We Were Not the Savages

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We Were Not the Savages (1993 and later editions) is a history of the Mi'kmaq people during the period of European colonization written by Daniel N. Paul. It has been published in four editions. The first, subtitled A Micmac Perspective on the Collision of Aboriginal and European Civilizations, was published by Nimbus, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Fernwood Publishing, also of Halifax, published an updated edition in 2000; and in 2006 Paul expanded and revised the book, publishing it through Fernwood, with the simple subtitle, Collision Between European and Native American Civilizations. In 2022, Paul released a fourth edition of the book.

Contents

The 2006 edition has fourteen chapters, ranging from "Mi'kmaq Social Values and Economy" to "Twentieth-Century Racism and Centralization" and "The Struggle for Freedom." It delineates seven independent Mi'kmaq Districts, which cover all of the Canadian Provinces of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, north of the Saint John River, Quebec, the Gaspe region, and the Northern part of the State of Maine, USA. It argues that pre-contact Mi'kmaq people enjoyed what was probably the highest standard of living in the world, without poverty or hunger, and with a social environment that valued community well-being. The book's middle chapters trace the wars with European nations during the period of colonization, and the major Indian treaties of the eighteenth century. In the final chapters, Paul describes Mi'kmaq communities and land bases as dramatically reduced and impoverished by less than two centuries of European colonization.

Reception

One reviewer has described the book as "a Canadian version of Dee Brown's best seller Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee ", a seminal work published in 1971. [1] January 31, 2023

Review by Professor Geoffrey Plank, January 31, 2023 School of History University of East Anglia Norwich, England NR4 7TJ

We Were Not the Savages is something rare and wonderful, a comprehensive history of an indigenous American people, written by a member of the nation, covering in detail the times before European colonisation, the brutal period of conquest, and the struggle for justice that continues to the present day. The book is disarmingly and engagingly written. Every story within it is either carefully documented with citations to archival material or scholarly sources, or else deeply informed by Paul’s personal experience and what he has learned from his neighbours. Those of you who have read earlier editions of this book should pick up this one. Paul has thoroughly rewritten the book, updating the scholarship, adding personal material, and carrying the story forward to the present day. Our understanding of the history of north-eastern North America has been transformed since the publication of the first edition of We Were Not the Savages. Especially in Nova Scotia, the impact of that transformation is visible on the landscape. If you want to understand what’s happened, you need to read the fourth edition.

Critic Tasha Hubbard says that "Paul is not afraid to stray from the typical 'objective' tone found in most historical texts." [2] American scholar Michael Mullin has written that the book is "a call for help. . .[written] for other Micmacs and their allies in the larger Canadian community." [3]

Edition history

Each new edition is revised with new information added. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mi'kmaq</span> Indigenous ethnic group of eastern North America

The Mi'kmaq are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as Native Americans in the northeastern region of Maine. The traditional national territory of the Mi'kmaq is named Miꞌkmaꞌki.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miꞌkmaw hieroglyphic writing</span> Defunct writing system of Canadas Mikmaq First Nation

Miꞌkmaw hieroglyphic writing or Suckerfish script was a writing system for the Miꞌkmaw language, later superseded by various Latin scripts which are currently in use. Mi'kmaw are a Canadian First Nation whose homeland, called Mi'kma'ki, overlaps much of the Maritime provinces, specifically all of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and parts of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glooscap</span> Legendary figure of the Wabanaki peoples in the United States and Canada

Glooscap is a legendary figure of the Wabanaki peoples, native peoples located in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Atlantic Canada. The stories were first recorded by Silas Tertius Rand and then by Charles Godfrey Leland in the 19th century.

Chief Henri Membertou was the sakmow of the Mi'kmaq First Nations tribe situated near Port Royal, site of the first French settlement in Acadia, present-day Nova Scotia, Canada. Originally sakmow of the Kespukwitk district, he was appointed as Grand Chief by the sakmowk of the other six districts. Membertou claimed to have been a grown man when he first met Jacques Cartier, which makes it likely that he was born in the early years of the sixteenth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Watertown</span> 1776 treaty between the United States and Mikmaw

The Treaty of Watertown, the first foreign treaty concluded by the United States of America after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, was signed on July 19, 1776, in the Edmund Fowle House in the town of Watertown, Massachusetts Bay. The treaty established a military alliance between the United States and the St. John's and some of the Mi'kmaw bands against Great Britain for the early years of the American Revolutionary War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bear River First Nation</span>

Bear River First Nation is a Míkmaq First Nations band government located in both Annapolis County and Digby County, Nova Scotia. As of 2023, the Mi'kmaq population is 118 on-Reserve, and approximately 263 off-Reserve for a total population of 382.

Scotch Village is an unincorporated community on the Kennetcook River in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Municipality of West Hants. This area was part of Newport Township at the time of settlement primarily by Rhode Island Planters in the early 1760s. It was referred to as “Scotchman’s Dyke” or “Scotch Village”, due to settlement of early families of Scottish descent. Prior to the arrival of the Planters, Scotch Village had been the home of Mi'kmaq and Acadians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mi'kma'ki</span> National territory of the Mikmaq

Mi'kma'ki or Mi'gma'gi is composed of the traditional and current territories, or country, of the Mi'kmaq people, in what is now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and eastern Quebec, Canada. It is shared by an inter-Nation forum among Mi'kmaq First Nations and is divided into seven geographical and traditional districts. Today Taqamkuk is separately represented as an eighth district. Mi'kma'ki is one of the confederate nations within the Wabanaki.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Winnepang</span>

The Battle of Winnepang occurred during Dummer's War when New England forces attacked Mi'kmaq at present day Jeddore Harbour, Nova Scotia. The naval battle was part of a campaign ordered by Governor Richard Philipps to retrieve over 82 New England prisoners taken by the Mi'kmaq in fishing vessels off the coast of Nova Scotia. The New England force was led by Ensign John Bradstreet and fishing Captain John Elliot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Father Le Loutre's War</span> Colonial war between Britain and France

Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), also known as the Indian War, the Mi'kmaq War and the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the British and New England colonists were led by British officer Charles Lawrence and New England Ranger John Gorham. On the other side, Father Jean-Louis Le Loutre led the Mi'kmaq and the Acadia militia in guerrilla warfare against settlers and British forces. At the outbreak of the war there were an estimated 2500 Mi'kmaq and 12,000 Acadians in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Baptiste Cope</span> Mikmaq leader (1698–1758-60)

Jean Baptiste Cope was also known as Major Cope, a title he was probably given from the French military, the highest rank given to Mi’kmaq. Cope was the sakamaw (chief) of the Mi'kmaq people of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. He maintained close ties with the Acadians along the Bay of Fundy, speaking French and being Catholic. During Father Le Loutre’s War, Cope participated in both military efforts to resist the British and also efforts to create peace with the British. During the French and Indian War he was at Miramichi, New Brunswick, where he is presumed to have died during the war. Cope is perhaps best known for signing the Treaty of 1752 with the British, which was upheld in the Supreme Court of Canada in 1985 and is celebrated every year along with other treaties on Treaty Day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raid on Dartmouth (1749)</span> 1749 raid of a sawmill in Nova Scotia

The Raid on Dartmouth (1749) occurred during Father Le Loutre's War on September 30, 1749 when a Mi'kmaw militia from Chignecto raided Major Ezekiel Gilman's sawmill at present-day Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, killing four workers and wounding two. This raid was one of seven the Wabanaki Confederacy and Acadians would conduct against the settlement during the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attack at Mocodome</span> 1753 Battle in Nova Scotia

The attack at Mocodome was a battle which occurred during Father Le Loutre's War in present-day Country Harbour, Nova Scotia on February 21, 1753 which saw two British mariners and six Mi'kmaq killed. The battle ended any hope for the survival of the Treaty of 1752 signed by Governor Peregrine Hopson and Mi'kmaq chief Jean-Baptiste Cope.

Daniel Nicholas Paul,, was a Canadian Miꞌkmaq elder, author, columnist, and human rights activist. Paul was perhaps best known as the author of the book We Were Not the Savages. Paul asserts that this book is the first such history ever written by a First Nations citizen. The book is seen as an important contribution to the North American Indian movement. One writer stated, "It's a Canadian version of Dee Brown's bestseller Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and, as such, served a valuable purpose in raising public consciousness about Miꞌkmaq history, identity, and culture."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burying the Hatchet ceremony (Nova Scotia)</span> Ceremony to celebrate peace between the British and Mikmaq

The Burying the Hatchet ceremony happened in Nova Scotia on June 25, 1761 and was one of many such ceremonies in which the Halifax Treaties were signed. The treaties ended a protracted period of warfare which had lasted more than 75 years and encompassed six wars between the Mi'kmaq people and the British. The Burying the Hatchet ceremonies and the treaties that they commemorated created an enduring peace and a commitment to obey the rule of law.

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

Jerry Lonecloud served as an entertainer, ethnographer, and medicine man among the Mi'kmaq people in Nova Scotia. His oral memoirs, comprising Mi'kmaw oral histories and legends, were documented from 1923 to 1929. These memoirs were later compiled into a book—Tracking Dr. Lonecloud: Showman to Legend Keeper—by ethnographer and historian Ruth Holmes Whitehead at the Nova Scotia Museum in Halifax in 2002. These recordings laid the foundation for the 2002 biography, the first known Mi'kmaq memoir. According to Whitehead, Lonecloud could "rightly" be called the "ethnographer of the Micmac nation."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Edward Cornwallis</span>

The Statue of Edward Cornwallis was a bronze sculpture of the military/political figure Edward Cornwallis atop a large granite pedestal with plaques. It had been erected in 1931 in an urban square in the south end of Halifax, Nova Scotia, opposite the Canadian National Railway station. Cornwallis was the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (1749–1752) and established Halifax in 1749. A Cornwallis Memorial Committee was struck in the 1920s and a statue was raised to pay tribute to Cornwallis and to promote tourism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of the Mi'kmaq</span> Militias of Mikmaq

The military history of the Mi'kmaq consisted primarily of Mi'kmaq warriors (smáknisk) who participated in wars against the English independently as well as in coordination with the Acadian militia and French royal forces. The Mi'kmaq militias remained an effective force for over 75 years before the Halifax Treaties were signed (1760–1761). In the nineteenth century, the Mi'kmaq "boasted" that, in their contest with the British, the Mi'kmaq "killed more men than they lost". In 1753, Charles Morris stated that the Mi'kmaq have the advantage of "no settlement or place of abode, but wandering from place to place in unknown and, therefore, inaccessible woods, is so great that it has hitherto rendered all attempts to surprise them ineffectual". Leadership on both sides of the conflict employed standard colonial warfare, which included scalping non-combatants. After some engagements against the British during the American Revolutionary War, the militias were dormant throughout the nineteenth century, while the Mi'kmaq people used diplomatic efforts to have the local authorities honour the treaties. After confederation, Mi'kmaq warriors eventually joined Canada's war efforts in World War I and World War II. The most well-known colonial leaders of these militias were Chief (Sakamaw) Jean-Baptiste Cope and Chief Étienne Bâtard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peace and Friendship Treaties</span> Peace treaties between various bands of the Miꞌkmaq and the British in Halifax, Nova Scotia

The Peace and Friendship Treaties were a series of written documents that Britain signed between 1725 and 1779 with various Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet), Abenaki, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy peoples living in parts of what are now the Maritimes and Gaspé region in Canada and the northeastern United States. Primarily negotiated to reaffirm the peace after periods of war and to facilitate trade, these treaties remain in effect to this day.

Cook's Cove is a settlement that overlooks Chedabucto Bay in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia.

References

  1. Bennett, Paul W. (June 29, 2011). "How Solid is the Case against Cornwallis?" (PDF). Chronicle Herald. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  2. Hubbard, Tasha (Summer 2009). "Indigenous Histories". Canadian Literature (201): 178–180.
  3. Mullin, Michael (Autumn 1995). "We Were Not the Savages (Book Review)". American Indian Quarterly . 19 (4): 588–90. doi:10.2307/1185579. JSTOR   1185579.
  4. "First Nations History - We Were Not the Savages". Daniel N. Paul. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  5. Paul, Daniel N. (2000). We Were Not the Savages: A Mi'kmaq Perspective on the Collision Between European and Native American Civilizations (Paperback ed.). Halifax, Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing. pp.  359. ISBN   1-55266-039-7.