Category: Munsee

How do we learn and teach about First Nations labour in ways that connect to local economies and Canadian history education?

In a new exhibition, Nii Ndahlohke / I Work, at Art Windsor Essex, labour is the central theme for understanding the history and legacies of Mount Elgin Industrial School, an Indian Residential School in southwestern Ontario.

The exhibition brings together artists from the communities whose children attended this institution, and it runs until June 24, 2024. It emerged from the Munsee Delaware Language and History Group, a community-based language and history learning project.

The group has worked together for many years to study and teach Munsee language and history, and supports research and teaching about Munsee people, communities, languages and territories.

Manual labour demands

Mount Elgin was located at Chippewas of the Thames First Nation in southwestern Ontario. Like other Industrial Schools of its era, Mount Elgin was an underfunded religious federal boarding school and a model farm that was expected to generate income to pay for itself.

Students at the school were expected to work at the institute as much as they were expected to attend class.

Their labour was invisible within the school budget. However, the Indian department was aware that Mount Elgin students were not given progressive training in skilled trades and that manual labour demands on students kept them out of the classroom and therefore compromised their education.

Vanessa Dion Fletcher,Aapáachiiw Return Home, 2022, digital prints. (Frank Piccolo/courtesy of Windsor Essex)

Farm labour, domestic service

Manual labour prepared students for limited work opportunities: farm labour for boys and men, and domestic service for girls and women….

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Courtesy PBS Wisconsin

MADISON — PBS Wisconsin Education is premiering a biography of Electa Quinney, the newest addition to its Wisconsin Biographies collection.

Quinney Elementary School on Kaukauna’s south side is named in honor of the first public school teacher in Wisconsin and a notable mentor in the Mohican community.

The animated video depicting Quinney’s story will premiere at approximately 7:55 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 7 at the conclusion of Finding Your Roots on PBS Wisconsin and is now available on the pbswisconsineducation.org website.

“Electa Quinney: Mohican Teacher and Mentor” was created in collaboration with the Stockbridge Munsee Community to share Quinney’s legacy of generosity and her dedication to education.

The biography explores how Quinney and the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans used both traditional Native and non-Native education to keep their traditions alive and preserve their ways of life.

Wisconsin Biographies is a collection of free-to-use, educational, online media resources to enrich social studies and literacy curriculum, using the stories of notable people in Wisconsin history. The collection brings Quinney’s story to life for learners today, with an animated video, a digital book with audio, a gallery of historical images and an educator guide.

Through an inclusive production model, PBS Wisconsin Education seeks to feature identities, perspectives and experiences in the making of educational media. For the production of Electa Quinney: Mohican Teacher and Mentor, PBS Wisconsin Education worked with educators, students, scriptwriters, story consultants, voiceover, art, music talent and advisors, and worked to gain approval on various aspects of the project from the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians Tribal Council.
PBS Wisconsin Education Director Megan Monday said PBS Wisconsin Education was grateful to work with the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians Community, including Monique Tyndall, director of the…

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November 2, 2023 Ian Lewitz

PBS Wisconsin Education is thrilled to launch the newest addition to the Wisconsin  Biographies collection. Electa Quinney: Mohican Teacher and Mentor was created in collaboration with the Stockbridge Munsee Community to share Quinney’s legacy of generosity and her dedication to education.

Known as the first public school teacher in Wisconsin, the animated video depicting Quinney’s story will premiere at approximately 7:55 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 7 at the conclusion of Finding Your Roots on PBS Wisconsin.

The full resource including the animated video is available to explore online now.

Wisconsin Biographies is a collection of free-to-use, educational, online media resources to enrich social studies and literacy curriculum, using the stories of notable people in Wisconsin history.  The collection brings Quinney’s story to life for learners today, with an animated video, a digital book with audio, a gallery of historical images and an educator guide.

PBS Wisconsin Education staff working with Stockbridge-Munsee Community members.

Through an inclusive production model, PBS Wisconsin Education seeks to feature identities, perspectives and experiences behind the scenes in the making of educational media.

For the production of Electa Quinney: Mohican Teacher and Mentor, PBS Wisconsin Education worked with scriptwriters, story consultants, voiceover artists, music talent and advisors, and worked to gain approval on various aspects of the project from the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians Tribal Council.

PBS Wisconsin director of education Megan Monday felt fortunate to work with the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians Community, including Monique Tyndall, director of the tribal nation’s cultural affairs office, and the individuals who contributed to the production.

“We couldn’t have done justice to the Electa Quinney story without the deep collaboration from the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Community,”…

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Disney’s Pocahontas was based on true story of the daughter of Powhatan, the paramount chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, a group of Algonquian-speaking tribes in Virginia. (Disney)

Disney‘s animated classic Pocahontas captivated audiences with its stunning visuals and memorable music when it was released in 1995.

With a budget of $55m, the film — directed by Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg — grossed more than $346m worldwide, and was widely praised by critics as another musical hit for the animation studio.

Read more: How Disney first began

Based on the story a real historical figure who played a pivotal role in early US history — Disney’s Pocahontas was voiced by Irene Bedard, while her singing voice was provided by singer Judy Kuhn.

Her real-life counterpart’s life was marked by her desire to fight for her people’s rights, her acceptance of Christianity, and a new life that saw her adopt a new Anglicised name and start a family.

Here we take a look at who the real Pocahontas was, a story of heartbreak and resilience.

Matoaka, daughter of a chief

A painting of Pocahontas by Simon van de Passe. (National Portrait Gallery)

Pocahontas was born in 1596 in the Tidewater region of present-day Virginia and was originally named Amonute but also known as Matoaka, meaning ‘lower between two streams’.

She was the daughter of Powhatan, the paramount chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, a group of Algonquian-speaking tribes in Virginia.

Her nickname, Pocahontas, meant”playful one” or “mischievous one”.

In 1607, English settlers established Jamestown, Virginia, which is when Pocahontas first came into contact with them.

Were John Smith and Pocahontas lovers?

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Officially, the holiday shopping season doesn’t start for over a month, but Microsoft isn’t wasting any time launching its big fall/holiday marketing campaign for its Xbox game console.

Xbox Wire states that the new campaign has the tagline “Power Your Dreams”. Microsoft has already posted a new three minute long live action commercial to jump-start the campaign. It will be shown during the NFL Thursday Night Football game on Amazon Prime Video later tonight and will be shown globally through the holiday season.

The commercial itself is called Wake Up and Dream, and shows a young gamer dreaming about going to video game worlds like the ones in Starfield, Forza Motorsport, and even a third-party game, Cyberpunk 2077.

The most interesting world the main character enters is from a game that won’t actually be released this year. The gamer imagines she is in the world of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II from developer Ninja Theory. That game won’t be released until sometime in 2024.

Josh Munsee, the Director of Microsoft’s Xbox Integrated Marketing team, offered up some behind-the-scenes tidbits of the Wake Up and Dream commercial on his X (formerly Twitter) account. For example, when the young gamer sees Senua in that part of the clip, Munsee says that the character is played by the actor who voices and does her motion capture work in Hellblade II, Melina Juergens.

Munsee also states that the cinematographer for the commercial is Matty Libatique, who has a ton of feature film credits including, but not limited to, Iron Man 1 and 2, Venom, and the upcoming Maestro.

Finally, some people have speculated that the order of the…

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Tribal Historic Preservation Office, Native American Indigenous Student Alliance host Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration – The Williams Record Continue reading

It’s a difficult name to pronounce. You must have never heard anything like this before. So, allow us to introduce you to a 45-letter name location that will astound you.

What is actually the name of the lake?

The lake is called Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. You may be wondering if there is a technical problem or if I simply fell asleep on my keyboard, but there isn’t. The 45-letter name of one of the most beautiful lakes there is. 

Where is the lake?

Lake Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg in the town of Webster, Massachusetts, has the longest name of any geographic feature in all of the United States with 45 letters comprising 14 syllables pic.twitter.com/uunE6C00hw

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) October 11, 2023

The lake, located in Webster, Massachusetts, often known as Webster Lake to locals, has long drawn attention for being the longest name among geographic features in the United States, with 14 syllables.

When was the lake formed?

The lake, formed by glaciers thousands of years ago, is three miles long and is made up of three ponds connected by connecting channels. Furthermore, Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg is Massachusetts’ third-biggest freshwater body of water, with eight islands, two of which are quite small and unsuitable for settlement.

Why is the lake named so?

The name derived from the Nipmuc language, which is the native language of the region. The name means “You fish on your side, I fish on my side, nobody fishes in the middle.” This is thought to be a reference to a fishing agreement between the Nipmuc people and the Algonquian… pic.twitter.com/tNgZCNT9ug

— Moe (@momoe889) October 11, 2023

Locals are proud of their past, as the Nipmuc people were the first known occupants of the area. The name comes from the Algonquin language of…

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Herberg students across several classes worked on getting the plaque acknowledging the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans as a civics project.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Herberg Middle School students have collaborated to honor the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans in a long-lasting way.

Last week, a land acknowledgment plaque was installed on the school just in time for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The effort stemmed from an eighth-grade civics project and has spanned over a couple of years.

“When students are exposed to unjust history they really want to contribute to reparations.  Additionally, our middle schoolers are civically minded and looking for opportunities to be involved in our local community,” social studies teacher Jen Jaehnig said.

“Last year they collected money for Damar Hamlin’s charitable cause and our local first responders. We look forward to seeing what other causes they want to support in the future.”

About two years ago, a group of about 20 students started on the project while fulfilling a state-required civics project, or “good citizenship hours,” which focuses on the environment, government or social needs. Others have joined in the effort over the last couple of years.

There had been conversations about the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans, native to the area, and about the renaming of Taconic High School’s mascot. Last year, the Taconic Braves were renamed Taconic Thunder.

Jaehnig asked an educator from the tribe what would be the best civil action and was told that a land acknowledgment would be favorable. Reportedly, when members of the tribe return to visit their homeland, they don’t see many acknowledgment signs.

The group favored the suggestion and they ran with it, beginning fundraising efforts with a movie night.  They also wrote to the tribe in Wisconsin for approval of the land acknowledgment wording.

It reads:

“We are all on the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans Native American Land. We acknowledge that we…

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