Today. Are still here today is going to do wampanoag is a culture of people. Different,wampanoag it could be language. It could be diet. It could be the housing we lived in. How we think about life in general. Human life, plant life, animal life. We do not put ourselves above. I do a lot of teaching, right . Race do wee, what come from . The human race. We should all respect each other. We have been here for 12,000 years. Wife,s me and my lovely who teaches language. I am going to bring you to a major1613, before any interruption in our culture. I will bring you to our new years. A lot of peoples new years starts january 1. Our new year starts when everything comes to life. When does everything come to life . Springtime. That is when the birds start chirping. Is new again. Earth, thether creator. We do a lot of dancing. We do a lot of feasting. We do a lot of socializing. Once that happens, we know we have to get to work. These are the houses we live in during the summertime. We live in aing Single Family home during the summer. Cattails. S are it is a water plant. We have been doing this for years. Everything we do at the museum, we do ourselves. We gather cattails august and september and we make these in the winter. These will last about 35 years. They are waterproof. It acts like a natural funnel. These houses would hold one family. It is different from a european family. European familys husband, wife, kids. Husband, wife, kids, grandparents. That is three or four generations inside one house. We would have englishmen come into our houses and say, this guy has five wives. Maybe, maybe not. Not realizing what they are looking at. They are looking at sisters, grandmothers, aunts, and that is what my job is. Thew wampanoagor people and indigenous cultures. This is our planting field. Everybody loves corn and beans and squash. Of the field . They also give life to mother earth. We look at the planting fields. I do not know if you can to the amount. The mound. When do you plant corn . You have to wait for different signs of nature. Wait until the next new moon. The reason you do it on the new man, it helps the corn grow new moon, it helps the corn grow. You plant the beans right next to it. Alk ofl wrap around the stoc the corn. Vegetables would represent half to two thirds of the diet. Culture, going as far as boston, gloucester, nantucket, marthas vineyard. Let me mention some names to you. We had over 70 wampanoag communities. Nantucket sound familiar . Mattapoisett . These are name places in town names but they have always been wampanoag communities. Overe time, we numbered 100,000. That is a planting field. The givers of life take care of the fields. What do the kids do . This is one of my daughters. This is her when she was 11 years old, maybe 10. That is her younger sister. She is picking sumac. You pick those berries, you boil them, and that has three times as much vitamin c as orange juice does. They help that a little bit. They played games, they went swimming, they had races. As you would change as a person, your name would change. You would not pick the names yourself. We still have medicine people in our community that give us names. Lets talk about my daughter. E who lifts up. She wakes up in good mood almost every single day. She raises the house and everybody feels good. You give the name depending on the person. Kids were given more responsibility as they matured. Wife. S me and my lovely we do a lot of fishing. Still do. It is still a big part of the culture. Freshwater fishing, ocean fishing. Sels, crabs. Us large parts of wampanoag country, any idea what the biggest fish was . Foot in length sometimes. Somebody said it, i think. Sturgeon. Sturgeon, it is a big fish, right . We go fishing for these fish at nighttime. We had boats that were nine feet or boats big enough to carry 40 men. When we went for the sturgeon, we would have torches on the end of our boats. The light would attract the sturgeon and they would flip over on their bellies and we would spear them. A lot of the times, the fish got bigger than the boat. Another fish. Flounder. Od. Lobster, not a big deal. We used lobster for fishing bait. Times have changed. It wasmuch lobster common. No back 100 years ago, lobster was fed to the prisoners in jail. Every single day. The prisoners had a big uprising and said, we are sick of this, we dont want no more. [laughter] only there was a law. You only gave lobster to prisoners twice a week. If you didnt more, it was considered inhumane. Not a big deal. We did a lot of fishing during the summer. After harvest time, we think about going inland. We want to go away from the ocean. You get section from the wind from the ocean. Half a mile, maybe a mile. These are the houses we lived in. They are bark covered houses. Normally, during the winter, these houses could be anywhere we found aot long footprint of this house. It was probably a meeting house. It was found down in western wouster. Think of a football field. That is how big the house was. The frames were made out of cedar. Wasside bark normally elm. Today look popular tulip poplar today. Men did the hunting. There was a lot of deer around here at one time. The mainland, we go for black bear and moose. Small animals, do you guys like the taste of skunk . Anybody . Aunk is considered to be wampanoag delicacy. How do you catch a skunk . Very carefully, right . [laughter] you have two boys. One boy would be in front of the skunk scratching him. The other boy would grab his tail and lift him up. In order for a skunk to spray, he has to be on all fours. If you get him up in the air, he cannot do that. Themave a club, you bang over the head, and you cut him open and take his stink glance out. Glands out. Some elders say you take that open and you break it you rub it on your arthritis and it really works. [laughter] i do not have arthritis yet. They do not sell that up drugstores yet. In the winter, the women do a lot of the weaving. We are known for our weaving. Some weavers are the best in the world. Some of their work is in the smithsonian in washington, d. C. Workative of mine has her in the smithsonian in d. C. We made string. We used different plants. We used milkweed. Lks, open it up, take the inner fibers out. Women making string so fast that their eyes could not keep up with them. Seeave small bags like you here and we have large bags to store vegetables. Interior of the house. Those are all my daughters. Four. Out of my oldest daughter is sitting down. The two sitting on the ground. I want to tell you where these pictures come from. We have worked with scholastic over the years. In 2016, they came and said, can we make a video . Every third grade cross across third grade class across united states. We set up a script. Kidsowed how wampanoag lived back then. Up to what they do today. They were riding your bikes, playing they were riding their bikes, playing on the playground. That is what kids relate to. They think we are gone. I do a lot of teaching. This video is in every third glaze third grade class room in the united states. They play a video called the wampanoag way. I play the father and it. In it. When i walk into one classroom and i see a boy watching the video, he sees me walking in [laughter] storms dad. Are inside these houses, we have batting bedding. The houses got really big, around shape, really warm. Rule of thumb when youre making feet, you, every 10 want to have a fire pit on the inside. It is a round shape. You cannot see on the walls but we have bulrush maps on the walls. Interior frame. Foot gap. He one the heat is going to rise. Air going the warm around in circles. When the europeans got here and when into our houses, they said the houses were so warm, they saw native children run outside naked in the winter. That for thousands of years. No need for the winter in the community during winter, 3003000 people. That was before any major interruption. Lets call that 1613. One thing i want to say real lost, you hear the term survival. We have been doing this for 12,000 years. You do not roll over in your bed one morning and say, where do i get food today . There is a system set up, generations long before. Ok . All that 1613, lets move to 1614. There was trading going on. First european traders. Earlyade started blooming 1600. 1614, when trading happened, the english, french, dutch, and a lot of beaver pelts. What happened in 1614, there was an english captain. Remember this date. He came down the coast and he went to an area called plymouth today. Thriving wampanoag community, probably over 1000 people. Patuxente traveling to and he went up to somebody and said, what are you . They expect you to know that wampanoag country. Took 19 patuxents as slaves. This is six years before the pilgrims arrived. Cape and9, went down took eight. The remainder sold to england. One of those guys sold to england was squanto. He lived in england with a merchant. He lived there for five years. Learned a lot about english culture. He knew how to speak english. What happened to squanto they were asking, who is from this area . They said, squanto. Where is the . He is in newfoundland. Go get him. Thomas to pick up squanto. This is 6019. He has not 1619. Since not seen his home 1614. They come down the coast. He knew how to speak english. New a lot of the english captains by name. They kept on going down the coast. When they were going down the coast, they saw something extremely devastating. The most devastating thing that ever happened to our people. Disease. There was a major epidemic that happened between 16186019. 1619. This plague, the skin turned yellow, people got open source of their bodies and they died open sores on their bodies and they died within two or three days. Plague did not affect a lot of people on the islands. It is hard for diseases to go over water. What we know about the plague, ok, hepatitis. Disease control came out 10 believed the they french trade ships coming over, and they had rats on these trade ships. The feces of the rats get into the water system. That is what the theory is now. I always say this you can put whatever name you want on it, it does not matter to me. It was the most devastating thing that ever happened to our people. Period. As he was coming down the coast, they come to patuxent. They find out patuxent was devastated. Imagine that. Squanto coming back home, finds out people are dead. Is that going to change you as a person . I think so. They ended up going to the vineyard. He made it back, though. 1614, they it back, were after them, too. He was a chief. Thinking, there is gold. If you bring me back home, i will tell you where the gold is that. Him back. Hey brought he yelled something in his native tongue. They sorted attacking the ship and he was able to swim. He made it home. Another ship coming in in 1619. People might be coming to get me again. Another fight breaks out. Somehow released. 70 wampanoag communities. The leader of the biggest and strongest wampanoag community. They end up there. Lets fast track. The pilgrims are arriving. Plymouth. Settle in 1620. They had a really bad year that winter. They were building their homes. They settled because there was good water. 40 miles west of plymouth he heard about these people building homes. One thing we were used to, we were used to people coming over the only thing we were not used to were people coming over and staying. They brought their women and children. He did not know. You know how to speak english, right . Why dont you go to these people, find out why these people are building their homes. Thinking, he can speak english. He is not one of my men. I do not know what is going to happen to him. He walks into the pilgrim village. They considered him to be naked. Goes welcome, englishmen. In their own language. He told them about the land and the area and the plague that came through. I am not from here. I will bring you a leader who is. He goes back and tells them it is all right to come along. Later on, he comes along and brings 60 of his men. That is when they make the treaty between the two people, the peace treaty. One needed each other. I mentioned the plague coming down the coast. T stopped dead in its tracks that . Oughts about we have two good thoughts. Down there, you have a large body of water. The wampanoag were depleting in numbers. Was located on the border. One needed each other. There was not one universal answer. You have to go from community to community. If your brothers were taken by slaves if your brother was taken by traders prior, you are not going to be happy. Work, i will help you out. If you go to war, i will help you out. Later on, 1621, that is when squanto teaches them how to plant corn. Teaches them how to plant corn. That is what he is in the textbooks about. He liked having power. He died in 1622. In those two years, he caused a lot of drama. You better watch out, bradford wants to attack. And then he would run back and say the same thing. Plymouth anden to wanted squantos head delivered back to him. I should do this. This could be one of the first breaks of the treaty. If one does something wrong to the other, you have to turn that person over. The ship coming in the water and governor bradford was distracted. The guys got frustrated. In 1622. Ied that evening, when he was in one of the houses, squanto had a nosebleed that would not stop. It was called indian fever back then. Some type of hemorrhaging going on. He asked the english if he would be accepted into their gods. He knew what he was doing. Not get much praise in the textbooks. For this guy, history wouldve been different today. He made the treaty with the english in 1621, he needed anebody else, he needed ambassadorship out here. With his family of over 10 people. Native theclosest english considered to be a friend. They did not say much about his family. I wish i knew one of his wives names. She plays a big role in diplomacy. They never give her a name. They do not say much about his family structure. Peace between the two people. One considered to counsel about war. Childhood,sen from and you have special qualities. Special People Choose you. Knife. Given a stone alone foro the woods a whole winter. He was a key role player. Lets skip up a little bit. If you have ever been on my homeland, this is the oldest meet house. It was built in 1864. We have heard a lot about praying towns. Learning about the king james bible. Relatives knew the bible so well, he was preaching it to nonnative people. There was a chief who called him out. What are you doing . We have our own ways of doing things. Why are you teaching Something Different . And literally punched him in the face. But he continued to preach. About what he did. It was the first praying town. Elliott. Ohn do i have what i am looking for here . I want to talk about this. John elliott was a missionary. People. Eaching native these two guys wouldve have been the first graduating class of Harvard University back in 1665. One graduated caleb did. Joel did not. The reason he did not graduate, two weeks before graduation, he went over to marthas vineyard. On the way back, he stopped in nantucket and he got killed. It was probably his own people who did it. You had a lot of traditionalists still here. You do not know what they were going through unless you walk a mile in their moccasins. I never judge them. What harvard did back in 2011, they invited my family and gave us a posthumous degree in his name, which harvard rarely does. When elliott was teaching the felt to native people, he like the native people were not religion quickly enough. He hired native interpreters. Back in the 1990s, there was a , and she my community was having dreams. She said people were coming into her dreams and speaking a different tongue. The people look familiar. One of her dreams, the people spoke english to her. Had thed the wampanoag chance to get the language back, when they say yes . She went to m. I. T. , graduated with a degree in lynnwood sticks and started to in linguistics and started to peace the language back together again iece the language back together again. Helped a great deal was that bible. We have one of the first additions in our grasp today editions in our grasp today. My wife is one of the teachers of the language. We teach prek up to third grade and every year we add a grade two it. Three years ago, the wampanoag is taught as accredited court like english course, like english, french, and portuguese. Culture, youour lose part of your identity. Nobody likes war. , 1657, thatell you is when two of the big leaders lost their lives. Next generation coming out, which did not care for each other. Of ownership and the other people did not think of ownership. One culture would build fences around where they lived and the other culture would walk across what they would call their backyard. For a native person, they are thinking, what do you mean . I dont get that. In 1675, the bloodiest war per capita in new england. Massachusetts about a year or so. That guy was something to reckon with. A native person talking bad about him. He took his canoe and paddle out here to confront this person. He asked people on the island to join in on the war. It lasted about a year. With Benjamin Church august 12, 1676. Him, theyfound dismantled him, took his head off, took his arms. Took his head back to plymouth and put it on a post. What are they going to do with his wife and kids . A lot of these people were sold as slaves. A lot of these people were sold down to bermuda. Those people still have their cultural identity. They know who they are. We as wampanoag go down and visit them one year. Weekend they were up here a few weeks ago. Little forward to what happened here. Ofre is a Large Population 400 or so people in nantucket. 17631764, wiped out two thirds of the population. Happened to these people afterwards . People might have taken off to marthas vineyard. People were spread out. A lot of people say, if it was not recorded, its not true. That happened. You heard of president jackson . 1830, he wanted to remove all native people. West of the mississippi. Oklahoma was one of the states. Those agents came around here, too. Wanted us out west in oklahoma. One nonnative voice spoke up. If you bring these people at west, they will die. The reason they will die, they rely on seafood for their diet, and they believed him. That is why we were left alone. What else do we got here . This is kind of cool. We might be doing this next year. Seriously. A 40 foot white pine log. We are going to make a 20 man boat. Marthasure is from vineyard. I have been at the museum for quite a while. Everything was past tense. Why cant we do this again . We had a 30 foot pop art tree poplar tree donated. We all wanted to steer this boat. We looked at each other and said, lets race for it. Andook two 12 foot boats went across the river to see who would make it back first. He beat me by half of a boat length. He got to steer the boat. This trip took a lot of planning, right . It took three years. We finally made the trip, though. We left august 18, 2002. We left at 6 00 a. M. At the peak of high tide. It was a straight shot. Tell me how long it took. Experienced, including in the guest would same crowd . Our andahalf is correct. Absolutely correct. When we made this trip we kind of beat the ferry. Those people had to take a shuttle to the ferry, take the ferry over to new haven, then take another shuttle to the beach. And we had be in them there by half hour. Will have a big celebration and dancing and singing when you guys arrive. We were excited. So i remember paddling in, that day we left it was really cloudy. When we were coming over, all the fog broke and i am paddling in an am like, where is everybody . We were wearing watches so we did not know how long it was taking us. We studies people on the beach in bathing suit. Eight sunbathers from nebraska. [laughter] the first thing out of their mouth was like, you have to do this every day . I go, this has not been done in a couple hundred years. But like i said, we got this 40 foot boat, we have a lot of things we want to do with them next year. And one thing is having then ticket involved. We have some ideas, so stay tuned. Whenng up to 1870, thats it got incorporated. And what that meant for our people is, ok, now its considered a township. We will give you 25 acres of your own man, but now we will tax you on it. So, that word in my language. Of our land lot like that. , capeorward to the 1900s cod became cape cod, tourist attraction. Nobody moved to nashville nash be not until the 1990s. And it was the fastest developing town in massachusetts. In the 1990s. And today, let me go back, today we just got recognized by the u. S. Government in 2007 as a people. And what we do today we have house services, programs of housing, health, education. We do our powwow, which is july 4 weekend. This right here is a special this past powwow. This is a lot of my family. We did it for my brother who passed away in 1997. He got killed in rhode island. We danced for him. Something. How you i havent visited here in eight or 10 years. My daughter and myself, we went out to the cemetery up the road where my family is buried. My father was raised their, my aunt was raised here, my grandparents were raised here, was from ashby. Y grandfather moved here you got my grandmother ruth west born in 1895, passed away in 1964. In 1919. Stillborn son i visited the grounds yesterday and i googled indians of nantucket. I came across this picture that i have in my living room. This is my grandmother. And the Nantucket Historical society has array here. That is ruth west, that is my grandmother. 1964. Ssed away in i will do more digging to see where our actual roots are from. This is one woman. Show up in the records of ashby. I cannot find her in the records, so i will have to keep on digging to see what i find. Any questions . That is my story. [applause] next, author John Wukovits discusses his book, dogfight over tokyo the final air battle of the pacific, and the last four men to die in world war 5 008 00 00 p. M. Eastern, p. M. Pacific is the presidency. University of Mary Washington history professor did a talk titled, harry s truman, the accidental president. At 9 00 p. M. Eastern, 6 00 p. M. Lawfic, in a discussion, a professor and two actors who per tray free and enslaved blacks at williamsburg discuss the roles that slavery played in drafting a constitution, and the enduring legacy of those compromises. Jeremy thank you all for joining us today for what will be a great conversation about a really engaging book that maybe should have been written before john got to it in the last 75 years since the war, dogfight over tokyo. Its a great book. Hes the author of many books, John Wukovits, and came to us about 10 years ago. He came and visited the museum, gave a presentation on his book, and we have not managed to get him back here. We tried. He was going to come in april of this year, but of course things got out of hand, and we had to