Thursday, March 31, 2011
Virginia Indians in Early America
The narrative of Indians in seventeenth-century Virginia seems always to be cast in the mode of "imperial history." It is European events, timelines, people, agendas, and background that is important and Indians are treated as obstacles, a side-show, or more recently as victims. Historians need to reinterpret the story of Virginia's Indians from inside the longhouse or yehakans, as Indians called their houses. Do you agree? What will be required to accomplish this task?
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Could not agree with you MORE. This is a stupendous feat. However you would need to go both on-line and off-line to see whaat has been done so far because I have found sites that are dedicated solely for the Powhatans and neighboring groups. I would also contact the JAmestown Historic Soceity and see what they have. Good Luck
ReplyDeleteHi ---Oh, one more thing, since all groups at the time had no known written language or coded system other than visuals, if you decide to ever interview these people you will have had the experience of the oral generation. Of course thy have written records now, but info can get lost over time or left out purposely fo the sake of narrative and historonics. Suffice it to say, that unlike the English, the Powhatans and other grps that still survive today, are probably giving you about 75- 85% the truth. Not perfect but by far 100,000x more reliable than the English. For the Powhatans et.Al, point of view there is still room to invent or speculate. For on-line you can also search the Databases of the New York Public Library : www.nypl.org and see what yields
ReplyDeleteEleniNYC,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. You raise some interesting points here, especially on the challenges for the New Indian History. Virtual Jamestown has done several interviews of Indian descendants and placed them on the site. You are absolutely right about the difficulties of doing history on a people who left no recorded record, although I believe we may find in the future, through archaeological material, physical evidence of communication. As for oral history, yes it creates its own biases but there are professional guidelines for handling this valuable material. In addition, we are developing new ways around the jaded or absent textual record via the mining of archaeological surveys and the visual record. Finally, as for Virginia Indians, the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities has received two large foundation grants to scan pictures, documents, family Bibles, etc., and interview Virginia Indian descendants. I am convinced that this archive will lead to the rewriting of Indian history and and understanding of the role of Indians in the formation of a nation.
Those interested in Virginia's Indian descendants today should know that there are eight federally unrecognized tribes in Virginia: the Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Upper Mattaponi, Monacan, Nansemond, Pamunkey, and Rappahannock. This is an outrageous situation, the result of actions by Dr. Walter Plecker and Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics which he directed from 1912 to 1946. In 1924 Virginia passed a Racial Intergrity Act, designed to prevent interracial mixing. Plecker was determined to classify every Virginia person as white or "colored," including Indians. He encouraged the changing of all vital records to record Indians as colored. As a result, Indian descendants of these tribes are unable to prove their ancestry. In addition to the immense injustices they have suffered over the years, they continue to suffer exclusion from the benefits of federal entitlement programs in health and education open to all U.S. citizens. Write your Congressman and ask him/her to support legislation to correct this gross injustice.
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