Original people of this land – the Native Americans.
Check out a virtual exhibit at Harvard’s Peabody Museum, about the history of Native Americans and the Plymouth, settlers (link below). This particular exhibit is focused on the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), in Plymouth, MA, but the history mirrors French and Native American colonial experiences, as well.
A history about Maine’s Native Americans
French traders and explorers developed alliances with the First Nations tribes as soon as they met, during the 16th and 17th centuries. In Maine, the Passamaquoddy were responsible for saving the lives of the survivors of the 1604-05 failed St. Croix settlement, in Calais. In fact, the Passamaquoddy helped the French, after the devastating winter caused the death of many of the settlers, who were men that traveled with Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de Mons, for the purpose of establishing a planned colony in New France. The survivors moved their settlement to Nova Scotia (Acadia).
A press release received from Harvard’s Peabody Museum, about the opening of an Indigenous Peoples Day exhibit, caused me to reference the history of the Maine Indians in “Unsettled Past-Unsettled Future: The Story of Maine Indians”, by Honorable Neil Rolde, a former state legislator and history writer.
Donald Soctomah, a Passamaquoddy who served in the Maine legislature.
In the detailed history, Rolde interviewed several modern Passamaquoddy tribal leaders. One was Donald Soctomah, who was the Passamaquoddy representative in Augusta, in the Maine legislature. Moreover, Soctomah is an author about the history of his tribe. His ancestors were among the Passamaquoddy who greeted Samuel de Champlain, in 1604, when St. Croix Island, located in the St. Croix River in Calais, between Maine and New Brunswick, was selected by the explorer to settle for the winter.
Check the historic web site for St. Croix Island at this site here.
Harvard University’s Peabody Museum created an exhibit to be released in time for Indigenous Peoples Day.
“We are the original people of this land”, includes interviews with today’s tribe members and a guest-curate, who participated in the Indigenous Peoples exhibit, at Harvard’s Peabody Museum.
Four hundred years have passed since the Wampanoag Nation encountered English immigrants who settled on the shores of their land at Patuxet—now called Plymouth, in Massachusetts.
Harvard University has had a relationship with the Wampanoag and other local tribal communities for nearly as long. In fact, in 1650, the charter of Harvard College dedicated the institution to the education of Native American and English students to become Puritan ministers; and in 1655, the Indian College was built on Harvard’s campus, to house students and to achieve those goals.
Wampanoag tribal member, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, Class of 1665, was the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College.
In acknowledgment of this early history, the Peabody Museum has asked Wampanoag tribal members to reflect on the collections spanning the seventeenth to twentieth centuries and stewarded by the Peabody Museum. Listen as they share memories, thoughts, and reflections about collection items made by their ancestors and relatives and learn how Wampanoag life and culture continues to flourish today. Listen to the HMSC Connects! Podcast episode entitled Wampanoag Perspectives.
From towering Native American totem poles and Maya sculptures to finely woven textiles and everyday utensils, the Peabody Museum is among the oldest archaeological and ethnographic museums in the world, with one of the finest collections of human cultural history found anywhere.
The Peabody Museum is a member of the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture (HMSC).
The exhibit (online only, because of the ongoing pandemic) features audio clips by several members of the Aquinnah tribe. It comes as Plymouth celebrates the 400th anniversary of English settlers arriving on the shores of Patuxet (now Plymouth) in 1620, aboard the Mayflower. The exhibit is titled, “Listening to Wampanoag Voices: Beyond 1620.”
Check the news release here.
Check the virtual Harvard Peabody exhibit at this site here.
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
