Category: Munsee

Hugh Kane/The Williams Record

The Homelands PowWow, hosted this weekend at the Darrow School in New Lebanon, N.Y., marked the first powwow hosted by members of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Tribe on their ancestral lands since their forceful expulsion in the late 18th century. 

Saturday’s main event was Grand Entry, a procession of community leaders,  dancers, and veterans of any service into a central circle where the majority of the powwow’s events took place. Directed by emcees from the Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation in Wisconsin and accompanied by Rez Dogs, a drumming group from Indian Island, Maine, participants processed into the circle, marking the high point of the day. 

According to its website, this year’s Homelands PowWow was intentionally small so as to foster relationships and community that will grow the event into a sustained, annual tradition that celebrates the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans. “Our mission is to honor and reconnect the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican people with their ancestral lands,” the website reads. “Through the annual organization of this PowWow, we raise funds to support travel and lodging for tribal members who wish to return to these sacred homelands. Rooted in tradition, community, and cultural resilience, our work helps ensure that the connection between the Mohican people and their lands endures for generations to come.”

Shawn Stevens, who is the chairman of the Homelands PowWow Committee and a registered member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans, traveled from Wisconsin to put on the event. Stevens spoke with the Record about the inspiration for the powwow. “My older sister Ginger met with another friend of ours, and they said, ‘Hey, it would be great to have a powwow,’ not thinking much about it,” he said. “But, they were very serious about it, and we talked to a lot of local…

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NORTH ANDOVER — Tim Weisberg, of Spooky Southcoast for SPOOKY SALEM 2025, will be hosted by the North Andover Historical Society to lead a paranormal investigation at the Parson Barnard House from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m., on Saturday, Oct. 11.

The Parson Barnard House was built for the Rev. Thomas Barnard, a minister who helped accused victims of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

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NEW LEBANON, N.Y. (NEWS10) – The original inhabitants of the Capital Region have returned this weekend to dance on their homelands for the first time since they were forcibly removed. The band of Mohicans celebrated their historic return with the Homelands PowWow. 

The inaugural event saw the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican Indians return to their ancestral lands at the Darrow School.

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Their original territory was, what is now called, the Capital Region – from the Hudson River in the greater Albany area, all the way up to Lake Champlain.

The tribe was removed from the land in the 1700s. From Albany they were forced to a mission in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Then, to the Oneida territory in upstate New York, before finally landing in Wisconsin where tribal members currently reside.

“We wanted to return to the homeland,” said Homelands PowWow Arena Director Gordon Williams.

He said it’s long overdue and the return feels powerful. I asked, “The singing, the dancing, the drumming, that was all illegal at one point.” Williams responded, “Yeah, it was all illegal.” 

His great uncle used to preserve their traditions by hiding in the woods to practice them, when Native Americans were not citizens and religious ceremonies were considered illegal.

60 Mohicans traveled from Green Bay to dance on their homelands – like Ginger Stevens who brought 16 of her family members.

“Every one of our tribal members has had a lot of tears to walk on this land. and I thought I was done with the tears until I walked out in that grand entry and danced on this land for my ancestors. So it’s very special,”…

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Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans and other tribal people will be attending an inaugural powwow at Darrow School.

NEW LEBANON, N.Y. — For the first time in more than 200 years, tribal people will return to their homeland for an inaugural powwow. 

 

The traditional Homelands PowWow will bring members of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans from all over the state, from Wisconsin all the way to California, to Darrow School for the weekend of Oct. 4 and 5. 

 

The event runs from 10 to 5 both days and tickets are $10 to $20; weekend passes are $15 to $30. Children younger than 5 are free. More information here. 

 

“This gathering is both a renewal and a prayer, and it’s a living bridge between the past, present and the future,” said Shawn Stevens, Homelands PowWow chair.

 

Returning to their homeland is a transformative act of reconnection, healing, and spiritual renewal, Homelands PowWow board members said in a recent interview. 

 

There is a welcoming vibration that is felt throughout their body when walking on their ancestral homeland, said Ginger Stevens, founding board member. 

 

“It’s our ancestors, and our land, our home, our mother welcoming us … that’s why we’re so excited to bring so many people out there,” she said. 

 

For some, it is a returning trip, but for many, the inaugural powwow will be their first experience, Ginger Stevens said. 

 

For Wanonah Kosbab, fellow board member, visiting her ancestral homeland was a deeply emotional, healing, and transformative experience filled with tears, laughter, confusion, and a profound sense of…

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By Dave Larsen

Two University of Dayton students were awarded 2025 arts and humanities scholarships by the Council on Undergraduate Research, from a total of five U.S. awards.

Savannah “Sam” Smith and Caleb Molseed received awards to support their honors thesis projects from the council’s arts and humanities division, which offers annual scholarships to support undergraduate student research and creative inquiry projects at any stage of development up to and including presentation.

Smith is a senior from Cincinnati with a triple major in German, world language education and history. Her honors thesis looks at how German academic institutions, particularly at the primary and secondary levels, used folklore to perpetuate anti-Semitism during the Third Reich.

Molseed is a senior from Cleveland with a double major in history and English. His honors thesis examines the Stockbridge-Munsee, an Indigenous nation that emerged as a single community from the Stockbridge Mohicans from New York’s Hudson River Valley and the Munsee band of the Lenape from Pennsylvania’s Delaware River region.

“I am so proud of Sam and Caleb for being two of the five students who are receiving CUR Scholarships,” said Danielle Poe, UD College of Arts and Sciences dean. “This is an exceptional honor, as these awards are rare in the arts and humanities, marking their achievement as a true standout on a national level.

“Further, these awards are a powerful testament not only to the excellent work of Sam and Caleb but also to the exceptional quality of scholarship and dedicated mentorship provided by our faculty in the arts and humanities.”

Smith’s topic combines several of her interests, including the Holocaust and folklore, specifically fairy tales. She plans to teach German after graduation and enjoys learning about pedagogy and how it has developed across different cultures…

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When in the 1780s Nantucket whalers sought a safe inland harbor for their whaling fleet, they found at Claverack Landing (now Hudson, NY) a port with an already well-established land transportation infrastructure.

The development of these transportation networks over thousands of years by indigenous peoples and then 125 years of Dutch and English settlement influenced the Nantucketer’s selection of this small Hudson River port for their base and continues to shape the region to this day.

On Thursday, October 2, from 6 until 7:30 pm, the Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History, in collaboration with the Hudson Area Library, will host an in-person presentation with Justin Wexler, a local researcher on indigenous peoples, and David William Voorhees, director of the Leisler Institute.

They will be speaking about the infrastructure of waterways and land paths used for trade by the indigenous and the Dutch and English colonists prior to Hudson’s founding.

Wexler will focus on the land and water uses of the Mohican people. Voorhees will address the wagon ways and post roads of the colonial development of Columbia County‘s transportation infrastructure.

Justin Wexler is a life-long resident of the Hudson Valley who has dedicated his life to learning everything he can about the lives, land management practices and ethnoecology of the region’s

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The 57th Algonquian Conference, an international gathering of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, students, cultural workers, language practitioners, artists, and community members, will take place October 17-19 at The University of Winnipeg. Registration is now open and a list of key dates is available online.

Up to 200 attendees are expected from across Canada, the United States, and beyond. In-person and online presentations are planned, plus roundtables, workshops, panels, a keynote address, and a special variety show evening.

The Algonquian Conference is an annual interdisciplinary forum for research on topics related to Algonquian peoples, said Heather Souter, a Michif (Métis) faculty member in the Department of Anthropology and Indigenous Languages program and member of the conference’s organizing committee.

Canada and the U.S. take turns hosting the annual conference. Last year’s gathering took place in Oklahoma City. UWinnipeg is pleased to host this year’s conference. For the first time, the majority of the conference’s organizing committee is Indigenous.

“The committee has been working hard to ensure all participants can engage with each other in ways that help them see beyond stereotypes, trauma, and superficial differences to our shared humanity and a shared and hopeful future,” Souter said.

“We aim to help foster relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and community members based on mutual respect and reciprocity while promoting recognition of each Indigenous nation’s sovereignty and autonomy, particularly in the context of knowledge and research.”

The Algonquian family of languages includes Cree, Anishinaabemowin, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Mi’kmaq, Arapaho, and Fox-Sauk-Kickapoo, and others. Both Southern and Northern Michif are rooted in this language family as well.

“Algonquian peoples represent the largest combined group of First Peoples in Canada,” Souter said. “They are found from the East Coast of what is now known as Canada and the United States, to as far…

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Winnipeg, MB — The University of Winnipeg will host the 57th Algonquian Conference this fall, bringing together scholars, students, cultural workers, and community members from across North America to share research and celebrate the diversity of Algonquian languages and cultures.

Scheduled for October 17–19, the event is expected to draw up to 200 participants from Canada, the United States, and beyond. Organizers say the gathering will feature both in-person and online presentations, along with workshops, roundtables, panels, and a special cabaret-style evening showcasing Indigenous performance and language.

A Gathering of Shared Knowledge

The Algonquian Conference has long served as an international forum for interdisciplinary research related to Algonquian peoples. While Canada and the U.S. alternate hosting duties each year, this marks the first time the University of Winnipeg has welcomed the event.

Heather Souter, a Michif (Métis) faculty member in the Department of Anthropology and Indigenous Languages program and a member of the conference’s organizing committee, emphasized the significance of this year’s meeting.

“The committee has been working hard to ensure all participants can engage with each other in ways that help them see beyond stereotypes, trauma, and superficial differences to our shared humanity and a shared and hopeful future,” Souter said.

She added that the conference aims to strengthen relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars while underscoring “recognition of each Indigenous nation’s sovereignty and autonomy, particularly in the context of knowledge and research.”

The Role of Algonquian Languages

The Algonquian language family is among the largest in North America, spanning communities from the Atlantic coast to British Columbia and south into Oklahoma. It includes Cree, Anishinaabemowin, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Mi’kmaq, Arapaho, Fox-Sauk-Kickapoo, and both Southern and Northern Michif.

“Algonquian peoples represent the largest combined group of First Peoples in Canada,” Souter noted.

This linguistic and cultural diversity will be front and…

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