Linda Jeffers Coombs is an author and historian from the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). [1] Coombs is the former program director of the Aquinnah Cultural Center. [1]
Coombs began a museum career in 1974, interning at the Boston Children's Museum as part of its Native American Program. [2] She and her peers, including Narragansett elder Paulla Dove Jennings, wrote children's books for the museum, illustrating Native American culture from a Native American perspective. Coombs later worked for nearly three decades with the Wampanoag Indigenous Program at Plimoth Plantation, including 15 years as the program's associate director. [3] In that capacity, she wrote a number of essays documenting colonial history from a Native American perspective, and often spoke publicly about the need for more accurate representations of colonial events including the first Thanksgiving [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] and Columbus Day. [9]
Coombs serves as program director of the Aquinnah Cultural Center, continuing to educate the public about Wampanoag history, culture, and other contributions. [10] Valued for her expertise in regional Native American history, Coombs is a frequent consultant on scholarly and educational projects. [11] [12] [13]
Born and raised in Martha's Vineyard, Coombs lives with her family in the Wampanoag Community in Mashpee on Cape Cod. [14]
Mashpee is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, on Cape Cod. The population was 15,060 as of 2020. The town is the site of the headquarters and most members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, one of two federally recognized Wampanoag groups.
Aquinnah is a town located on the western end of Martha's Vineyard island, Massachusetts. From 1870 to 1997, the town was incorporated as Gay Head. At the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 439. Aquinnah is known for its beautiful clay cliffs and natural serenity, as well as its historical importance to the native Wampanoag people. In 1965, Gay Head Cliffs were designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.
The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island, Their territory historically includes the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.
The Massachusett language is an Algonquian language of the Algic language family that was formerly spoken by several peoples of eastern coastal and southeastern Massachusetts. In its revived form, it is spoken in four communities of Wampanoag people. The language is also known as Natick or Wôpanâak (Wampanoag), and historically as Pokanoket, Indian or Nonantum.
Plimoth Patuxet is a complex of living history museums in Plymouth, Massachusetts founded in 1947, formerly Plimoth Plantation. It replicates the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony established in the 17th century by the English colonists who became known as the Pilgrims, as well as that of the Patuxet people upon whose land the Pilgrims settled. They were among the first people who emigrated to America to seek religious separation from the Church of England. It is a not-for-profit museum supported by administrations, contributions, grants, and volunteers. The recreations are based upon a wide variety of first-hand and second-hand records, accounts, articles, and period paintings and artifacts, and the museum conducts ongoing research and scholarship, including historical archaeological excavation and curation locally and abroad.
Melvin Coombs was a Wampanoag dancer, cultural educator, and cultural interpreter.
The Edwin DeVries Vanderhoop Homestead, is an historic house at 35 South Road, Aquinnah, Massachusetts, United States. The c. 1890s house is the first built by a member of the Vanderhoop family, which is prominent in the town politics of Aquinnah and in the tribal organization of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
The Patuxet were a Native American band of the Wampanoag tribal confederation. They lived primarily in and around modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and were among the first Native Americans encountered by European settlers in the region in the early 17th century. Most of the population subsequently died of epidemic infectious diseases. The last of the Patuxet – an individual named Tisquantum, who played an important role in the survival of the Pilgrim colony at Plymouth – died in 1622.
Native American tribes in Massachusetts are the Native American tribes and their reservations that existed historically and those that still exist today in what is now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A Narragansett term for this region is Ninnimissinuok.
Gladys A. Widdiss was an American tribal elder, Wampanoag historian and potter. Widdis served as the President of the Aquinnah Wampanoag of Gay Head from 1978 until 1987. She then served as the vice chairman of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribal council for many years.
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is one of two federally recognized tribes of Wampanoag people in Massachusetts. Recognized in 2007, they are headquartered in Mashpee on Cape Cod. The other Wampanoag tribe is the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) on Martha's Vineyard.
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) (Wampanoag: Âhqunah Wôpanâak) is a federally recognized tribe of Wampanoag people based in the town of Aquinnah on the southwest tip of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. The tribe hosts an annual Cranberry Day celebration.
Paula Peters is a journalist, educator and activist. A member of the Wampanoag tribe, she has spent most of her life in her tribal homeland of Mashpee, Massachusetts. She hails from a prominent Mashpee Wampanoag family, including Tribal Chairman Russell "Fast Turtle" Peters, and was active in the tribe's long and contested push for federal recognition. In a 2006 interview with NPR, Peters recalled a time when "nobody in Washington cared much about which tribes were recognized." Like her father before her, Peters served on the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council. In 2005, she ran against Glenn Marshall for Council Chairperson.
Amos Peters Smalley (1877–1961) was a Native American whaler, fisherman, and fish peddler.
Helen Edith Vanderhoop Manning Murray was a Native American historian and writer and enrolled citizen of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe. She is known for her book Moshup's Footsteps: The Wampanoag Nation, Gay Head/Aquinnah: the People of First Light (2001), as a tribal elder, and as serving as education director for her tribe.
Menemsha Pond is a salt pond split between the towns of Aquinnah & Chilmark, Massachusetts. At the mouth of the pond, the Menemsha Creek leads into the Menemsha Bight and the Vineyard Sound. Along Menemsha Creek sits the historic sea-side fishing village of Menemsha. Menemsha Pond connects to both Stonewall Pond via Nashaquitsa Pond and to Squibnocket Pond via the Squibnocket Herring Run.
Edwin DeVries Vanderhoop was a Gay Head, Massachusetts born; American, half Wampanoag Native American - half Surinamese, Civil War Veteran, Politician, Fishermen, Hotel Proprietor, and Whaleman.
Donald F. Malonson was Chief of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) from 1951-2003. In 1951, his uncle Harrison Vanderhoop, also known as Chief No-Ho-No, nominated Donald as his successor. Malonson symbolically led his people for the next 52 years.
Aquinnah Cultural Center (ACC) is a non-profit museum and education center, based in Aquinnah, Massachusetts, dedicated to preserving and promoting Aquinnah Wampanoag history, culture and contributions on Martha’s Vineyard.
Squibnocket Pond is a salt pond split between the towns of Chilmark, Massachusetts and Aquinnah, Massachusetts. Squibnocket Pond connects to Menemsha Pond via Herring Creek.