Native American Heritage
Celebrate Native American Heritage
The Woods Hole Diversity Advisory Committee and the Falmouth Community invite you to join us in celebrating Native American Heritage this November. We are hosting a series of events to pay tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native American Nations, and to encourage active self-education and reflection on the history and human culture of the unceded territories we now call home.
Native American Related Activities in the Community
Film screening in collaboration with the Woods Hole Film Festival
See the film’s title here.
This event is free and open to the public.
Scan the QR code below to access the MBL calendar for more information.
Working Together: Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Reciprocity and Environmental Stewardship with Dr. MaryJane Proulx
WE ARE THE LAND
Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre
219 Tremont Street Boston, MA
SEP 29-30, 2023
Experience the story of four centuries of the Wampanoag People in this beautiful play filled with song, dance, and spoken word
The Wampanoag people have been stewarding their land for over 10,000 years across several eastern states, including Massachusetts. After colonization, their voice was silenced. We Are The Land is part pageant, part play, where audiences will hear directly from Wampanoag people telling their story of their relationship to the soil, how it was taken away, and how the nation has re-established themselves in a way that both honors their ancestors and looks toward the future. In collaboration with a multi-talented cast of Wampanoag artists, actors, historians and storytellers, Mashpee Wampanoag tribal members, Siobhan Brown, Hartman Deetz and Kitty Hendricks have brought this incredible event to fruition. After its premiere in Plymouth, UK, We Are The Land will be in Boston for a very special two performance engagement.
2022 Native American Heritage Month
Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers
Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers
Saturday, November 5, 2022 3:00pm
MBL Courtyard
Join us and the Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers as they perform music, dance, and tell stories. Members of this group of musicians and artist come from multiple of the tribal communities of Cape Cod and the Islands (including Mashpee, Herring River and Aquinnah).
The performers dress in traditional clothing and the music is accompanied by a water drum and handcrafted rattles. The audience is encouraged to join the performers in song and dance to have a first-hand experience of the spirit of Wampanoag history, culture, and traditions.
Book Club
“Braiding Sweetgrass”
by Robin Wall Kimmerer
This book will be available to borrow from Falmouth and Woods Hole Libraries (hard copy and audio), and for purchase at Eight Cousins Books in Falmouth.
Book Discussion
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
6:00pm Falmouth Library
Hermann Foundation Room
Past Native American Related Activities in the Community
Indigenous Science in the Era of Climate Change
by Dr. Jessica Hernandez
Wednesday December 7, 2022 at 11:00 AM
The presentation will take place at Redfield Auditorium (45 Water St, Woods Hole MA)
Despite the undeniable fact that Indigenous communities are among the most affected by climate devastation, Indigenous science is nowhere to be found in mainstream environmental policy or discourse. And while holistic land, water, and forest management practices born from millennia of Indigenous knowledge systems have much to teach all of us, Indigenous science has long been ignored, otherized, or perceived as “soft”- the product of a systematic, centuries-long campaign of racism, colonialism, extractive capitalism, and delegitimization. In this presentation, Dr. Hernandez will analyze why western structures such as conservation, restoration, etc., are not working and offer place-based frameworks of land stewardship informed by Indigenous science. Dr. Jessica Hernandez (Binnizá & Maya Ch’orti’) is a transnational Indigenous scholar, scientist, and community advocate based in the Pacific Northwest. She has an interdisciplinary academic background ranging from marine sciences to environmental physics. She is the author of Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science.”
The Language is the Land
by Jesse little doe baird
sponsored by the 300 Committee
Wednesday September 14, 2022, 7:00pm
This exciting presentation will look at how we understand our relationship with the land, including the ways the language displays Wampanoag understanding of the planet, the creation of beings here, and how the language can inform the history of flora and fauna. 
“Bounty” film
Viewing event and Panel Discussion
Co-sponsored by the Mashpee, Falmouth and Woods Hole libraries in partnership with L.I.N.K. – Linking Indigenous & Non-Indigenous Knowledge. The panel includes two highly respected members of the Wampanoag Tribe.
“Bounty” reveals the hidden story of the Phips Proclamation, one of many scalp-bounty proclamations used to exterminate Native people in order to take their land in what is now New England.
Saturday, October 15, 2022
4:00pm-5:30pm
Mashpee Library Virtual event
We hope to see you at these events as we celebrate Native American heritage and pause in thankful reflection for our diverse community and the countless contributions of Native peoples past and present.