“…our children will go forth and pluck the lovely red blossoms of courage, and generosity, the beautiful blue flowers of truthfulness and kindness, and the white purity of the divine “Lily of the Valley” — thus they find the heritage of the Narragansett fathers and mothers, and loyalty to our country in their own back yard.”
Princess Red Wing in the Narragansett Dawn, as recorded in Dawnland Voices
The impact of the First Nation People is everywhere just beneath the surface if you scratch just a little, even though the descendents with majority First Nation Blood are rare among us now. Many things incited that change…disease, purposeful mixing of cultures from both sides before the descent into war and conquest, war and conquest, forced migration, and more melting pot integration. Even the term “First Nation” is misleading, as there were many waves of people and multiple civilizations layered one atop another before the earthworms arrived in America with the Europeans.
Purple Quahog for the Heaviness of Loss
There is a sense of lost opportunity, of something that could have been different, or at least was hoped to be different than it has turned out. This sense of promise permeates Roger Williams’s early observations. The ancestors of Miantonomoh that came from the south and west, from across the blue hills at most hundreds of years before had a long history of migration and relationships with prior inhabitants. Groups of nomadic elites established trade routes across the continent. They, more than the Europeans and more than the indigenous tribes that been in what is now New England for thousands of years, had a track record of encountering new people, and using massive civil projects and plant technology (e.g. the milpa) to satisfy people groups, intermarry with the rulers, and then send a portion of a next generation onward.
It is not then such a surprise that of all the tribes Roger Williams encountered, it was Sachem Miantonomoh, as emissary of Grand Sachem Canonicus, that he allied with most closely in establishing Providence. It was their land he had arranged use of, so he likely owed them tribute, a basis of trade. The image of a large hill full of indigenous and Miantonomoh holding court as sachem alongside Roger Williams is unmistakable. The currency of trade was indigenous wampum.
While Roger Williams was away in England to secure a charter that all passed away. Boston had a part, as they at a minimum magnified conflict to optimize their positions against the upstarts in Providence. When Roger Williams returned, there was too much treachery and the relationships of trust that had been built were broken by death. They did not fully renew in the next generation. The amazing thing perhaps is that we are not Syria. The First Nation People rise above the vendetta mentality of many peoples. That is not just an accomplishment of democracy because democracy is like a dance. Every people group chooses to dance. In choosing to dance, we choose a brighter future. So while the number with majority indigenous blood is small, the number with remnants in our character is a very great number indeed.
“Life and seasons must surely change:
Perhaps the whispering wind knows
Why the Fall must follow Summer.
Whis’pring she follows where warmth goes.”
Ella Wilcox Sekatau Narragansett Tribal Elder, as recorded in Dawnland Voices
Order historical fiction novel Rekindled with the button below.
About the Author
