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By Dr. Christopher C. Bell Jr.
November 28, 2010
Introduction:
I know I've provoked some of you with the
subject of my sermon, so I'll begin by telling you that this will be
a good feeling and a knowledge gathering sermon to most of us.
Today we intend to:
A. Provide you a few facts about the Wampanoag Tribes
and about our Thanksgiving Day that are seldom ever mentioned;
B. Provide you
with a sense of what today’s life is like for those Indians, the
Wampanoag Tribes who saved the Pilgrims from extinction;
C. Promote a sense of gratefulness (thankfulness) for
our own condition of life and our blessings as American citizens.
The Wampanoag Indian Nation:
The Wampanoag Indian Nation in 1620 occupied what is now
southeastern Massachusetts including Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod Bay
and environs (As far north as Weymouth and all along the coast as
far south as Bristol Rhode Island). The word Wampanoag means “People
of the First Light.” The Wampanoag were the people who helped to
save the Pilgrims of the Plymouth Colony.
In the 1620, the Wampanoag sustained themselves by farming, hunting,
and fishing. After their harvest time, they moved inland and
separated into winter hunting camps of extended families. Historian
have approximated the population of the Wampanoag people, at their
peak, to have been 12,000 located in 40 villages in southeastern
Massachusetts, including Cape Cod and the islands of Martha Vineyard
and Nantucket. Today there are approximately five thousand Wampanoag
living in New England and there are three primary groups, the
Mashpee, the Aquinnah (Gay Head), and the Manomet.
Brief History:
Before the Pilgrims There was a plague in southeastern Massachusetts
from 1615-1617 that had decimated the Wampanoag Indian Nation. This
plague weakened the nation and made it vulnerable to the attacks
from neighboring Indian tribes. And this was the Tribe’s situation
at the time the Pilgrims arrived. The net result of these plagues
was that the English met the Indians when the Wampanoag were nearly
down and out. Historians believe that the Tribe’s weakness and
depopulation accounted for the warm reception they gave the
Pilgrims. The Indians already knew about the weapons that the
Englishmen possessed from earlier encounters and now the Wampanoag
needed an ally to help then fight or protect themselves from their
hostile Indian neighbors
.
Wampanoag/Pilgrim Relations
Most history books tell us that initially in New England there were
good relations between the Wampanoag Indians and the Pilgrims. This
good relations is believed to be because the actions or inactions of
Wampanoag supreme Indian Chief the “Massasoit” What happened?
1621: The Pilgrims and Massasoit signed a friendship treaty pledging
aid to the other if attacked and Massasoit ensured, until his death,
that the Tribe would respect this treaty. However;
1630: The great Puritan migration from England begins and the push
for land increases. The English assumed they have a right to the
land. Why?
a. The English regarded the Indians as savages and began treating
them as such, and not only that, after travelling across the miles
of ocean the Englishmen were not about to be hindered from gaining
and owning land by a few savages who didn’t know how to use it.
b. The Pilgrims and the Puritans were very religious people and both
groups believed that God was with them in their exploration into the
new world.
c. The Pilgrims and the Puritans thanked God that the sicknesses
(plagues) that had killed the Indians before they had arrive and had
left them (The Englishman) vintage agricultural lands and a home
building areas, including fishing areas. The Pilgrims and Puritans
believed that the sickness that befell the Indians was a part of
God’s plan and saw God’s work in providing them with a new land and
that they (the Englishmen) had the obligation to civilize and
Christianized these lowly (heathens) Indians.
1637: Puritan soldiers and their Wampanoag allies As a result of an
accumulation of Indian and Settlers disputes the Puritan soldiers
with their Wampanoag allies went to war against the Narragansett and
the Pequot Tribes. This war was called the Pequot War. The
Englishmen and the Wampanoag won finally ending up at a fort near
Mystic River, Conn, where in they slaughtered 600 men, women, and
children.
.
1638: The Pequot surrendered and as many as 2000 of them were sold
by the Puritans as slaves and shipped to the West Indies or given a
rival tribes. The Pequot were all but exterminated and the Native
American wars in New England were over for nearly 40 years.
1643: The Plymouth court tries to ensure that Indian owners are paid
for their land. Land cannot be bought without court approval. The
problem is that the Indian and the Pilgrims hold different ideas
about land ownership. To the Indian giving deed to the land means
giving the right to use it, not the right to keep all other off the
land.
1660: Massasoit dies. His leadership had kept the peace for 40
years. His younger son Metacom known to the Englishmen as “King
Philip” becomes chief. There are many disputes over boundaries and
illegal purchases of land. The Historians tell us that the colonists
harassed, cheated, and mistreated the Indians, hoping to force them
to move and the Wampanoag began to feel hemmed in by settlements
near their villages.
1668: King Philip, unlike his father, resented the efforts of
missionaries to Christianize the Wampanoag and began speaking about
the Englishmen as the enemy of the Wampanoag.
1671: Hearing that King Philip is training his men for war, the
Plymouth Court (Englishmen) humiliates the Wampanoag with orders to
hand in all their guns. But all the guns are not turned in. Later,
King Philip is summoned by the Court and is forced to agree that he
and his people are totally subject to the Plymouth Governor and
laws. Such treatment infuriates King Philip and his warriors.
1674: After telling Plymouth authorities about King Philip’s
preparation for war, Sassaman, a “praying Indian” is murdered. Three
of King Philip’s men are tried and executed for the murder and the
war between the English and the Wampanoag begins in 1675
1675-1676: The war lasted 2 years. The English troops burned Indian
villages and corn fields and the Indians repaid them likewise. The
Indians are eventually out numbered. Out-gunned, and defeated. King
Philip is ambushed and shot by an Indian supporter of the English
forces. Only about 500-400 Wampanoag Indian survived King Philip’s
War, and now the colonists viewed Indians as conquered subjects and
regulated all Indian affairs. Indian lands are taken and given to
veterans. The Wampanoag, homeless and starving are scattered. Some
flee to other tribes. Plymouth sold some of the captured Wampanoag,
into slavery in the West Indies and Bermuda.
Within 55 years, the Wampanoag almost ceased to exist as a tribe and
had lost their lands, their independence, and their way of life. It
is sad to think that this happened, but it is important to
understand all of the story and not just the happy part
Some of the Congressional Acts that hurt the Indian Nations:
1700-1934
1. The Indian Removal Act of 1830
2. The Indian General Allotment Act of 1887 (DAWES Act)
3. Independent Indian Nationhood in 1890
4. The Indian reorganization Act of 1934
The major theme of these laws sprang from the notion as voiced by
General Phil Sheridan “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” But
Sheridan went on to say, “We took away their country and their means
of support and it was this and against this they made war. Could
anyone expect less?”
Fast forward to Modern Times (1970)
and the comments of Wammusett Frank James
Today the town of Plymouth has a Thanksgiving ceremony each year in
remembrance of the first Thanksgiving. There are still Wampanoag
people living in Massachusetts. In 1970, the Massachusetts
Department of Commerce asked one of the Tribe members to speak at
the ceremony to mark the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim's arrival.
The Tribe selected a Mr. Frank James (Wammusett) to speak, but the
committee in charge of the program wanted to see his speech in
advance. Once they saw the speech, they wanted him to re-write it,
but he refused. The committee disinvited him from speaking. So on
Thanksgiving Day, Frank James went to the hill overlooking the
Plymouth Sea Front and made his speech there, in front of a dozen
Indians.
The following is an excerpt from his speech:
"Today is a time of celebrating for you -- a time of
looking back to the first days of white people in America.
But it is not a time of celebrating for me. It is with a
heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my
People. When the Pilgrims arrived, we, the Wampanoag,
Welcomed them with open arms, little knowing that it was
the beginning of the end. That before 50 years were to
pass, the Wampanoag would no longer be a tribe. That we and
other Indians living near the settlers would be killed by
their guns or dead from diseases that we caught from them.
Let us always remember, the Indian is and was just as human
as the white people.
Although our way of life is almost gone, we, the
Wampanoag, still walk the lands of Massachusetts. What has
happened cannot be changed. But today we work toward a
better America, a more Indian America where people and
nature once again are important."
This speech by Wammsetta James was the beginning of what has now
become called the National Day of Mourning for the Native Americans
in New England. Since 1970, Native Americans have gathered at noon
on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning
on the US Thanksgiving Day holiday.
Many Native American do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims
and other European settlers because Thanksgiving Day is a reminder
of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native
lands, and the relentless assault on Native culture.
Participants in the National day of Mourning honor Native ancestors
and the struggles of Native peoples to survive. It is a day of
remembrance and spiritual connection as well as a protest of the
racism and oppression which Native Americans continue to experience.
Fast forward to 2010
Excerpts of comments of Cedric Cromwell, the Tribal Chairman
of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe ( November 15th, 2010) to the
Massachusetts General Assembly
“ I am a direct descendant of Osamequin, Chief Yellow Feather, great
Massasoit of the Wampanoag Nation whose image appears on the seal of
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
…. Our ancestors greeted explorers from Europe and assisted the
Pilgrims o survive their first harsh winters here. We treated
European settlers with respect and human dignity and expected the
same in return.
Unfortunately the romanticized stories of that period do not tell
the whole truth about the effect European settlement had on the
tribe. For starter, European settlers brought with them foreign
diseases that decimated pour population. What’s worse, in the years
after 1620 our land was tripped away from us while a series of
government, colonial, state and federal preside over attempts to not
only take our land , but remove any trace of us from this part of
the country.
That legacy was underscored for me recently when U.S. Secretary of
the Interior Ken Salazar visited Cape Cod to see firsthand the sites
where our ancient ancestors first greeted the rising sun. The
pristine beaches, once a sacred place for or tribal members, are now
dominated by million dollar vacation homes and exclusive country
clubs.
I do not cite the long history of injustice that was wrought on our
people as the result of European colonization and expansion,. But I
mention it only to emphasize the strong determination and
perseverance that it took for our people to remain in our homeland
and maintain a strong tribal community. Despite this legacy of ill
treatment, the people of my tribe are loyal citizens of the United
States of America and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. But we are
also citizens of a sovereign tribal nation.…In 2007, after a 30 year
application process, and having painstakingly documented our tribal
history, the Federal Government, through the U.S. Department of the
Interior recognized the Mashpee Wampanoag as one of only two
federally recognized Indian Tribes in Massachusetts. The effect of
the 2007 decision was not that the Tribe was “created” but rather
that the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is today a tribe and has existed as
such from time immemorial. Despite this recognition, we were a Tribe
without a reservation and with little hope of fostering economic
growth to provide governmental services to our members and expand
the quality of life for our people.
Today many members of our tribe are unable to find housing within
our own ancestral territory unemployment is high. We struggle with
the many health issues that go along with high rates of poverty;
i.e., heart disease, asthma, diabetes, caner, teenage pregnancy, and
substance abuse. Many of our tribal members rely on state assistant
through unemployment insurance, transitional assistance, Mass
Health, and other programs just to survive.
The only solution to these challenges is a long term strategy to
create economic opportunity and self-sufficiency for the Tribe and
to break the cycle of poverty for its people. The ability to develop
and operate a resort style casino will not only provide much needed
jobs for tribal members, but will also provide the resources
necessary for the tribal government to take care of our own people
who need assistance through various tribal programs, such as
housing, healthcare and jobs-skills training.
Conclusions
A. Concerning today’s practice of Thanksgiving
1. The Thanksgiving Proclamation by President Lincoln, some
historians claim, was a political and psychological move by
President Abraham Lincoln to muster and maintain the patriotism of
Americans who were now involved in supporting a civil war. The
Proclamation (Oct 1863) rendered by President Lincoln did not
mention the Pilgrims or the Indians or anything that would have
referred to the early Massachusetts meeting between the English and
the Native Americans.
The federal government was at war with the confederacy and during
the Civil War the Union needed all the patriotism that such an
observance might muster and President Lincoln proclaimed
“Thanksgiving Day a national holiday.” We should note that Six
months earlier, Jefferson Davies, the President of the Confederacy
had declared a day of Prayer and fasting for the citizens of the
Confederacy. The Pilgrims had nothing to do with it; not until the
1890s did they even get included in the Thanksgiving tradition. In
fact, no one used the term Pilgrims until the 1870s, before that
date they were referred to as “Separatist.”
Let’s take a look at Lincoln’s Proclamation paraphrased:
“The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with
the blessing of fruitful fields and healthful skies . . . . In the
midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity laws have
been respected and obeyed and harmony has prevailed everywhere
except in the theatre of military conflict. . . Needful diversion of
wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the
national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the
ship.
Population has steadily increased, not withstanding the waste that
has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield; and the
country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and
vigor is permitted to expect continuance of years with large
increase of freedom.
These great things are the gracious gifts of the Most High God. It
seems to me fit and proper that we should solemnly, reverently and
gratefully acknowledge them. I do hereby recommend that the American
people observe a day of Thanksgiving and of praise to our beneficent
Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that
they also with humble penitence for our national perverseness and
disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become
widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil
strife in which we are unavoidably engaged . . .”
2. Thanksgiving has become a morality play as our national origin
myth, complete with Pilgrim customs and Indian braves with feathers
in their hair. It is the occasion on which Americans give thanks to
God as a nation for the blessing that He hath bestowed upon the
Englishmen in spite of the illnesses and hardships bestowed on the
Indians. Thanksgiving has moved from history into the field of
religion (civil religion).
Here’s a question for your consideration. Why didn’t the politicians
and the historians chose Jamestown, Virginia as the likely starting
point of English America? Think on this. Remember that Jamestown was
established more than a decade before the Pilgrims landed at
Plymouth.
3. Thanksgiving celebrates White American ethnocentrism and
marginalizes the Indian: The “God is on our side” syndrome becomes
manifest in White America beginning from the stories of the Pilgrims
Thanksgiving dinner/festival. This means that any information that
may contradict the prevailing “common wisdom” would probably be
ignored or censored. (As was the case with Frank James’ speech).
We should also remember that most of the food that was consumed at
the first Thanksgiving was primarily the food supplied by the
Indians. Even though the Pilgrims invited the Indians, the Indians
arrived in such numbers that Massasoit sent his men back to bring
more food.
B. Concerning Today’s Mashpee’s Wampanoag Indian Tribe:
1. Today, the Wampanoag Nation is doing well as compared to many
other Indian Nations and tribes, especially as compared to the many
tribes that have not been recognized by the Federal government as
true Indian tribes.
2. The Wampanoag Tribe celebrated their harvest for generations
before the arrival of the Pilgrims and they continue to this day to
celebrated their own Indian Thanksgiving (Nov 20) and the National
Day of Mourning on Nov 25, 1970.
3. Wampanoag Self Perception: Judging from the testimony of Tribal
Leader Cedric Cromwell it appears that the Tribe is optimistic as it
looks toward the future. The Tribal leader’s word appears to be
prideful and hopeful as he recognizes his tribe still has much work
to do and many minds to convince.
C.
Concerning the Attitudes of American whites as indicted by the
actions of the Federal Government:
1. Today’s improving status of the Wampanoag indicate that white
Americans (as reflected in the Congress or in general) are now
becoming more humane in recognizing and attending to the needs of
“the others” (out-group members) as compared to the Pilgrims and
Puritans.
2. The U.S. Congress has become more sensitive to the needs of the
various Indian Tribes and has passed many laws to enhance the social
and education levels of American Indians as a whole. These laws
include:
The Indian Civil Rights Act, The period of Native American
self-determination began in 1968 guaranteed Bill of Rights
protections — freedom of speech, religion, the press, the right of
assembly, the right to petition for grievances, due process, equal
protection, and so forth — to Indians. Prior to this act, Native
Americans were not legally guaranteed these rights
The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (1975):
This act essentially allowed tribes to create, with federal funds,
their own schools, over which they had total jurisdiction
The Indian Health Care Improvement Act (1978):
The American Indian Religious Freedom Act (1978): This act resolved
certain conflicts between Indian religious beliefs and practices and
federal laws that restricted the exercise of Indian beliefs,
including the use of sacred lands and artifacts like eagle feathers.
The Indian Child Welfare Act (1978): This act gave tribal courts
jurisdiction over Native American children living on reservations.
The Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (1990): This act
made it a government responsibility to return to culturally
affiliated federally recognized tribes human remains, funerary
objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony that have
been found on public lands, during activities that use federal
funds, or that have been curated in facilities that receive federal
funding.
The ‘Native American Heritage Day Act of 2009:
3. The Federal government has recognized the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe
and the tribe has benefited from this recognition The Wampanoag have
been treated unjustly in the past, but times are getting better. The
Federal government has officially recognized them as a Tribe (2007)
and with that recognition comes new privileges and programs that are
not available to Indians who are so recognized. In fact they have
privileges not available to many other Americans because there is
special funding set aside for them and their various programs
.
Lessons Learned and Conclusions:
1. The Native Americans who came to the rescue of the Pilgrims had a
need for protection from other Indian Tribes and the Pilgrims with
their weaponry gave them security.
2. Early on the Pilgrims began mistreating and cheating the Indians,
and telling the Indians that their Indian religion and Indian
customs were wrong and began Christianizing them. The relationship
deteriorated and within a few years the children of the people who
ate together at the first Thanksgiving were killing one another in
what came to be called “King Philip’s War.”
3. The Pilgrims and Puritans were very, very religious people. And
one fact we may discern from the behavior of the Englishmen with
regards to the Native American is that: good people will continue to
do good things and bad people will continue to do bad things, but
there’s nothing like religion to get good people to do bad things.
4. The 1863 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln had
nothing to do with the Pilgrims’ first “harvest festival” with the
Wampanoag Indians. The Proclamation was a psychological and
political move to counter and match the “Day of Fasting and Praying”
that Jefferson Davies, the President of the Confederate States, had
declared for the people of the South six months earlier.
Conclusion
Now we know a little more of the full story of both the good and the
bad parts about the Thanksgiving story. Now we’ know the present day
status of the Mashpee Wampanoag. With these facts, we all will be
more thoughtful about the Indian side of the story, and perhaps in
our normal lives we’ll be less prone to be self-assured that “God’s
on our side.” In spite of these facts,
We still need a time-out to celebrate a time for Thanksgiving, in
which we acknowledge our indebtedness to our Maker or our Source of
our life.
While we will all agree that Thanksgiving alone will not help white
Americans, black Americans, and Native Americans to learn to trust
each other, I suggest that Thanksgiving is a good place to begin. So
Davies Memorial UU Church, the celebration of a Thanks giving Day is
still in order, in spite of the Wampanoag’s National Day of
Mourning. And so I propose the following Thanksgiving Day
Proclamation for Davies Memorial UU Church members.
Thanksgiving Day for Davies Memorial UU Church
Whereas: We worship The Spirit of Life, which is called by many
different names in different cultures, and we are grateful for the
gift of life and the blessings of the warm fellowship within this
congregation;
Whereas: We recognize we are bound in a oneness with the rest of
humanity and that humanity is bound to the cyclical destruction,
decaying, and renewing of the earth’s resources, we do not despair
but accept this gift of life as an unearned blessing and try to live
with a sense of gratitude and a willingness to help each other do
the same;
Whereas: We try in our individual fashion to bring peace and
understanding in our daily interactions with others and strive to
follow the guidance given to us by our sages and prophets that say:
“All parties must show mutual respect and fairness among themselves
in order to build a city-state of “Peace and Justice”; and for this
guidance we are grateful;
Knowing these things, It seems rational and worshipful to the Spirit
of Life that we, the members of this congregation continue to
celebrate the American Thanksgiving Day with all the vigor at our
command and with the hope and intent that we can make everyday a
“Thanksgiving Day” in our thoughts and interaction with others.
Let is be so.
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