Tag: Munsee

Dr. Sarah Koenig, assistant professor of American studies, was recently awarded the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), a grant that will help grow Ramapo’s digital humanities program. 

The grant is approximately $150,000, the largest awarded in the state of New Jersey. The money will be used to train and support faculty and students but also to help partner communities, like public schools and the Ramapough Munsee Lenape Nation, learn how to use digital tools and work on their own projects.

“I love teaching in the American Studies convening group because it lets me combine my interests in American history, American religion, and American culture,” said Koenig in an email with The Ramapo News.

Koenig’s research focuses on how Americans have narrated history, looking particularly at the American West, the taking of Native American lands and how religion has shaped encounters between Native Americans and European settlers. 

These events are interesting to Koenig because, despite happening in the 19th and 20th centuries, the events she studies still affect Americans today.

“The way we narrate history tells us a lot about our hopes, fears, and values,” Koenig stated. “History can seem like a just series of facts, but it’s also about interpretation: we make decisions about what to emphasize, what to leave out, and how to depict different people and actions.”

In the past, Koenig has worked on three digital humanities projects at Ramapo. The first was “The Human Side of a Pandemic: A Ramapo College Digital Humanities Project,” which was a project where Ramapo students collected oral histories of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The second is titled “Mapping the Ramapough Munsee Lenape Nation,” which is an interactive map that features important Ramapough Munsee Lenape places and histories. The third project Koenig has worked on at Ramapo is called…

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The mystery surrounding the Lost Colony, Roanoke and Sir Walter Raleigh’s early explorers is one that’s fascinated generations of North Carolinians.

Next week, archaeologists will dig in the Elizabethan Gardens with hopes of finding new evidence of the lost “Algonquian village of Roanoke” — which was home to Sir Walter Raleigh’s explorers in 1584.

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Last summer, the First Colony Foundation team uncovered tantalizing clues in the ongoing mystery. They dug up shards of Algonquian pottery dating back to the 1500s, as well as a ring of copper wire they believe could have been an earring that once adorned a warrior from an indigenous tribe.

“Finding domestic pottery – the type used for cooking – in close proximity to an apparent piece of Native American jewelry, strongly confirms that we are digging in the midst of a settlement,” says Eric Klingelhofer, the First Colony Foundation’s Vice President for Research.

And Roanoke is the only known village at that site.

A copper ring could mean a village once stood in the Elizabethan Gardens

Historians say copper had an almost spiritual significance for the indigenous tribes.

“They prized the metal the way the English valued gold and silver. For example, tribal chiefs would honor brave warriors with trinkets made of beaten copper, indicating the value native peoples placed on it,” said a release from the First Colony Foundation.

The ring, in particular, supports the idea they may have found remnants of Roanoke.

“Made of drawn copper, the wire was…

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Elizabethan Gardens. [Courtesy outerbanks.org]

MANTEO, N.C., Feb. 28, 2024 – Archaeologists with First Colony Foundation will begin a new dig at Roanoke Island’s Elizabethan Gardens next week, looking for more evidence of the Algonquian village of Roanoac that hosted Sir Walter Raleigh’s explorers in 1584. The weeklong dig, starting Monday, March 4, is the first of two excavations the foundation has slated, with another set for Fort Raleigh later in the spring.

The upcoming Elizabethan Gardens dig builds on tantalizing finds uncovered last summer, when the First Colony Foundation team uncovered sherds of Algonquian pottery dating to that time – an interesting find, by itself — but the most intriguing discovery was a ring of copper wire. About the size of a quarter, the loop could have been an earring that once adorned a Native American warrior.

“Finding domestic pottery – the type used for cooking – in close proximity to an apparent piece of Native American jewelry, strongly confirms that we are digging in the midst of a settlement,” says Eric Klingelhofer, the First Colony Foundation’s Vice President for Research. “And Roanoac is the only known village at that site.”

            The ring, in particular, supports that view. Made of drawn copper, the wire was almost certainly brought to America by English explorers as part of their trade goods. Local natives did not have the technology to produce such rounded strands. And neither the French nor the Spanish ventured as far north as Roanoke Island to trade.

For Native Americans, copper had an almost spiritual significance. They prized the metal the way the English valued gold and silver. For example, tribal chiefs would honor brave warriors with trinkets…

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Anishinabek Nation Council members joined Day 1 of the Anishinabek Nation Lands and Resources Forum in North Bay, Ont.

By Kelly Anne Smith

NORTH BAY— During the Anishinabek Nation Councils Panel at the Anishinabek Nation’s 8th Land and Resources Forum, Kina-Gego-Naabadosin – Everything is Connected, in North Bay from February 13-15., Eshki-niigijig Advisory Council member Lance Copegog of Beausoleil First Nation talked of important work being done to protect the Great Lakes.

The panel had members from the Anishinabek Nation Getzidjig Advisory Council including Nmishomis Leroy Dolson of Munsee Delaware Nation and Nmishomis Mike Esquega of Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinabek. The panel also featured Eshki-niigijig Advisory Council members Brittnee Waindubence of Shequiandah First Nation, Terra Roy of Beausoleil First Nation, Pierre Debassige of M’Chigeeng First Nation, and Katelyn Peters of Munsee Delaware Nation.

Peters shared her perspective as urban Indigenous youth, introducing spirituality on how we view the water.

“When it comes to the people who are watching this, it doesn’t only have to be [Indigenous people], it could also be white people. Because when I was in university in my Indigenous Studies courses, there are a lot of great, amazing white people who really want to help our people and who are going to be running this country in twenty years. They need to understand why do Anishinabe people respect the water? How do they see the water because they might not be exposed to that in any other capacity.”

Copegog spoke of being gathered at the 2024 Anishinabek Nation Lands and Resources Forum because of the commitment to the lands and resources of the Anishinabek Nation’s communities. He spoke of innovative solutions that can be worked on together when facing challenges.

“We’re very committed to carrying forward some of the work we’ve…

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UW-Madison freshman Arianna Reiter is part Stockbridge-Munsee and part Menominee Native American. She grew up on the Stockbridge-Munsee reservation and later attended the Indian Community School in Milwaukee. 

But despite her identity as a Native American, she’s 1/16th short of being eligible for enrollment in the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe, which means she is ineligible for UW-Madison’s tribal tuition promise program. The program, announced late last year, will cover all the costs of education for enrolled members of Wisconsin’s federally recognized tribes. 

UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said that creating the program “felt like the right thing to do” for the state’s Native American students to improve the school’s relationship with the state’s 11 tribes. UW-Madison sits on traditional Ho-Chunk Nation land while the Universities of Wisconsin system earns approximately $1 million per year from a land trust made up of largely former Ojibwe land, the Examiner reported earlier this month. 

While Reiter is missing out on thousands of dollars of savings, she says the announcement brought up feelings that have persisted since her childhood of “not being Native enough.” 

“Some [people] look at you differently,” she says. “I’m just that tiny fraction short.” 

The creation of the program has sparked a debate among Native communities in the state over the use of enrollment, the university’s effort to make up for the past with offers of money and how Native students are treated once they’re on campus. The program is also being launched as diversity, equity and inclusion programs have become a major issue for Wisconsin Republicans who see such efforts as malicious attempts to give certain groups more opportunity than white students. 

Native American tribes across the country use a system known as “blood quantum” to determine enrollment eligibility. First instituted by the federal government, blood quantum tracks…

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The keynote speaker at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts’ 125th commencement exercises will be Shannon Holsey, president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians.

This year’s commencement will be held Saturday, May 11, at 11 a.m., in the Amsler Campus Center Gymnasium. Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts sits on the ancestral land of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians.

In addition, MCLA will confer honorary doctorates to four individuals: President Holsey, state Sen. Paul Mark, Mass Humanities Executive Director Brian Boyles and former president and CEO of Child Care of the Berkshires Anne Nemetz-Carlson. 

“I am excited to have Shannon Holsey as the keynote speaker for this year’s Commencement,” said MCLA President James F. Birge. “Her dedication to community service, leadership, and advocacy for Native American rights aligns with our commitment to producing well-rounded, socially conscious graduates. I look forward to the inspiration and wisdom she will undoubtedly share with our graduating class.”

Shannon Holsey

Holsey will be awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters recognizing her leadership and commitment to the well-being of her community that has earned her three terms as president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band, following her eight years as a member of the Tribal Council. Raised on the Stockbridge-Munsee reservation in Bowler, Wis., Holsey has dedicated herself to ensuring the tribe serves as responsible stewards of economic, environmental, cultural, and intellectual resources.

She also serves as the president of the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, which represents 12 member tribes across 45 counties with a land base of about 1 million acres. She is an appointee to the Wisconsin State Legislature’s Special Committee on State-Tribal Relations and…

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PublishedFebruary 16, 2024 11:34 AM EST|UpdatedFebruary 16, 2024 11:34 AM EST

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Actress Lily Gladstone wants people to know she’s very offended by Kansas City Chiefs fans doing the Tomahawk chop.

The Tomahawk chop is done by a handful of major college and pro teams with the Chiefs, Florida State Seminoles and Atlanta Braves being the most notable.

The chop is done to intimidate opponents, and let’s be honest, a stadium chanting it prior to kickoff is awesome and downright chilling under the lights.

Just don’t tell any of this to Lily Gladstone.

The “Killers of the Flower Moon” star told Variety the following:

“Honestly, you could hold both teams accountable. The 49ers are based on the California Gold Rush, which was an incredibly brutal time for California Indians. And then the Chiefs. There are many ways that you could interpret the name ‘chief.’ It’s not the name that bothers me. It’s hearing that damn Tomahawk chop. Every time, it’s a stark reminder of what Hollywood has done to us, because the Tomahawk chop directly ties to the sounds of old Westerns where we were not playing ourselves, or if we were, we were merely backdrop actors. It’s this ‘claiming’ of that sound and saying it’s in ‘honor’ and the commodification of who we are as people. It’s great to love the game and your players, but it still hurts.”

Lily Gladstone offended by Chiefs fans doing Tomahawk chop. (Photo by PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images)

Lily Gladstone isn’t impressed with Tomahawk chop.

While people are welcome to have any opinion they want on literally any subject – this is America, after all – Gladstone is way off base with her assessment.

The Tomahawk chop has nothing to do with “ties to the sounds of old Westerns where we were…

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The Tribal Council of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians is sounding an alarm about unaffiliated groups — including one based in the Berkshires — that may be seeking to exploit the Wisconsin-based tribe for financial gain.

The Stockbridge-Munsee Community has strong ties to this area, as it is part of our ancestral homelands. Reconnecting with our homelands is a means of recovery from forced relocation and assimilation, and we are happy with the local interest in our history, culture and traditions.

The Stockbridge-Munsee Community is a federally-recognized Indian tribe made up of both Munsee and Mohican Indians with an ancestral territory that includes portions of what is now New York State, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Vermont and New Jersey. We are a sovereign nation geographically situated on a reservation in Shawano County, Wis. Our tribe is governed by a duly elected Tribal Council, pursuant to our constitution. As a sovereign tribal nation, we enjoy a unique trust relationship with the federal government and engage in government-to-government relations at the federal, state and local levels.

Our tribe was one of the first tribes to meet the European explorers when Henry Hudson sailed up the Mahicannituck (later called the Hudson River) into the lands of the Mohicans in September 1609. A more detailed summary of our history can be found on our website at https://mohican.com/brief-history. Because of that early encounter and pressure to assimilate, our language, culture and tradition were significantly eroded. As a tribe, we are committed to recovering both language and culture and protecting what our ancestors left us. That commitment includes remaining true to the traditions we have and exposing misuse, misrepresentation or monetization of our culture and traditions.

Toward that end, we…

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