Abenaki historian Marge Bruchac speaking July 23

One Abenaki writer who has taught me a lot over the years is Marge Bruchac. She’ll be giving a talk next Saturday, July 23, 7 pm, at the Hopkinton Historical Society on “The Sadoques Family of Keene, NH: Abenaki Artisans and Entrepreneurs.”

I’ve heard Marge speak several times, and she’s always riveting; she is absolutely relentless as an historical detective, and seems able to ferret out information about Native people in New England that no one else can. Years ago, in fact, she wrote an influential essay called “Hiding In Plain Sight, or Problems in Documenting Western Abenaki Ancestry,” where she persuasively explained why it’s so challenging to write about the Abenaki: though they have always been here, in New Hampshire and Vermont, some Abenaki people felt pressured at times to conceal their Native heritage, especially during the Vermont Eugenics Project. While there have also been plenty of Abenaki people throughout New England who did express their culture openly and confidently (the Laurent family is one interesting example), this periodic “hiding in plain sight” has made for a challenging historical record.

Now an Assistant Professor of Anthropology, and Coordinator of Native American & Indigenous Studies at the University of Connecticut at Storrs and Avery Point, Dr. Bruchac is also a gifted public historian. She is much in demand as a storyteller; she is one of the few Native women from New England to have written a play, molly has her say; she wrote a highly-regarded children’s book, Malian’s Song; and she’s a terrific poet, too. It’s rare, actually, to find an accomplished academic doing so much, so well.
Scholars like me always look to Marge’s research on Algonkian Indian history, archaeology, and repatriation to help us understand the intricate politics of doing Native anthropology and history in New England. You can see her full resume by clicking on the link above; but as even that brief list of roles—Anthropologist,
Historian, and Museum Consultant—suggests, the stakes are high in the work she does. So she uses every conceivable genre to tell the stories of northeastern Native people and material culture.

Hope to see some of you in Hopkinton next week! As a special treat, Marge will be joined by Joyce Heywood, a descendant of the Sadoques and Watso families who has some interesting histories of her own to share.

Passamaquoddy author/historian Donald Soctomah

There was a nice article in the Portland Press Herald recently that reminded me of Donald Soctomah’s beautiful book, Remember Me: Tomah Joseph’s Gift to Franklin Roosevelt. It’s a children’s book, so I won’t do it the kind of justice that Debbie Reese does to American-Indian-related children’s literature on her blog; but I still wanted to let people know about Soctomah, an important author who deserves a much wider audience.

Tomah Joseph was many things: a Passamaquoddy governor (1880s); a proficient birchbark artist whose work has been nicely illuminated by the art historian Joan Lester; and a professional canoe guide who lived and worked on Campobello Island in the summers. FDR’s family also spent summers on the island, which is how Joseph met him; and the birchbark canoe he made for the young Roosevelt is still on display at the family cottage in Roosevelt Campobello International Park.

Passamaquoddy people are justifiably proud of Soctomah’s book, which re-imagines and re-tells what has, up to now, been a little-known story. The book has gorgeous illustrations by Maine artist Mary Beth Owens–including images of Joseph that look remarkably like Soctomah himself!

If you want to read more deeply in Passamaquoddy history, though, you should know that Soctomah has published four more books, which provide a wealth of information on indigenous life in Maine that’s just hard to find anywhere else.

Save the Land for the Children (1800-1850)
Let Me Live as My Ancestors Had (1850-1890)
Passamaquoddy at the Turn of the Century (1890-1920)
Hard Times at Passamaquoddy (1921-1950)

In these, he has assiduously combed over old newspapers and tribal archives, putting together a complex and deep history of Passamaquoddy people, from Chief Francis Joseph Neptune’s role in the American Revolution, to Sopiel Selmore’s work as wampum keeper, to Lewis Mitchell’s pioneering work in creating a written system for the Passamaquoddy language.

And who better to write this history. Soctomah was also the Passamaquoddy representative to the Maine State Legislature from 1999 to 2002 (like his Penobscot colleague Donna Loring), and at present he is the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, in which capacity he is literally everywhere—writing grant proposals, consulting on films and academic projects, running the tribal museum, working on language preservation and education, and more. He’s also a gifted photographer and poet. I frankly don’t know how he finds the time to do all of this, and yet I find myself longing for volume 5 of his Passamaquoddy book series.

You can order the books from Donald Soctomah by writing to him at PO Box 159, Princeton, ME, 04668; or calling 207-214-4051 or 204-796-5533.