Thread by @karlajstrand

Thomas Wickman is the first panelist of the first session, discussing wintering well in Native New England. 1300-1850 considered a Little Ice Age and the 1600s were among the coldest temps. Native communities were equipped to live well during these times. @Plymouth_400

Wickman: Tropes imply that modern history begins with European colonists. But there were millennia of winters that occurred before 1620. 17th c sources make clear that Indigenous families moved toward colder conditions, not away from them as colonists did.

Wickman: Native oral histories, written texts allow us to learn about the true history. Wickman and others have been careful to challenge colonial archive to understand bias of European writers of source materials.

Wickman: Winter was been a season of education, mobility, and gender empowerment for Native communities. Winter rarely had been a season of want for Indigenous communities. So winter sufferings were unnatural results of colonial policies and actions.

Wickman: European snowshoe patrols in the 1700s and forward became a form of entertainment that were violent against Wabanaki families. These stories aren't often told. European appropriation of snowshoes, for instance, are not known.

Wickman: Indigenous communities have always spoken back against these colonial conditions. They were still able to "survive well" with their tradition of survivance. Still emphasizing positive aspects of winter conditions today.

Wickman: We need winter. Good climate policy must protect them. Indigenous communities must be included in these conversations. We also must decolonize climate studies and climate activism.

Darius Coombs: Dutch, English, French traders, fisherman, and enslavers came 100 years before 1620. In 1525, Gomes had 58 enslaved people released in Nova Scotia. One of the earliest records of enslavement in this area.

Coombs: Shares little-known histories of 1602 Gosnold relations with Cuttyhunk, 1605 and 1606 Champlain in Patuxet area. Many Indigenous people died in part bc they had no built up immunity to European disease.

Coombs: Thomas Hunt stayed after John Smith left in 1614. Took 19-20 Indigenous people as slaves, including Squanto. Squanto was taken to London and sold and "achieved some status". He returned in 1619 as a guide.

Coombs: 1616-1619 was the yellow fever epidemic. 70-90% of Wampanoag population wiped out. Started in Northern Maine, sweeps down coastline and 30-40 miles inland. Most devastating event of the Wampanoag people.

Coombs: To truly understand the Wampanoag people and culture, you must go back pre-pandemic. Squanto returns in 1619 to most of his people wiped out. This context is imperative for understanding histories and cultures.

jessie little doe baird will discuss language and Wampanoag Nation lands. Begins w traditional vs constructed geopolitical landscapes. Sustained contact is when colonizers decided to stay in a place. Before this, Wampanoag had a thriving, complex governmental structure.

baird: There was defined Wampanoag territory but after sustained contact, there were 1 separate colonies: Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colony, so this caused confusion. Wampanoag had to deal with both and maintain their own governance, and a community that had been decimated.

baird: Advent of "praying towns" in 1647 by John Elliot. Essentially the first reservations on this continent. Created by colony courts, everything determined by Europeans.

baird: Some Wampanoag men participated as leaders (Sachems) in praying towns bc the towns were nearby/on their homelands and Wampanoag were allowed to stay on their lands if they did. 21 established praying towns over the next 19 years.

baird: Only men could be sachems, undermining Wampanoag tradition of women leaders. Praying towns established through 1666. Confused boundaries for Wampanoag people. If you are a "praying Indian" are you still an "Indian"? Confusion about allyship and "Indianness."

baird: Wampanoag language first Native language to use alphabetic writing. Look at Native writings to determine linguistic boundaries in this area at this time. Languages have words for things/ideas already present with the people, while also some new words incorporated.

baird: Fascinating explanation of Wampanoag language and how the words indicate re: identity, gender, kinship, being, possession, etc. How primary sources can be interpreted to determine relationships, power, boundaries, etc. among Wampanoag and colonizers.

Robert J. Miller is next speaking about Doctrine of Discovery re: Wampanoag peoples and King James I documents that created corporation to develop second English colony in what is known as USA.

Miller: Creation of "US" based on doctrines of "discovery" and conquest. With European arrival, Indigenous peoples lost land ownership, trade, sovereign rights. With conquest, Europeans given rights and limited tribal rights.

Miller: Elizabeth I determined possession as superior to the right of Indigenous peoples. Use and occupancy is what Indigenous peoples were relegated to. Doctrine of Discovery still being applied today by China, Russia, in Indian Country.

Miller: Elements of discovery included first discovery, actual possession/occupancy, preemption/European title, Indian title, contiguity, terra nullius, and conquest, Christianity, civilization. English acted like there was no one already here, converted/civilized those who were.

Miller: These elements make up doctrine of discovery. The Crusades were plainly based on these elements. England applied these elements via John Cabot 1496-1498, claimed first discovery by Henry VII. Elizabeth I developed actual occupancy.

Miller: James I 1606 charter to VA claimed all elements for England. In 1620, 9/10 elements present in Charter to Council of New England to create second colony. No recognition to Indian title. James granted sovereignty to 40 men through this document.

Miller: Terra nullius = god sent the plague to wipe out Indigenous peoples to empty lands for the English. English ordered to convert and civilize "savages". Chartered private entities to colonize the "New World".

Miller: The Peirce Patent 1621-1628 = Council of Plymouth in England granted every colonist 100 acres land in New England, rights to trade/fish, engage in politics and diplomacy with Indigenous peoples, create laws, schools, churches.

Miller: Charter to William Bradford 1629 - First charter cancelled and Bradford asked for more rights via this charter. Claimed many of the same elements of doctrine of discovery.

Jean O'Brien: Colonialism aims to dispossess Natives by any means necessary. Epidemic and daily violence cleared land. Colonizers seized land and created narratives to hide the true violence they utilized for "righteous" English possession.

O'Brien: Settlers used English place names to further erase Native tribes. Native peoples struggled over national identity after colonization. English meant to be dominant over and destructive of Native communities.

O'Brien: English must have seemed weak but their weapons seemed formidable to the Native peoples. There were some times of peace but periods of violence and constant mistrust.

O'Brien: Edward Winslow and William Bradford recorded "First Thanksgiving" narratives. Combined English/Calvinist traditions w harvest traditions of Native peoples. Built a foundational myth for the ages. Symbol of peaceful welcoming embrace hides truth of violence, colonialism.

O'Brien: Thanksgiving narrative as we know it today began in late 19th century. Story has morphed over time. Lincoln and FDR had their reasons for pushing the holiday. But the truth is that the Pilgrims didn't "invite Indians to Thanksgiving celebration".

O'Brien: The Native Americans were on a fact-finding mission. Men attended, not women and children. They camped nearby to keep an eye on things. There was a mutual mistrust and unease among the groups. They hunted and shared food, but it was not the myth we tell today.

O'Brien: The myth obscures the truth of violence. and perpetuates false stories of peace.

Miller: Johnson v McIntosh is still the law despite a bull in the 1500s (?) defining Indians as human. Hundreds of years since prove otherwise.

Amazing, fast-paced panel! I am sure I didn't do the speakers justice. Thanks to all the panelists, @joyce_rain08, Linda Coombs, and @plymouth_400.

I want to share some of the resources mentioned:

- Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery by Steven Newcomb

-Discovering Indigenous Lands: The Doctrine of Discovery in the English Colonies by Robert J. Miller et al

- Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery by Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah

- Snowshoe Country: An Environmental and Cultural History of Winter in the Early American Northeast by Thomas Wickman

- Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance by Nick Estes

- The Right to Be Cold: One Woman's Fight to Protect the Arctic and Save the Planet from Climate Change by Sheila Watt-Cloutier

- Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip's War and other works (Decolonial Atlas) by Lisa Brooks amherst.edu/people/facstaf…

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