Named after | Seekonk, Massachusetts (named for a Narragansett sachem [3] ), Wampanoag people |
---|---|
Formation | 1997 [2] |
Founded at | Cranston, Rhode Island [2] |
Dissolved | April 18, 2018 [1] |
Type | nonprofit organization [1] |
EIN 05-0503360 [4] , EIN 04-3345716 [2] | |
Purpose | Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe–Wampanoag Nation: Ethnic/Immigrant Services (P84); [4] Seaconke Wampanoag: A11: Arts, Culture and Humanities Single Organization Support [2] |
Headquarters | Providence, Rhode Island |
Location | |
Official language | English |
Revenue (2020) | $-2,105 [2] |
Expenses (2020) | $9.281 [2] |
Website | www |
The Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe is one of several cultural heritage organizations of individuals who identify as descendants of the Wampanoag people in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Multiple nonprofit organizations were formed to represent the Seaconke Wampanoag. [1] [2]
The Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe is an unrecognized organization. This organization is neither a federally recognized tribe [5] nor a state-recognized tribe. [6] In 1997, the Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs issued a letter "reaffirming the Recognition of the Seaconke Wampanoag people." [7] The Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs lacks the authority to grant state-recognition to unrecognized Indian groups, as recognition is outside of the scope of the Commission as detailed in Executive Order 126. [8]
Wilfred "Eagle Heart" Greene (1937–2016), an early leader of this group, identified as being a descendant of Ousamequin [9] (Wampanoag, c. 1581–1661), more commonly known as Massasoit. The group "claims to consist of descendants of Massasoit's band." [10] The group also identifies as being descendants of Annawan, [11] a Wampanoag leader who died in 1676. [12]
Lois "Lulu" Viera Chaffee (1941–2021) of Seekonk was also a founding member of the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe. [13]
Seaconke is spelled in many different ways and is the name of a town, Seekonk, Massachusetts, and the Seekonk River, [3] near Providence, Rhode Island. The placename comes from the name of a 17th-century Narragansett sachem (leader). [3] The Wampanoag are an Algonquian language-speaking Native American tribe in New England.
In 1997, the Seaconke Wampanoag organized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Cranston, Rhode Island. [2] Michael Markley was the secretary in 2020, and Robert Harris was treasurer in 2021. [2] The group's assets were $36,836 in 2020. [2]
In 1998, the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe–Wampanoag Nation organized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization [1] based in Warwick, Rhode Island. [4] Wilfred Green was the agent. In 1998, Wilfred W. Greene III was president, and Stasia Constantino served as director. [1] The nonprofit status was revoked first in 2012 and again in 2018. [1]
In Greene v. Rhode Island (2003), Wilfred W. Greene sued Rhode Island and the towns of Cumberland and Woonsocket in U.S. District Court. He claimed 34-square miles of land near the Blackstone River; however, the case was dismissed. [14] [15]
In 2008, Patrick and Gail Conley donated a 6.7-acre lot in Cumberland, Rhode Island, to the organization, in the care of Wilfred Green. [16] The land, part of the Peterson/Puritan, Inc. site, had hazardous waste and was designated as superfund site by the EPA. [17] [18]
Wilfred Green sent a letter of intent to petition for federal recognition as a Native American tribe on behalf of the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe, then based in Greenwich, Rhode Island, in 1998. [19] However, the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe never submitted a completed petition for federal recognition. [20]
Rhode Island House Bill 7470, an act that "recognizes the Seaconke Wampanoag tribe as a Native American tribe, was introduced on February 11, 2022. Since March 1, 2022, the bill has been "held for further study" by committee. [21]
In 2005, researchers from the Genographic Project analyzed genetic variation among members of the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts [22] [23] and Rhode Island. [24] Research revealed "that the majority of their mtDNA haplotypes belongs to West Eurasian and African lineages, thus reflecting the extent of their contacts and interactions with people of European and African descent. On the paternal side, Y-chromosome analysis identified a range of Native American, West Eurasian, and African haplogroups in the population, and also surprisingly revealed the presence of a paternal lineage that appears at its highest frequencies in New Guinea and Melanesia." [23]
The human geneticist Bryan Sykes (1947–2020) wrote, "On the matrilineal side, all of the mDNA lineages are of either European or African origin, while the patrilineal Y chromosomes show a range of Native American, European, and African lineages plus one surprise from New Guinea." He continued that "genealogical reconstruction showed that the single Native American Y chromosome was most likely introduced into the tribe by a Cherokee incomer several generations back." He wrote further: "In contrast, the complete absence of Native American mDNA among the Seaconke Wampanoag came as a great surprise to me, given the usual direction of intermarriage between African and European American incomers and Native American women." [24] Jenny Reardon and Kim TallBear echo these findings: "The Seaconke Wampanoag who were sampled largely trace to European and African populations. Indeed, they were shown to have no 'maternal Native American lineages and only one 'Native American' paternal haplotype in an individual with known Cherokee male ancestry...." [22]
The Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe host an annual powwow in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. [25] They have hosted their powwow since 2016. [11]
Professional boxer Kali Reis "KO Mequinonoag" is a member of the Seaconke Wampanoag and identifies her mother as being "the medicine woman of our Seaconke Wampanoag tribe." [26]
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.
Seekonk is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Massachusetts border with Rhode Island. It was incorporated in 1812 from the western half of Rehoboth. The population was 15,531 at the 2020 census. In 1862, under a U.S. Supreme Court decision resolving a longstanding border dispute between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, a portion of Tiverton Rhode Island was awarded to Massachusetts to become part of Fall River, while 2/3 of Seekonk was awarded to Rhode Island.
King Philip's War was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands and the English New England Colonies and their indigenous allies. The war is named for Metacomet, the Pokanoket chief and sachem of the Wampanoag who adopted the English name Philip because of the friendly relations between his father Massasoit and the Plymouth Colony. The war continued in the most northern reaches of New England until the signing of the Treaty of Casco Bay on April 12, 1678.
The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands currently based in southeastern Massachusetts and formerly parts of eastern Rhode Island. Their historical territory includes the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.
The Narragansett people are an Algonquian American Indian tribe from Rhode Island. Today, Narragansett people are enrolled in the federally recognized Narragansett Indian Tribe. They gained federal recognition in 1983.
Massasoit Sachem or Ousamequin was the sachem or leader of the Wampanoag confederacy. Massasoit means Great Sachem. Massasoit was not his name but a title. English colonists mistook Massasoit as his name and it stuck.
The Pokanoket was the village governed by Massasoit. The term broadened to refer to all peoples and lands governed by Massasoit and his successors, which were part of the Wampanoag people in what is now Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Pocasset may refer to a location in the United States:
Weetamoo, also referred to as Weethao, Weetamoe, Wattimore, Namumpum, and Tatapanunum, was a Pocasset Wampanoag Native American Chief. She was the sunksqua, or female sachem, of Pocasset tribe, which occupied contemporary Tiverton, Rhode Island in 1620. The Pocasset, which she led, was one of groups of the Wampanoag.
State-recognized tribes in the United States are organizations that identify as Native American tribes or heritage groups that do not meet the criteria for federally recognized Indian tribes but have been recognized by a process established under assorted state government laws for varying purposes or by governor's executive orders. State recognition does not dictate whether or not they are recognized as Native American tribes by continually existing tribal nations.
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.
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 Texas Band of Yaqui Indians is a cultural heritage organization for individuals who identify as descendants of Yaqui people, and are dedicated to cultural and ethnic awareness of the Yaqui. The organization is headquartered in Lubbock, Texas.
Kali Reis is an American professional boxer and actress. She is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC female middleweight title in 2016 and the WBA, WBO, and IBO female light welterweight titles between 2020 and 2022. She also challenged Cecilia Brækhus for the undisputed female welterweight title in 2018.
The Pokanoket Nation, also known as the Pokanoket Tribe, is one of several cultural heritage organizations of individuals who identify as descendants of the Wampanoag people in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. They formed a nonprofit organization called the Council of Seven & Royal House of Pokanoket & Pokanoket Tribe & Wampanoag Corporation in 1994.
The Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation is one of several cultural heritage organizations of individuals who identify as descendants of the Wampanoag people in Rhode Island. They formed a nonprofit organization, the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust, Inc., in 2017.
The Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe is a cultural heritage group that claims descent from the Wampanoag people based in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They have a nonprofit organization, the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribal Council, Inc.
The Chappaquiddick Tribe of the Wampanoag Indian Nation is a non-profit organization in Massachusetts that self-identifies as a Native American tribe, but is not recognized as a tribe by the federal government or by any state government. Members claim to be descendants of the Wampanoag, an historic Indigenous people of Massachusetts. The organization has approximately 300 members and is based in Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard.