4/12/2023 0 Comments Wampanoag and pilgrims![]() ![]() She said museum officials did not stand up for Wampanoag employees whenever they encountered offensive behavior from tourists. He also said that museum employees faced racism and microaggressions from guests.Īnita Peters agreed. Wampanoag Mashpee tribe member Sookunôn Nushkeesuqut told The Daily Beast that he was warned by museum officials that he would be fired for taking too much time off work to be a ceremonial performer during funerals and spiritual services. It’s called the Patuxet Homesite,” Peters said, adding, “It’s almost like they're erasing from the nomenclature.” “It used to be called the Wampanoag Homesite, and it's no longer called that. However, tribal members are leery that the specific Wampanoag culture is being assimilated into a larger identity. The Wampanoag are the people native to the overall region, which is called Patuxet. …They also have changed a lot,” she said. “There’s less and less Wampanoag employees. She provided photos to The Daily Beast of wetu housing covered in holes, and said Native Americans who work at the museum have been hired from other tribes. Paula Peters, a member of the Wampanoag Mashpee tribe who worked off and on for about 40 years as an interpreter and in the marketing department at the museum, said she was astonished during a recent trip. But he did not provide a breakdown of how the funds would be appropriated or how federal funding had already been used to maintain the museum and homesite. In a statement to The Daily Beast Wednesday, spokesperson Robert Kluin said Plimoth Patuxet has raised $2 millions for overall renovations, for the Pilgrim site, Wampanoag site, and online campaigns. But Pilgrim housing has been well maintained and guides wear detailed 17th-century costumes. Guides on the Native American side also did not wear traditional attire. “Well, we weren't.”Īccording to the Associated Press, large holes have been found in replicas of traditional Wampanoag housing, which are a main attraction on the historical site. “That relays or communicates a really big misinformation that we did not have the sophistication of our culture and our practice the way that would have been at that time, almost reflecting that we're kind of dirt poor and ignorant,” she said. Meanwhile, she said the Pilgrim division stays updated with new exhibits and features. …We knew just how critically important it was to set the record straight and provide that balance.”Īndrews-Maltais, who said she, her mother, sister, and brothers all worked at the museum at some point, noted that the Native American side of the museum has not seen any noticeable improvements over the last 50 years, despite the museum receiving federal funding. ![]() “The focus really wasn't on having that bicultural, balanced experience. That has been the history that we've had to endure throughout the centuries,” she said. “We still have to spend a lot of time correcting the narrative that they were putting out there because it was still feeding into the false narrative. The site initially opened in the 1940s, using the 17th century colonialist spelling of “ Plimoth.” The museum is designed to be a living history experience, where guests can see traditional Wampanoag wetu (houses), artifact replicas, and artwork from the 1600s. The Plimoth Patuxet Museums-based in Plymouth, Massachusetts-is dedicated to telling the thousands-year history of Native Americans in the area and the arrival of Pilgrims via the Mayflower in 1620. “I would say most of the people in my tribe worked there at one point or another, but they treated us so bad that nobody wanted to work there anymore,” Anita Peters, a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and former museum employee, told The Daily Beast. Members of the Wampanoag tribe say they were once more deeply involved in the Plimoth Patuxet Museums, but now their participation has dwindled. Native Americans in Massachusetts are calling for a boycott of a museum that they say has been erasing tribes’ place in history, while investing in the portrayal of Pilgrims who settled in Plymouth Colony. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |