The Wampanoag Tribe of Martha's Vineyard: Colonization to Recognition

by Thomas Dresser

The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head/Aquinnah are an indigenous people on Martha's Vineyard. From their legendary giant leader Moshup, Wampanoags can trace their ancestry back more than ten thousand years. The tribe weathered colonization by missionaries in the 1600s, then endured two centuries of domination, only to have their land taken in 1870. However, over the past 140 years, the Wampanoag Tribe, which still lives in its ancestral home of Aquinnah, has shown endurance and fortitude as it continues to practice traditional crafts and its tribal heritage. Thomas Dresser captures the spirit of the tribe, tracing its survival through to recognition by the federal government in 1987, nearly twenty-five years ago. Brief interviews with elders and current tribal members offer insight into the tribe's remarkable history.

194 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Ronnie]

We went to Martha' s Vineyard last w/ e via ferry with our bikes... This time we made our stop at Vineyard Haven....While biking around we stopped at "Bunch of Grapes" Bookstore....There were three books that I looked at. The book on Orwell and Waugh...the book on Custer's Last Stand ....and this one...I figured that I could get the first two books on the mainland at B&N in Leominster( they don't have either and neither at the other B&N around either..anyway that's for another rant for another time) This book that I picked is a goldmine of info re Martha's Vineyard and the Amerindian experience . It is a challenging book. I put it alongside a book I bought about ten years in British Columbia titled " Aborigines of America'. I had never thought that the Amerindians were aborigines.....but they are. The behaviours of the colonists upon first contact is a telling story. What occurred was repeated over and over throughout North America. It requires cold-blooded reading....this is so because anyone whose primary language is not English is a potential target of forcing one to forget ones culture and be the recipient of forced assimilation.....black...red...yellow...french....spanish.....episodes of forced accultrulisation are rampant throughout the book which is a microcosm what occurred and has occurred and still happens. The surprising part to me is the lack of books which address these happenings...By that I mean....everytime I've gone to Aquinnah and walk by those little stores ( which I still consider them tourist trappers) there are no books...I feel that more should be done......hopefully this rant will get something done...Gay Head (Aquinnah) is a sight for sore eyes.....Meneshma.......all those areas and more have more attraction/interest than ever before.....I do heartily recommend this book...There is a good bib and also a good jump off at further readings....RJH

[Jeffrey Williams]

I rarely rate a book with the lowest rating so this is an exception to the rule. It would require a book of similar length as this just to fix the historical, archeological and anthropological errors from the first half alone. In other words, it is not well researched compared to other books written by historians and anthropologists.

Dresser mixes modern oral history with cherry-picked facts and a lot of subjective comments to weave together a narrative that is only partially factual. He contradicts himself throughout the narrative and throws in his personal aside comments which leads to further confusion.

In other words, just skip this book. You'll be better off that you did.

[Gemini]

I was actually not to thrilled w/ this book, I guess I was expecting something better. I don't know what specifically about this made me not like it too much but I guess there are better books out there.

[Marie]

read for seminar