By ALEXANDRA MORROW • JUL 22, 2014
5:47
Some
members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe are concerned that their perspective
won't be adequately portrayed at the 400th commemoration of the Pilgrims
arrival at Plymouth. Organizers of the event say they want the Wampanoag to
participate and they are working to include the Native American viewpoint.
For the Wampanoag who have called coastal Massachusetts their home for
more than 10,000 years, the founding of Plymouth in 1620, doesn’t feel that far
removed, nor does its 400th anniversary bring reason to rejoice.
“We won’t be celebrating," said Ramona Peters, the chief historical
preservation officer for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe. "I wouldn’t be
surprised if there’s not many native people that will be involved.”
As Peters sees it, the Wampanoag story and the Pilgrim story -- they
can’t be put on the same stage.
“There’s an Indian story and then there’s a pilgrim story," she
said. "It’s not a balanced story. It wasn’t balanced back then, it’s not
balanced now.”
But organizers of Plymouth 400 say they want balance. Michele Pecararo
is executive director for Plymouth 400. She sees the anniversary as an
opportunity for the Wampanoag to share their side of the story,
“We really want the Wampanoag people to be able to use this anniversary
to tell their own story," Pecararo said. "This 400th is, I think, a
really great opportunity for us all to have all the stories told, including the
Wampanoag story, told by the Wampanoag people and not by somebody else.”
While Pecararo and Plymouth 400 invite local Wampanoag to share their
story, the upcoming anniversary of the Pilgrim’s arrival still has some
Wampanoag concerned. Jim Baker, former historian at Plymouth Plantation, says
previous commemorations -- such as the 300th anniversary in 1920 and the
350th anniversary in 1970 -- lacked Native involvement.
“The Wampanoag were, well, for one thing, they didn’t want to be
involved, and nobody wanted them involved, I guess," Baker said.
But Baker says failures of past commemorations shouldn’t stand in the
way of current attempts to share the Wampanoag perspective.
"Unless you get the story out all it, it’s just going to continue
to be people flapping at each other," he said.
Although Plymouth is commonly called the birthplace of America, the
colony of Jamestown was founded 13 years earlier. Which made its 400th
anniversary in 2007. Like Plymouth, Jamestown organized a large-scale
commemorative event. And like the Wampanoag, Native tribes in Virginia weren’t
sure they wanted to participate. Stephen Adkins, Chief of the Chickahominy
Tribe in Virginia, says he had concerns.
“Quite frankly I was skeptical," Adkins said, "and why is
because historically our story hasn’t been told - it had been ignored and
hasn’t been deemed important."
But Jeanne Zeidler, Executive Director of Jamestown 400 wants the event
to be something Native Virginia tribes could feel proud of.
“This was an opportunity for them to really educate our community, our
state, our nation about the real history of Virginia indians, which they
rightfully felt was ignored and not really understood,” she said.
Looking back, Chief Adkins says he’s proud to have been a part of the
Jamestown 400 commemoration.
“You know," Adkins said, "I think at the end of the day all
the tribes were glad that we had participated -- again, that our story was
told.”
Back in Plymouth, Tim Turner has many of the same hopes as Adkins - that
he’ll be able to tell history from a Native perspective. Turner is manager of
the Wampanoag Indigenous Program at Plymouth Plantation. He's also on the advisory council for Plymouth 400.
Turner wants people to realize that after all these years, Native people
are still here and that there’s more to the story than we’re told in history
books and Hollywood films.
“You might walk by 100 native people and not know that they’re
native," Turner said. "Getting rid of the Hollywood stigma of native
people - stereotypes, is something that as native people we’re really trying to
get rid of.”
Mashpee Wampanoag Paula Peters also says she joined the Plymouth 400th
committee to make sure the Native story gets told.
“I think it’s important for people to know and understand that
pre-colonial contact with tribes in New England and all up and down the coast
was not always very friendly and there were encounters that were really
harmful,” Peters said.
In advance of the 400th Anniversary in 2020, Peters and other Wampanoag
will commemorate a different anniversary. November 2014 marks the 400th
anniversary of the kidnapping of Squanto and 19 other young Wampanoag men by
European traders in 1614. Their abductions foreshadowed troubles that would
affect the lives of Native people throughout the region. Peters is
working with the Indian Spiritual and Training Council to produce an exhibit
that will debut at the Plymouth Public Library in November. The exhibit is
endorsed by Plymouth 400, but Peters expects that not everyone will embrace the
Native story being told in such graphic detail.
“In a way it’s kind of a test of the integrity of the Plymouth
400," she said. "We’re watching very carefully how well it will be
received and we hope that people understand that this is our story, this is our
truth.”
During the next 5 years, event organizers, community members, native and
non-native people will be working to try and figure out how to tell the story
of Plymouth. And what makes it so difficult is that that story, it changes
depending on your perspective.
