North American Indian Center of Boston

Last updated

The North American Indian Center of Boston, Inc. (NAICOB) is a nonprofit organization located in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, a neighborhood of Boston, which provides assistance to American Indians, Native Canadians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other indigenous peoples of North America.

Contents

According to its website, the organization's mission is as follows:

to promote greater self-determination, socio-economic self-sufficiency, spiritual enhancement, intercultural understanding and other forms of empowerment for the North American Indian Community and to assist North American Indians in obtaining an improved quality of life by providing health, job training, education, housing, and other related programs and social services. [1]

Boston Indian Council

The NAICOB began as the Boston Indian Council (BIC) on October 20, 1970, following meetings in 1969. [2] During this period the Native American population in Boston and other cities was growing rapidly, and urban centers like the BIC arose to provide health care and other services. [3] Founding members of the BIC included writer Mildred Noble, [2] American Indian psychologist Carolyn Attneave, [4] Canadian activist Anna Mae Aquash [5] and the artist Philip Young, both of whom were of the Micmac nation. Shirley Moore Mills (Mashpee Wampanoag) served as secretary to the Board of Directors. [6] In 1970, BIC joined with members of the American Indian Movement in what became "Day of Mourning" in Patuxet, in contrast to the colonial holiday of Thanksgiving. [7]

From time to time the center published a newsletter, The Circle; editors of that paper included the now well-known Ojibwe author Louise Erdrich. [8] The BIC was also involved in curriculum development, producing a curriculum for the Boston Public Schools focused on the indigenous cultures of Maine and the Maritimes, as many BIC members hail from that region. [9] Additionally, the center engaged in various forms of activism, including a 1973 protest against a reenactment of the Boston Tea Party. [10]

Incorporation and current projects

The organization was reorganized as a nonprofit corporation in 1991 and provides services to the Native American population (about 6,000) in and around the greater Boston area. The center networks with tribal councils in other parts of Massachusetts as well as other East Coast states. Current NAICOB projects include Employment and Training, Family Services, and a Tribal Scholars program.

NAICOB has pioneered the development of services and resources [11] for caregiver grandparents, "skip generation" families where minor children are cared for by their grandparents because of parents' substance abuse, incarceration, death, military deployment, or out-of-area employment.

NAICOB offers classes in computer skills and assists members with employment referral and job searches.

NAICOB is governed by a seven-member, all Indian, Board of Directors who are elected by the membership. NAICOB is located at 105 South Huntington Avenue in Jamaica Plain, MA and is accessible by the MBTA Green line E train and also by MBTA bus service. Membership is free to all American Indians, Alaska Natives, First Nations (Indigenous People of Canada), and Native Hawaiians living in and around the greater Boston area.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native Americans in the United States</span> Indigenous peoples of the United States

Native Americans, also known as First Americans, Indigenous Americans, American Indians, and other terms, are the indigenous peoples of the United States, including Hawaii and territories of the United States, and other times limited to the mainland. There are 574 federally recognized tribes living within the US, about half of which are associated with Indian reservations. "Native Americans" are indigenous tribes that are originally from the contiguous United States, along with Alaska Natives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pequots</span> Indigenous North American tribe originally from what is now the U.S. state of Connecticut

The Pequot are a Native American people of Connecticut. The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut including the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, or the Brothertown Indians of Wisconsin. They historically spoke Pequot, a dialect of the Mohegan-Pequot language, which became extinct by the early 20th century. Some tribal members are undertaking revival efforts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mashpee, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wampanoag</span> Native American ethnic group

The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are a Native American people and an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island, Their territory included the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusett language</span> Algonquian language spoken by indigenous communities in the United States

The Massachusett language is an Algonquian language of the Algic language family, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iḷisaġvik College</span> Public tribal community college in Utqiaġvik, Alaska

Iḷisaġvik College is a public tribal land-grant community college in Utqiaġvik, Alaska. Operated by the North Slope Borough, a home rule government of the Iñupiat, it is the only tribally controlled college in Alaska, and it is the northernmost accredited community college in the United States. The college is located within the boundaries of the North Slope. It is an 89,000-square-mile (230,000 km2) region of Arctic tundra. It is connected to the 414-mile (666 km) Dalton Highway only during the winter, by an ice road for local residents. The community can also be reached by plane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nipmuc</span>

The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian language. Their historic territory Nippenet, "the freshwater pond place," is in central Massachusetts and nearby parts of Connecticut and Rhode Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Apess</span>

William Apess, was an ordained Methodist minister, writer, and activist of mixed-race descent, who was a political and religious leader in Massachusetts. After becoming ordained as a Methodist minister in 1829, he published his autobiography the same year. It is among the first autobiographies by a Native American writer. Apess was part Pequot by descent, especially through his mother's family, and identified with their culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Praying town</span>

Praying towns were a series of settlements established by English colonial governments in New England from 1646 to 1675 in an effort to convert local Native Americans to Christianity. The native people who moved into these towns were known as Praying Indians. Before 1674 the villages were the most ambitious experiment in converting Native Americans to Christianity in the Thirteen Colonies, and led to the creation of the first books in an Algonquian language, including the first bible printed in British North America. During King Philip's War from 1675 to 1678, many praying towns were depopulated, in part due to forced internment of praying Indians on Deer Island, many of whom died during the winter of 1675. After the war, many of the originally allotted praying towns were never reestablished, however some praying towns persisted. Many present day indigenous groups in New England trace their heritage to praying towns, including the Mashpee Wampanoag, the Ponkapoag and Natick Massachusett, and the Chaubunagungamaug and Hassanamisco Nipmuc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mildred Noble</span>

Mildred "Millie" Noble was an American writer and Native American activist. Noble helped to found the Boston Indian Council, which is now known as the North American Indian Center of Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Indian Meeting House</span> United States historic place, oldest Native American church in the eastern United States

The Old Indian Meeting House is a historic meeting house at 410 Meetinghouse Road in Mashpee, Massachusetts. Built in 1758, the meetinghouse is the oldest Native American church in the eastern United States and the oldest church on Cape Cod. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Congress of American Indians</span> Non-governmental organization

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is an American Indian and Alaska Native rights organization. It was founded in 1944 to represent the tribes and resist federal government pressure for termination of tribal rights and assimilation of their people. These were in contradiction of their treaty rights and status as sovereign entities. The organization continues to be an association of federally recognized and state-recognized Indian tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native American tribes in Massachusetts</span>

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.

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.

Joan Tavares Avant, also known as Granny Squannit, is a Mashpee Wampanoag tribal leader, historian, and writer living in Mashpee, Massachusetts.

<i>Mashpee Nine: A Story of Cultural Justice</i>

Mashpee Nine: A Story of Cultural Justice is a 2016 non-fiction book by author, journalist, and activist Paula Peters, a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. It is a companion book for the documentary, “Mashpee Nine: The Beat Goes On”. The book recounts details of a police raid, arrest and court trial of nine Wampanoag tribal members who were drumming on the Mashpee Pond campsite July 29, 1976 in Mashpee, Massachusetts.

Native American newspapers are news publications in the United States published by Native American people often for Native American audiences. The first such publication was the Cherokee Phoenix, started in 1828 by the Cherokee Nation. Although Native American people have always written for state and local newspapers, including the official publications of Native American boarding schools, periodicals produced by Native people themselves were relatively few and far between until the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag</span> MA nonprofit organization

The Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag is a cultural heritage group that claims descendancy from the Massachusett people, an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.naicob.org/
  2. 1 2 Stickgold, Emma (2008-01-27). "Mildred Noble, 86; writer and Native American activist". Boston Globe . Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  3. ↑ Fixico, Donald (2000). The Urban Indian Experience in America. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P. p. 114. ISBN   978-0826322166.
  4. ↑ Wayne, Tiffany (2010). American Women of Science. ABC-CLIO. p. 201. ISBN   978-1-59884-158-9.
  5. ↑ Johansen, Bruce; Pritzker, Barry (2007). Encyclopedia of American Indian History. ABL-CLIO. p. 651. ISBN   978-1851098170.
  6. ↑ Mills Sr., Earl (2012). Talking with the Elders of Mashpee. lulu.com. p. 123. ISBN   978-1105953392.
  7. ↑ Delucia, Christine M. (2018). "Protesting the "Perfect City": Reorganizing Native Memoryscapes across Greater Boston". Memory lands: King Philip's War and the place of violence in the northeast. New Haven. ISBN   9780300201178.
  8. ↑ McClinton-Temple, Jennifer; Velie, Alan (2007). Encyclopedia of American Indian Literature. Facts on File. p. 110. ISBN   978-0816056569.
  9. ↑ Mackenzie, Robert; Stone, Peter (2013). The Excluded Past: Archaeology in Education. New York: Routledge. p. 119.
  10. ↑ Deloria, Philip (1999). Playing Indian. New Haven: Yale UP. p. 1997. ISBN   978-0300080674.
  11. ↑ http://naicobfamilyresources.org/
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.