In 1878, Zerviah Gould Mitchell, published the book Indian history, biography and genealogy pertaining to the good sachem Massasoit of the Wampanoag tribe, and his descendants in an effort “to make record of the wrongs . . . which have been endured by my race.” Zerviah passed away in 1898, but her daugher, Charlotte Mitchell, represented the descendants […]
Donna Curtin, Executive Director of Pilgrim Hall Museumo gave a one-hour History Camp presentation on December 18, 2020 on the Mayflower passengers’ first year in Plymouth. Hosted by Lee Wright and Carrie Lund, the session describes the challenges that the passengers faced following their landing in 1620. Curtin uses Mort’s Relation written by Pilgrim Edward Winslow […]
The 400th anniversary of the day the Mayflower dropped anchor in Plymouth Harbor on Dec. 16, 1620, is the 400th anniversary of an American beginning—for the nation as a practice, an idea, an experiment. That’s true even though, for the colonists and their descendants, 1620 was not much more than a blip in colonial history. […]
American Indian Leader and Activist Ryan “Winter Hawk” posted a brief video of his grandfather, Sagamore Winds of Thunder, on the PBS National Storytelling Project website on September 20, 2020. He states “The tradition I carry on is one that has been the tradition of an entire nation which was here long before the inception […]
Since 1970, Native Americans and UAINE supporters have gathered at noon on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US thanksgiving holiday. Many Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers. Thanksgiving day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native […]
The word caratunk in the Algonquin language means “where the rivers meet.” It’s an apt name for Audubon’s very popular wildlife refuge in Seekonk, where Cole’s Brook intersects with an unnamed stream amid ponds, forests, meadows and wetlands. Click here for a 90-second video of the Refuge trail. Located at 130 Brown Avenue […]
(Above) Pokanoket Sachem Tracey “Dancing Star” Brown (Po Pummukoank Anogqs) tells the story of the Three Sisters along the shore of Mount Hope Bay. Click here for a two-minute video by Roger Williams University of the story of the Three Sisters in her own words. (Above) The Three Sisters sit along the shoreline […]
The Town Council of Warren, RI established an American Indian Study Committee to: 1) examine the history and culture of the Pokanoket Tribe in the formation of the Town of Warren and to create an historically accurate narrative of that history; 2) evaluate how that history is currently portrayed within the Town of Warren; 3) […]
After 400 years of colonization of Massachusetts by Europeans, we enter a period of town anniversaries. How can we use them as an occasion to start addressing that “settlement” in Massachusetts also meant “displacement”, the beginning of attenuated conflict, and the “disappearing” of Native American presence and history, often in plain sight? As some leading […]
Carl Ferreira of Tiverton describes the stones on the Pocasset Ridge Trail that he believes held special significance for the Native American people who occupied the land. The two-mile trail leads to several rocks, one of which on the left can be rocked to produce a drumming sound that can be heard at great distances. […]