Get the "Message"

There is constantly competition for my undivided attention so whenever I can call something finished and move on to the next project I am relieved.

This week I was grateful to turn the page on the second chapter of “Our”Story: 400 Years of Wampanoag History as we opened “The Messenger” in the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Community

Attaquin Weeden, the Messenger, and I attending the
exhibit opening at the Tribal Government Center

and Government Center.

In November of last year the multi-media traveling display was kicked off with the first of six chapters, “Captured 1614,” the graphic and boldly told story of 27 Wampanoag men kidnapped to be sold as slaves in Spain. Thousands of visitors to the physical exhibit that traveled around Southeastern Massachusetts and Connecticut, as well as countless others who checked in online, were fascinated with the critical back-story to colonization, much of it told in the voices of contemporary tribal members portraying the impact such a loss had on our ancestors. Many visitors were people who had become inured to history never questioning why Squanto, the only one of the 27 kidnapped known to have returned, knew how to speak English so well. And it wasn’t as if that truth was buried deep in some unknown archive. It was simply not a priority when told in “his”story books.

After a tremendously successful year with Captured 1614 I really thought it would be difficult to generate that same kind of enthusiasm for the next chapter. But I was wrong. This year’s installment has already made a powerful statement around the globe.

And it could not have been more timely for us tribally. After waiting more than four decades for the return of our ancestral homeland, we installed the exhibit just as the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe deeds were being recorded as official trust land establishing our reservations in Mashpee and Taunton. And it is no coincidence that the Messenger exhibit includes the very same map of the tribe’s 17^th century territory used to convince the Bureau of Indian Affairs of our entitlement to these regions. For that I owe a great debt of thanks to my dear friend and fellow tribe member Jessie little doe Baird who shared her scholarly research to make it possible.

Displaying the territory also gave us a perfect opportunity to teach people about the tradition of the messenger in a contemporary way. Historically strong runners who were not only fast and could endure long distances, but also had impeccable memory and could be trusted with important and often sensitive information were chosen as messengers and honored to do the job. They were known to carry messages to villages throughout the vast Wampanoag territory and to neighboring tribes and might travel hundreds of miles before they were done.

The “Our”Story video “The Messenger” is shared on You Tube.

Remarkably “Our”Story designed and developed entirely by Wampanoag people with complete editorial control over its content is funded by Plymouth 400 Inc., the organization responsible for planning the commemoration of the 400^th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower in 2020. They are not only fully aware this story cannot be told without the inclusion of the indigenous story, they embrace it for the truths that have been overlooked for centuries. I am grateful for that support and for all the tribal members who contributed to make the exhibit possible.

Each year in November through 2020 you can expect a new chapter to be produced and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.