Tribe at 1st Thanksgiving is recognizedThe tribe that shared in the first Thanksgiving celebration received federal recognition Thursday as a sovereign American Indian nation, 32 years after it began its quest.
The ancestors of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe were at the area where Plymouth was founded long before the Pilgrims arrived, but their population was nearly wiped out by war and disease.Some history on the tribe:
After the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, members of the Mashpee tribe dined with the English settlers at the first Thanksgiving. The harmony, though, gave way to a brief period of bloody war.
The tribe dominated the town of Mashpee until the 1960s, when home construction transformed the town and much of the Cape. It notified the government in 1975 that it planned to seek recognition but didn't file a petition until 1990.
6 comments:
I hope Russ will let us know whether the Wampanoags are real Indians or not. ;-)
Writerfella here --
The Wampanoags lost their most recent court case that would have determined if they were a Native tribe or not. writerfella recognizes that they must be appealing such a decision, but he himself has nothing to do with the outcome of such a trial or such an appeal. And certainly his own humble opinions in such a matter determine nothing as to its reality.
That they are Natives or not must be decided by legal means, and so it seems that it means courts have said 'no'. Until this posting by Rob Schmidt, writerfella only sparingly ever had heard of such a people. Since he knows next to nothing about the Wampanoags, the whole situation becomes their problem and not writerfella's. Who knows, they still might win their case and become a Federally-recognized tribal group. The honest answer to such a case is that writerfella doesn't give a Tinker's damn about them. And that is how it stands to this time...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
There are several bands of Wampanoag Indians. If we're talking about the Mashpee Wampanoags, there's no court case pending. They were just recognized and now they're officially a tribe.
Writerfella here -
Fascinating. writerfella sends them a cookie.
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Writerfella here --
POSTSCRIPTUM -- Hmm, guess that means their casino committee is at work full sway, 24/7...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
The Wampanoags are interested in pursuing a casino. But since they first sought recognition 32 years ago, or 13 years before the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act passed, it's probably not their primary motivation.
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