In New Hampshire’s Winnepesaukee region, three stone weirs were found in the 1930s. One was W shaped and the other two were V shaped, with points oriented downstream (Proctor 41-49). According to Brian Fagan, V-shaped weirs could be used with basket traps (79). The traps could be placed near the points of the weirs, which funneled fish into them. The weirs at Winnepesaukee, unfortunately, were eventually removed because they interfered with water navigation (Moorhead 51).</p> <h4><strong>Protection of Fishing Grounds</strong></h4> <p>Historically, Native people have fought determinedly to protect their fishing grounds. In a 1748 petition, residents of the praying town of Natick defined their right to fish on Lake Cochituate, against the encroachment of English settlers. Historian Jean O’Brien has discussed this petition in some detail as evidence of Indian resistance; with respect to the value of fishing weirs, she notes that “The petitioners describe their fishing rights as an ‘old and valuable liberty’ rather than a gift in the form of a specific grant from the General Court” (O’Brien 126). Therefore, this petition conveys that the Indians had these rights long before the arrival of the English, although they were forced to formally request them back in writing. Similarly, the eel basket pictured here—made of trees, placed in rivers, and capturing food for people—acts as a text tying indigenous people to a particular place.</p> <h4><strong>Works Cited</strong></h4> <p>Fagan, Brian M. <em>The First North Americans: An Archaeological Journey. Ancient Peoples and Places.</em> New York, N.Y: Thames &amp; Hudson, 2011.</p> <p>Gould, Bill. E-mail interview. 10 Apr. 2012.</p> <p>Hardy, Kerry. <em>Notes on a Lost Flute: A Field Guide to the Wabanaki.</em> 1st ed. Down East Books, 2009.</p> <p>Johnson, Frederick. <em>The Boylston Street Fishweir, a Study of the Archaeology,biology, and Geology of a Site on Boylston Street in the Back Bay District of Boston, Massachusetts</em>. Papers of the Robert S. Peabody Foundation for Archaeology v. 2. Andover, Mass: Phillips academy, The Foundation, 1942.</p> <p>Lutins, Allen.<em> Prehistoric Fishweirs in Eastern North America.</em> MS thesis. 1992. Binghamton : n.p.,1992. Web. 10 Apr. 2012.</p> <p>Moorehead, Warren King, and Benjamin Lincoln Smith. <em>The Merrimack Archaeological Survey: a Preliminary Paper.</em> Peabody Museum, 1931.</p> <p>O’Brien, Jean M. <em>Dispossession by Degrees: Indian Land and Identity in Natick, Massachusetts, 1650-1790.</em> Cambridge Studies in North American Indian History. Cambridge<span> </span>; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.</p> <p>O'Brien , Jean. "Our Old and Valluable Liberty ." <em>Early Native Literacies in New England</em>. Ed. Kristina Bross and Ed. Hilary E. Wyss . Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2008. 119-129. Print.</p> <p>Proctor, Mary A. <em>The Indians of the Winnipesaukee and Pemigewasset Valleys</em>. Powwow River Books, 2007.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown "Woodlands Indian" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1900 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum Hayley Pac, UNH '12 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Image used with permission of Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum, Warner, NH Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DV-265 https://www.dawnlandvoices.org/collections/files/original/9dcd576bcee408748fbb2910ae0753cb.pdf 4f2eb11fa3384fcf5dba722027a902b5 PDF Text Text A  lesser-­‐known  Atlantic  crossing:     Six  years  before  Mayflower  landed  in  Plymouth  in  1620  quite  a  different  kind  of   trans-­‐Atlantic  voyage  landed  27  Wampanoag  men  in  Malaga,  Spain.  Those  men   taken  against  their  will  from  Patuxet  and  Nauset  in  the  summer  of  1614  were  not  on   a  pilgrimage  but  their  journey  would  foreshadow  the  Pilgrim  landing  and  settlement   of  Plymouth  Colony  by  virtue  of  who  was  taken,  where  they  were  taken  from  and   the  one  who  returned.     The  story  of  Tisquantum,  also  known  as  Squanto,  who  remarkably  welcomed  the   Pilgrims  in  their  own  language  is  often  re-­‐told.  It  begins  in  the  spring  of  1621  almost   as  if  the  “friendly  Indian”  dropped  out  of  the  sky  to  become  an  invaluable  emissary   between  the  settlers  and  the  Wampanoag.  The  lesser  known  albeit  well  documented   truths  are:       • That  Squanto  was  among  20  men  taken  from  Patuxet  in  1614.   • That  another  seven  men  were  taken  from  Nauset.   • That  Squanto  was  the  only  one  known  to  return.     • That  after  a  near  brush  with  slavery  he  learned  to  speak  English  while  living   as  a  captive  exotic  servant  in  London.     • That  when  he  finally  made  his  way  home  in1619  he  found  his  family  and   village  wiped  out  by  a  plague.     • That  his  home,  Patuxet,  was  no  longer  of  use  to  him.   • That  the  graveyard  of  his  people  became  Plymouth  Colony.     While  it  was  by  far  not  the  first  occasion  of  human  trafficking  conducted  by   European  explorers  to  the  new  world,  the  capture  of  Squanto  and  his  fellow   tribesmen  would  forever  alter  the  course  of  history  for  people  on  two  continents.     Instances  of  taking  Native  people  against  their  will  were  logged  in  graphic  detail  by   mariners  like  James  Rosier  who  explored  what  is  now  the  coast  of  Maine  with  Capt.   George  Weymouth  in  1605.  In  his  diary  Rosier  explained  the  means  and  motivation   for  such  acts  and  justified  the  capture  of  Native  men  as  a  rescue  from  the  wilderness   for  the  purpose  of  conversion  to  Christianity.  Rosier  shamelessly  described  the   enticing  of  two  Native  men  with  a  box  of  peas.     “  .  .  .  we  used  little  delay,  but  suddenly  laid  hands  upon  them.  And  it  was  as   much  as  five  or  six  of  us  could  do  to  get  them  .  .  .  For  they  were  strong  and  so   naked  as  our  best  hold  was  by  their  long  hair  on  their  heads  .  .  .  “       A  century  earlier  in  1502  an  English  company  of  merchant  explorers  from  Bristol   returned  to  London  from  Newfoundland  with  three  Native  men  clothed  in  “beasty   skins”  and  speaking  in  a  strange  language.  The  report  published  in  The  Great   Chronicle  of  London  indicates  that  at  least  two  of  the  men  survived  assimilation  and   �were  seen  two  years  later  in  Westminster  dressed  in  the  attire  of  Englishmen   however  unable  to  utter  one  word.   By  the  summer  of  1614  the  Wampanoag  certainly  knew  to  be  wary  of  English   vessels.  However  it  is  possible  that  a  visit  from  the  culturally  sensitive  and  tolerant   Captain  John  Smith  just  prior  to  the  kidnappings  may  have  given  the  Wampanoag  a   false  sense  of  security.  Smith  led  the  1614  exploration  of  New  England  with  a   primary  mission  to  discover  locations  suitable  to  host  a  colony  similar  to  the  one  he   helped  establish  in  Jamestown.     When  Smith  departed  to  return  to  England  he  left  Hunt  with  instruction  to  trade  fish   for  furs  with  the  Wampanoag.  Instead  Hunt  traded  Smith’s  good  will  for  personal   profit  capturing  the  men  from  Patuxet  and  Nauset.  Hunt  then  set  sail  for  Malaga,   Spain  where  he  attempted  to  sell  them  as  slaves  at  an  auction  interrupted  by  an   order  of  religious  monks.  It  is  assumed  Squanto  was  among  those  spared  by  the   monks.       If  the  Jamestown  experience  with  the  Powhatan,  and  having  his  life  spared  by   Pocahontas,  taught  Smith  anything  he  certainly  understood  offenses  against  the   indigenous  people  to  be  counter  productive  to  colonization.  But  by  the  time  Smith   learned  of  Hunt’s  devious  act  the  Wampanoag  were  left  devastated  and  Smith’s   cross-­‐cultural  diplomacy  squandered.     In  his  account  of  the  New  England  voyage  published  in  1616,  Smith  made  clear  his   disappointment  in  Hunt.     “Notwithstanding  after  my  departure,  he  abused  the  Savages  where  he  came,   and  betrayed  twenty  and  seven  of  these  poore  innocent  soules,  which  he  sold  in   Spaine  for  slaves,  to  move  their  hate  against  our  Nation,  as  well  as  to  cause  my   proceedings  to  be  so  much  more  difficult.”       Smith  characterized  his  relationship  with  Hunt  as  a  test  of  wills.  Ultimately  he   acknowledged  the  appointment  of  Hunt  to  his  fleet  was  deeply  regrettable.  The   primary  reason  Smith  cited  for  being  unable  to  return  to  New  England  in  1615  as   planned  was  deception.       “  .  .  .    chiefly  by  one  Hunt,  who  was  Master  of  the  ship,  with  whom  oft  arguing   these  projects,  for  a  plantation,  however  he  seemed  well  in  words  to  like  it,  yet   he  practiced  to  have  robbed  me  of  my  plots  .  .  .”           Works  cited:     James  Rosier,  A  True  relation  of  the  most  prosperous  voyage  made  this  present  yeere   1605,  by  Captaine  George  Waymouth,  in  the  discovery  of  the  land  of  Virginia:  Where   �he  discovered  60  miles  up  a  most  excellent  River;  together  with  a  most  fertile  land.   London,  (1605)     The  Great  Chronicle  of  London,  A.H.  Thomas  and  I.D.  Thornley  editors,  (1939)     John  Smith,  The  General  History  of  New  England,  (1624)           � https://www.dawnlandvoices.org/collections/files/original/9204aee0c7ddc95e6010fde5a6ee5cae.jpg 070a328925ce615d83524c854a3d73a7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Wampanoag Description An account of the resource Traditional Wampanoag territory encompasses a wide swath of southern New England--much of what is now southeastern Massachusetts, including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Today, there are two federally recognized communities: one at Mashpee, Cape Cod; the other at Aquinnah (Gay Head), Martha's Vineyard. Wampanoag people were among the first indigenous people regionally to begin writing and published a Wampanoag-language bible as early as 1663--a text that has been useful in contemporary language revival efforts. Wampanoag people have also been devoted writers of their own history, as evidenced by the detailed timelines that appear even on the official tribal websites. <br /><br /><strong>Resources</strong> <br /><a href="http://mashpeewampanoagtribe.com/" target="_blank">Mashpee</a> Wampanoag Tribe<br /><a href="http://www.wampanoagtribe.net/Pages/index" target="_blank">Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head</a> (Aquinnah)<br /><a href="http://www.wlrp.org/" target="_blank">Wopanaak Language Reclamation Project</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Introduction to <em>Captured: 1614</em> by Paula Peters (2014) Description An account of the resource Paula Peters is a Native American journalist and educator from Mashpee, Massachusetts. She worked for the <em>Cape Cod Times</em> from 1992-2002 and has worked to educate the public about Native history as part of the Indian Program at Plimoth Plantation (first as an interpreter in the 1970s and 1980s, and returning in 2005 as Director of Marketing and Public Relations). <br /><br /> Peters attended Bridgewater State University from 1984-1986. She was actively involved in the Mashpee federal recognition effort, with her father, Russell Peters (d. 2002), and many other tribal members. In an interview with NPR in 2006, Peters recalls a time when "nobody in Washington cared much about which tribes were recognized."  Like her father, Peters has served on the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council. With her husband, Mark Harding, who serves as the council's treasurer, she co-founded the marketing company SmokeSygnals.<br /><br />As executive producer of <em>Captured: 1614</em>, Peters continues her longstanding efforts to tell history from the Wampanoag perspective. The exhibit was first unveiled in November 2014 at the Plymouth Public Library in Plymouth, Massachusetts, marking the 400th anniversary of the kidnapping of Squanto and 19 other Wampanoag tribe members by English settlers. The essays included here comprised some of Peters's contributions to that exhibit. <em>Captured</em> will travel and continue to grow until 2020, the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower. Peters serves on the committee of Plymouth 400, the non-profit organization planning that event.<br /><br /> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Peters, Paula Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://www.plymouth400inc.org/events/captured-1614" target="_blank">Captured: 1614</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Victoria Leigh Gibson, UNH 2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Paula Peters Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Document Date Created Date of creation of the resource. July 2016 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DV-384 https://www.dawnlandvoices.org/collections/files/original/56d6d03cf4001e54288630bd211171c4.jpg 212a5c549e6e0fbaa5ab7918d0229fef Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Wampanoag Description An account of the resource Traditional Wampanoag territory encompasses a wide swath of southern New England--much of what is now southeastern Massachusetts, including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Today, there are two federally recognized communities: one at Mashpee, Cape Cod; the other at Aquinnah (Gay Head), Martha's Vineyard. Wampanoag people were among the first indigenous people regionally to begin writing and published a Wampanoag-language bible as early as 1663--a text that has been useful in contemporary language revival efforts. Wampanoag people have also been devoted writers of their own history, as evidenced by the detailed timelines that appear even on the official tribal websites. <br /><br /><strong>Resources</strong> <br /><a href="http://mashpeewampanoagtribe.com/" target="_blank">Mashpee</a> Wampanoag Tribe<br /><a href="http://www.wampanoagtribe.net/Pages/index" target="_blank">Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head</a> (Aquinnah)<br /><a href="http://www.wlrp.org/" target="_blank">Wopanaak Language Reclamation Project</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Joan Tavares Avant Description An account of the resource <p><strong><em>Joan Tavares Avant</em></strong> is a Mashpee Wampanoag elder, historian, and writer who works to promote an accurate representation of her Mashpee Wampanoag culture and heritage.</p> <h4><strong>Family</strong></h4> <p>From the day of her birth on April 14, 1940 until today, Joan Tavares Avant has lived in Mashpee, Massachusetts. As she puts it: “I was born in Mashpee as a Mashpee Wampanoag, Why would I want to leave?” She is the granddaughter of revered Mashpee Wampanoag Elder Mabel Pocknett Avant, in whose ancestral home now resides the Mashpee Wampanoag Historical Museum, of which Avant has been the past director of. She is mother to four children, grandmother to five grand-children, great grandmother to 3 great grandchildren, and has two un-adopted adult children, all which she loves dearly. She is also one of seven clan mothers, the Deer clan mother of her tribe.</p> <h4><strong>Granny Squannit</strong></h4> <p>Granny Squannit is one of the oldest Wampanoag legends. An old medicine woman with long black hair covering the single eye in her forehead, she snatches away children who misbehave, taking them away in her canoe to her cave in Cummaquid to scare them into being good. However, Granny Squannit also has a benevolent side, giving presents to good children and guiding sailors who leave her gifts. Every Halloween, Avant dresses up as Granny and greets (often scaring them in the process) Mashpee children as they walk through the woods. After playing Granny Squannit for adults, children and organizations and keeping her alive through writings for 20 years, Avant was given “Granny Squannit” as her native name from their tribal medicine man. She continues to write articles on Granny Squannit, even having her own column titled “Tales from Granny Squannit” in the Mashpee Enterprise in recent years. She also has a black and white tattoo of Granny Squannit on her right arm</p> <h4 style="text-align:left;"><strong>Education</strong></h4> <p>Unlike some of her author peers, Avant did not enter college immediately after high school, finding it hard to be accepted to a university because of her Native status, as well as financial difficulties. She finally received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Services from the University of Massachusetts Boston in 1993, at the age of 53. Two years later, she earned her Master’s degree in Education from Cambridge College, and presently is working on a Doctoral Degree in Education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Avant believes that “it is never too late to learn, age is but a number.” For 26 years, she was the Director of Indian Education for the Mashpee Public School district. She worked to provide guidance and promote cultural awareness to local Wampanoag students and teachers, as well as to provide school day-care and tutoring services. Finding the Mative history taught to schoolchildren biased and inaccurate, she also worked with both Native and non-Native educators to create a curriculum that highlighted local Wampanoag elders, culture, history, legends, and values. In 1993, the Falmouth Affirmative Action Committee recognized her for this work.</p> <h4 style="text-align:left;"><strong>Community Involvement</strong></h4> <p>Avant has been tribal president for three terms, as well as tribal historian for four. She is currently a member of the Mashpee Historical Commission, as well as a member of the Mittark Committee, which publishes the <em>Nashauonk Mittark</em> (the monthly Mashpee Wampanoag newsletter). She is also a member of Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project, which since 1993 has worked to teach Native children the Wampanoag language, which has had no known native speakers for six generations. In November 2012, CBS News <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50135817n" target="_blank">interviewed her</a> about the project.</p> <h4 style="text-align:left;"><strong>Writing</strong></h4> <p style="text-align:left;">Avant is also a writer for the <em>Mashpee Enterprise</em>, writing about Mashpee Wampanoag affairs and contributing her own column, "Tales from Granny Squannit." Her journalistic style often shows up in her book, <em>People of the First Light</em>. She begins each section of her book with the sentence “Let’s be Frank about this,” a line in remembrance of her son, but also a good euphemism for her writing. She uses a straightforward, blunt manner to presents her facts, and unapologetically expresses her opinion:<em> <br /></em></p> <blockquote>There are people who still believe only that the Wampanoag met the Pilgrims and helped them through the first winter…and later fell off the face of Mother Earth. Rarely is it mentioned that we were here 12,000 years before any newcomers arrived. The entire realm of opinion has been that we have been here since the celebration of Thanksgiving in 1620…These are facts and not myths; they were challenging for our people then and continue to challenge us even today. Also, my view is this: just because leaders of this country such as Henry Laurens (President of the Continental Congress), George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and others who set certain dates for Thanksgiving does not mean that they were the first to think of such a celebration.</blockquote> <p style="text-align:left;"><em>People of the First Light</em> took two years for Avant to finish. She self- published it in 2010. She was inspired to write after finding the Native perspective lacking in her own tribal history; decribing non-Native writing about her people, she remarks that it's  “insulting and it hurts,” though it makes “millions of [dollars] off the backs of our ancestors and all our tribal people.” Having lived in Mashpee all her life, and having done tribal interviews and research, there was never any difficulty in finding things to include; in fact, she often found herself with more than she could incorporate. Avant says that the most difficult part was writing the proposal for funding; the rest, such as structure and selection of works, came naturally via cultural experience and indigenous insight. She wants to remind people, through her book and other works, that “We are still here.”<br /><br /></p> <h4><strong>Works Cited</strong></h4> <p style="text-align:left;">P. Stone, R. MacKenzie (1990). <em>The Excluded Past: Archaeology in Education.</em> Google Books: Unwin Hyman Ltd. p. 123<br /><br />Avant, Joan Tavares. “Now, And Always, Wampanoag.” <em>Cultural Survival.</em> N.p., 26 05 2010. Web. 23 Mar 2013.<br /><br />Avant, Joan Tavares. <em>People of the First Light: Wisdoms of a Mashpee Wampanoag Elder.</em> Mashpee: 2010. Print<br /><br /><a href="http://mwtribe.exstream.tv/content/pages/72/DecemberMittark_2009.pdf">"Special Election Candidates."</a> Nashauonk Mittark. 12 2009: 4. Web. 9 May. 2013.<br /><br />Tavares-Avant , Joan. E-mail Interview. Apr 2013.</p> Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Shelby McGuigan, UNH '13 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource n.d. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DV-294 https://www.dawnlandvoices.org/collections/files/original/27ed39b75ac5060acd83b45ff65199e6.jpg 2ea9591634b67b2a4d250594996f6630 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Narragansett Description An account of the resource The Narragansett Indian Tribe has inhabited what is now the state of Rhode Island for over 30,000 years. Federally recognized in 1983, the tribe is now headquartered in Charlestown. In addition to many historic deeds and letters, Narragansett people produced what is probably the first tribal magazine in New England, The Narragansett Dawn, from 1935-36. Today, Narragansett writers include the award-winning journalist John Christian Hopkins, also an inventive novelist; the poet Ella (Brown) Sekatau; and storyteller/author Paulla Dove Jennings. To learn more about Narragansett history and people, visit the tribal website at narragansett-tribe.org, as well as the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum in Exeter, RI. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Christian Hopkins Description An account of the resource <p><a title="John Christian Hopkins" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Christian_Hopkins" target="_blank"><strong>John Christian Hopkins</strong></a> is a Narraganset journalist, author, poet and public speaker who resides in Tuba City, Arizona. Hopkins was born in 1960 in Westerly, Rhode Island. In 1983, he enrolled at the University of Rhode Island, where he graduated with degrees in journalism and history in 1987.</p> <h4><strong><br />Journalism Endeavors</strong></h4> <p>Hopkins spent time as a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist for the Gannett News Service, and also has written for <em>USA Today</em>, <em>The News-Press</em>, <em>The Pequot Times</em>, <em>The Westerly Sun</em>, <em>Indian Country Today Media Network</em>, <em>News from Indian Country</em> and <em>Native Peoples Magazine</em>. His work has received recognition from the Gannett Awards and the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) Awards. In 2003, he became the first member of the NAJA to receive awards in four different writing categories during the same year (news, features, sports and columns).</p> <p>From an early age, Hopkins knew exactly what he wanted to do and made it happen.</p> <p>“I’ve never wanted to do anything other than write,” Hopkins said in an interview. “Through journalism I saw a chance to write, tell stories of interesting people and things and get paid for it!”</p> <h4><strong><br />From Journalist to Author</strong></h4> <p>The field of journalism has brought Hopkins from Rhode Island to Massachusetts, New York, Florida, and now Arizona. While he has been in the reporting business for twenty-plus years, he also delved into writing fiction novels over the past decade.</p> <p>Hopkins has published five books:<em> Carlomagno</em> in 2003, <em>Nacogdoches</em> in 2004, <em>The Pirate Prince Carlomagno</em> in 2011, <em>Twilight of the Gods</em> in 2011, and<em> Rhyme or Reason: Narragansett Poetry</em> in 2012.</p> <p>Hopkins doesn’t shy away from trying out different genres, whether it be historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, or even poetry.</p> <p>“I can’t sleep at night because my mind won’t turn off; I spend time thinking of things to write about, genres I want to try,” said Hopkins. “I feel some need to create.”</p> <p>His first book, <em>Carlomagno</em>, is based off King Philip’s War, fictionally elaborating on the story of King Philip’s captured son, whom he names “Carlomagno.” Hopkins’s long love of westerns is apparent in <em>Nacogdoches</em>, which follows “The Rango Kid,” as he impersonates a sheriff and finds himself forced to stand up to a criminal. <em>The Pirate Prince of Carlomagno</em> continues to tell a story of a Young Native American’s struggles to elude slavery. In <em>Twilight of the Gods</em>, Hopkins explores the science fiction genre by writing about the supernatural coming to life, based off the Mayan calendar’s predictions. Most recently, Hopkins published <em>Rhyme or Reason: Narragansett Poetry</em>, which touches on Narragansett tribal history.</p> <p>“I definitely enjoy mixing real history with fiction, so that not only can I tell a story, but maybe help the reader to learn something they didn’t know,” said Hopkins. “By the way, I am related to the main character in <em>Carlomagno.</em>”</p> <h4><strong><br />Descent</strong></h4> <p>Hopkins is related to the Wampanoag tribe and is of kin to Quadequina — known famously for introducing popcorn to the Pilgrims at the First Thanksgiving. In addition, Hopkins is of King Ninigret descent — the last hereditary royal family of the Narragansett Native Americans in Rhode Island. Hopkins himself served as a Narragansett Tribal Council member from 1994 to 1996.</p> <p>Despite his relation to some historically renowned Native Americans, Hopkins doesn’t want to be known as just another Native American writer. He wants to be known as a writer.</p> <p>“I don’t want to be limited,” he said. “I’ve worked at newspapers where I was the 'Indian' writer, go do the pow wow stories, write about casino plans. I am more than that. I will not be put in a box and be defined by someone else.”</p> <h4><strong><br />Writing Style</strong></h4> <p>Between his novels, poetry and journalism, Hopkins’s writing style varies drastically. But when he is wearing his nationally syndicated columnist hat, Hopkins greets his readers with a particularly humorous tone.</p> <p>“I write for an audience,” said Hopkins. “I prefer humor because there is too much sadness in the news and I want to brighten someone’s day with an unexpected chuckle or smile. I also think it’s more challenging to be funny as writer. Everyone understands sadness and pain, but to make someone laugh is special — because people have different senses of humor.”</p> <p>The following depicts his lighthearted voice as a columnist:</p> <blockquote> <p>I never planned to be a failed journalist or a hack writer. Seriously, in my youth, I had big plans that included wealth, women and worldwide fame.</p> <p style="text-align:left;">Now I’d settle for a Twinkie and a Diet Coke.</p> <p>I’m not one of those quacks that hope to better his or her life by climbing Mount Everest or learning to make origami swans. Instead, I am devoted to Self-Hypnotic Introspection Therapy. (You figure out the acronym for that). (”My Past Lives Relived for You,” <em>Indian Country Today Media Network</em>)</p> </blockquote> <p>As his writing style may suggest, Hopkins has fun with all the day-to-day responsibilities of being a writer. He is currently working on a couple projects, and that’s the way he likes it. One of his projects is a western that takes place in an Arizona ghost town; the other is a fantasy about wizards and warriors.</p> <p>Again, he has fun with it.</p> <p>“I’ve never been intimidated by a blank page and a deadline. I see it as a challenge, a test,” Hopkins said. “And usually I have far more to say than I can fit on a blank page. Also, it’s my way of gaining immortality. I’ll be gone some day, but my words will live on.”</p> <h4><strong><br />References</strong></h4> <p>Sonja Horoshko. “Hopkins’ ‘Carlomagno’ Imagines the Life of a Native American Pirate.” <a href="http://fourcornersfreepress.com/news/2011/081103.htm" target="_blank"><em>Four Corners Free Press</em></a>. (Aug. 2011).</p> <p>Reid Wright. “‘Twilight of the Gods.’” <em><a href="http://www.cortezjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120329/LIVING01/703299979/&amp;template=printpicart" target="_blank">The Cortez Journa</a>l</em>. (March 2012).</p> <p>“Native American Authors.” <a href="http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A750" target="_blank">Internet Public Library</a>. (2012).</p> <p>“Narragansett Indian Tribe.” Official Tribal Website. Anthony Arusso. “A writing life for Hopkins.”<a href="http://www.ricentral.com/content/writing-life-hopkins" target="_blank"><em> Southern Rhode Island Newspapers</em></a>. (Dec. 2011).</p> <p>John Christian Hopkins. “Honesty and Crimes: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly.” <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/opinion/honesty-and-crimes-good-bad-ugly-147673" target="_blank"><em>Indian Country Today Media Network</em></a>. (Feb. 2013).</p> <p>John Christian Hopkins. “My Past Lives Relived for You.” <em><a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/opinion/my-past-lives-relived-you-148192" target="_blank">Indian Country Today Media Network</a>.</em> (March 2013).</p> <p>John Christian Hopkins. “Peace Party Comics features Native American warriors as the heroes.” <em><a href="http://www.bluecorncomics.com/pequot.htm" target="_blank">Pequot Times</a>.</em> (May 2002).</p> <p>Hopkins, John Christian.<em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=0Lu1CrN9h9MC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=carlomagno+book+online&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=cIpIUd6EM4bi4AP0-YH4BA&amp;ved=0CDgQ6AEwAQ" target="_blank"> Carlomagno</a>.</em> New York: IUniverse, 2003. Print.</p> <p>Hopkins, John Christian. <em>Nacogdoches</em>. N.p.: Publish America, 2004. Print.</p> <p>Hopkins, John Christian. <em>The Pirate Prince Carlomagno</em>. Franklin Park, NJ: Wampum, 2011. Print.</p> <p>Hopkins, John Christian. <em>Rhyme or Reason: Narragansett Poetry</em>. Greenfield, MA: Blue Hand, 2012. Print.</p> <p>Hopkins, John Christian. <em>Twilight of the Gods.</em> Greenfield, MA: Blue Hand, 2011. Print.</p> <p>“Native American Journalists Association.” <a href="http://www.naja.com/" target="_blank">Official Website</a>.</p> <p>“Author John Christian Hopkins.” <a href="http://authorjohnchopkins.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Personal Blog</a>.</p> <p>“John Christian Hopkins Fan Page.” <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Christian-Hopkins-Fan-Page/144686789962?id=144686789962%3E" target="_blank">Facebook</a>.</p> Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Steven Robert, UNH '13 Oliver Thomas, UNH '14 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource n.d. Language A language of the resource English Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DV-310