The Virginia Indians: Meet the Tribes

then in 1658 the Virginia General Assembly established the Mattapan I Indian Reservation and the tribes still lived there today yes don't you mean that there's Native Americans alive in Virginia yes absolutely yeah like me what you don't look native and you live like two houses over for me tella not all Virginia Indians live on reservations or wear ceremonial cloaks kenan is actually a member of the Chickahominy tribe really so right now there's more than one tribe in Virginia yeah right now there are 11 different Virginia Indian tribes recognized by the state of Virginia there's my tribe the Chickahominy in the Eastern Chickahominy there's also the matter panade the Pamunkey the Rappahannock the upper matter format there's the monocle Indian nation the chair knock not away they're not aware Virginia and the patter Warwick Wow I'll never remember all those names but now you know there are a lot of us okay but aren't all the tribes pretty much the same well even though all Virginia Indians have some similar beliefs and histories each tribe has their own cultures and traditions no two are the same Keenan would you tell the class a little bit about each tribe okay well right now there are two tribes that have reservations the matter Pernod the Pamunkey they signed treaties with England back in the 1600s the Mattapan our reservation is in King William County why is it called a reservation the reservation is land that has been set aside for tribal members to live or gather for this we knew that that land that land was our identity to help us hold on to who we were and our forefathers told us and they tell us to this day whoever you do do not let go of this land and we do not every year we have a powwow and we dance in it we draw a minute shows our traditions I'm proud that we live here on the reservation today the Mattapan our tribe has houses a church a museum a Marine Science Center and even a fish hatchery what's a fish hatchery it's a building where people raise fish the matter cannot raise American shed and they also tag fish watch the water quality and work with schools and other people in there to keep the water clean and healthy it sounds like a lot of work it is but raising shad is important to the matter for that because their ancestors use the fish as one of the main things they ate the Kentucky work hard to keep a fish hatchery on their reservation too the Pamunkey tribe also raises shad in King William County with our hatchery we've milk the male shad and squeezed the eggs out of the female shad mix them together and then they grow in the hatchery until they're big enough and we shoot him back out in the river because they have become endangered the American shad so that's why the hatchery but always the fishes were modernized now but we never forgot what we had learned by our ancestors the Pamunkey reservation also has a museum which has examples of one of the tribes oldest traditions pottery thanks to make pottery yeah the Pamunkey have started a pottery school and they try to fix ancient pots made by their ancestors we get our clay right from the river and we process it so it's ready then there's temper and that put into the clay so that have we fired still today our pottery will last in a fire pit for 50 years or more how long kind the Pamunkey been making pottery no one knows when they started but it was a long time before Jamestown was built if you didn't have plastic baggies or containers then you needed to make your own containers these pots were very beautiful and practical that's right but no matter what the Pamunkey indians made it was always here in Virginia we've never migrated or never relocated anywhere and we've always been here and we live on our ancestral grounds today just like we did thousands of years ago when the colonists came from England the Pamunkey were one of the most powerful tribes of the Powhatan alliance what was the Powerton Alliance the Alliance was made up of many tribes that lived in the area around Jamestown this alliance was led by Powhatan the father took honest yeah I've heard Pocahontas rights and Politan lived most of the air in a place called where welcome Oh along the York River where wins means chief kamoko means settlements another important tribe that was allied with Powhatan was my tribe the Chickahominy when Jamestown was first built the tribe lived close by at the mouth of the Chickahominy River but now most of them live around Charles City County when the settlers arrived they were greeted by upwards of thirty five tribes who indigenous to this area among them where the Chickahominy Indian did those tribes try to kick out the settlers because they live so close actually the Chickahominy and other tribes traded with the settlers and showed them how to plant corn and tobacco in fact Chickahominy means people of the course pounded corn we not only will do for our own people will do for other people that are in need I think that's one of the greatest things that we could say about the Indian people as they will help other people while Powhatan was the leader of many drives the Chickahominy had their own Tribal Council under him today they are still led by tribal council 12 men and women in the council they have a chief into assistant Chiefs all of them are elected by votes from the tribes members but like United States Congress the President and vice-president that's right and the same is true for the Chickahominy tribe Eastern Division the eastern Chickahominy tribe is located in New Kent County and they have a government like to Chickahominy tribe right and all the leaders are elected by tribal members understanding how governments work is important so that the tribes can work with the Virginia state government and the United States federal government sometimes tribes even work with other countries the eastern Chickahominy elected a new chief around the same time they made a trip to England where they taught about their tribe my cousin stepped up it's the chief of the tribe and he resigned and that's where I picked it up my first trip to England was the first time I was a chief so what makes the eastern divisions different from the other Chickahominy they were actually both one tribe until the early 1900s the eastern Chickahominy decided to make their own tribal government because it was too far to travel all the way to Charles City County for tribal meetings so you need to leave on a reservation no most Virginia Indians no longer have reservations but they do have areas that they think are the land of their ancestors like the Rappahannock who have been by property around their historic lands the Rappahannock tribes in king and queen county and they elected an richardson SG for 1998 since then the Rappahannock can bought over a hundred acres of land we've purchased some land within our tribal base we're taking that land back for the tribes possession for future development for housing and cultural development why is Lee Anne so important to these tribes many of our jigna Indians believe that the sacred and a blessing from the Great Spirit we operated and lived off of land and buy the land and so we have a philosophy that if the land is defiled and sick the people become defiled and sick the land is important to Virginia Indians because it helps them hold on to their heritage in ancient traditions we are doing classes on all the various traditions and children are taught the tradition and the meanings they've taught tribal values so that they know what's real to them in the world and what's important to them and the upper Matapan I also teach tribal values got from Adam for nachos in King William County are they related to the Mattapan eye tribe well both tribes little bit along the Mattapan our River but the upper matter for now live farther north in 1919 they built a one-room schoolhouse called the Sharon Indian School in the 1960s because of the civil rights movement Virginia Indians were allowed to go to Virginia public schools Sharon Indian School is one of the most important aspects of a history because of led our people to be able to get a formal education at a time when it was very difficult for any of our people to get any sort of formal education at all they were able to get to the seventh eighth grade and many of them weren't able to go on and get a college education because of that most Virginia Indians want to give their kids a good education they want them to go to college and get jobs that the parents couldn't give one of the things that I feel pretty strongly about the upper Mattapan eye tribe is that we were really really significant in trying to reach out and get our people higher education some programs have even been made to show Virginia Indian kids the good things about going to college these programs want to help all of the American Indians in Virginia like the Manson their tribe lives in the other cities of Suffolk and Chesapeake the Nansemond would like to build a copy of one of their ancient villages called mad anak which will have a museum hiking trails a place for pow wows a campsite a travel center and even grass sorry very ancient skeletons it's a really big project for these American Indians hey Kenan yeah it's okay they were singing Indian and not Native Americans well Indian would actually mean someone from the country of India when Native Americans or American Indians could both be used to describe this country as indigenous people and Virginia Indians would describe the state's indigenous people the people who have lived here before the Europeans arrived have been called by many names that were given to describe who we are Native American American Indians indigenous people anything that I'm seen as as long as it's seen in something respectful I don't have a preference the way I was raised to be proud of what I am no matter what people call you that makes sense Thanks sure we like to teach people about our cultures I want to see further education of our heritage of our culture of our respect for the earth for the Creator and an understanding of where we come from and what we are what we respect what we want to maintain as our culture and preserve this for the future generations so that's why they want to build matanov that's right and it's gonna take a lot of land another tribe that used to have a lot of land is the Monacan Indian nation the monican indian nation is in Amherst County but a long time ago the monican controlled half of the land that would become Virginia Wow so there were a lot of them still are with about 1,400 members right now the mana can own a large piece of land on Bear Mountain where they have their tribal museum school church cultural center and even burial grounds kind of creepy to live near a burial ground no actually the mana can bless this ground so that the land is very sacred it's spiritual to them our people have always been a culture of folks who honor their ancestors we were the mound builders in Virginia and there are still several mounds throughout Virginia that contain the remains of our ancestors blessing burial grounds is something they have been doing for thousands of years scholars say we probably been here 10,000 years maybe longer if you asked elders they say we've always been here archaeologists have recently found artifacts that make them think people lived here 18,000 years ago and then we've got one two three four blades two pieces of a point that put together these probably have not moved in more than 13,500 years if you look at the stone and the raw material and types of tools and things that they were making they were well-established here so they have been here for so many years they have many traditions like the monican who had a special role for women we are matrilineal that means we belong to our mother's clan not our father's women were the matriarchs among our people and they were not slaves or servants to the men of the tribe we could work in the fields we could skin we could hunt we could do all those things among my people we owned the property and the house that we lived in and the man only owned what he wore and the tools that he worked with and everything else was owned by the women back then the Chiefs had made a lot of power but we had the clan mothers and even the Chiefs would talk with these women about things that affected the people on a daily basis the women had a great deal to say in a lot of the things that the head of the tribes would do traditions like this help the Mon can pass on their heritage I'm making hummus supper vegetables which was passed down on my grandmother many many years ago I've been waiting around 50 years the hummus cycle basket or she is to story drive your beans come on Mary's another way of keeping their Heritage's by learning the ancient languages when the colonists came there were three major Virginia Indian languages Calgon Qin Jericho Yin and Ceylon they didn't almost speak the same language no just like in Europe different nations had different languages but a lot of tribes could speak more than one today many of Virginia Indian tribes want their members to learn to speak one of these languages to make sure the languages are never lost when Jamestown was built most of the tribes that spoke Algonquin belonged to the palace an alliance from a tapana the Pamunkey the Chickahominy in the eastern Chickahominy the Rappahannock the upper mattify the nazerman and the paddle Warmack only the monican spoke zulan in Virginia the Cherokee spoke Eric Oyen but they no longer hold any land in Virginia the two other tribes who spoke areas with an odd way and the chair knocking out away the Nottoway of Virginia tribe is in Southampton County they try to keep their heritage through their Community House an interpretive Center in capron Virginia it's done like a museum there is a museum but people who teach tell stories make crafts do art and put on shows all use the buildings and grounds historians have written about our tribe but none of them have lived here so the community house gives us the opportunity to tell our story and our own words me you're right Kenan these tribes really are different through time every tribe has its own unique challenges that make it evolve in its own unique way and are not the tribe that has changed over time as the chair na cuñado a tribe which is also in South Hampton County here they still learn to speak their ancient language we would blessed this great Commonwealth with three linguistic groups of tribes they are dong Cohen speakers the SU on speakers and the Iroquois on speakers we are Iroquois speakers in our tribal language again we say way to hunt a nice Anki Laska he Creator my heart sees Pocahontas and ki tarah hanta creator my heart here's but most importantly we say quick a hunt a nice and key básico my heart speaks while the Nottoway of virginia the chair knocking not away and the paddle will my tribes have been around in they weren't actually recognized as Virginia tribes until 2010 what does that mean all 11 tribes of the state had to ask to be recognized as an Indian nation by the Virginia State Government the paddle one my tribe is one of the recently state recognized tribes the federal one my tribe is in Stafford County and they were part of the Powhatan alliance so if they were in the pouching alliance they spoke out Cochran uh-huh the paddle war might work very hard to teach Algonquin and even have classes for anyone who was to learn the language huh you will find that on rosetta stone nope magic a Turkish beer paya tam young near paya fort Oh Oh Pookie near PI ear pop Amir was a taco coos now want to bend my knee mama Gwyn Scott fais bring guts Gail Kim now much effect occurs you know the parallel might also do a lot of ancient traditions like cooking all the fires making traditional homes and making baskets music arrowheads farming tools fishing tools fishing nets and tanning hides when we started realizing the traditional things like the tanning and the snares that type of activities were getting lost we started coming back together as a tribe started to doing these reenactments to help preserve our ancient ways I think that that is the single most important aspect of Indian culture their traditions and their crafts and things that they brought with them and if we don't teach these young people those skills they will be lost Pharaoh I can't be made a couple of dugouts what's the dugout it's the trunk of a tree carved out to make a canoe the Padawan Mike used a 90-foot tree to make to work in dugouts one was 17 feet long but other was 31 feet long well that could hold like half the class probably I found this big poplar tree had blown over in a storm and I figured it didn't make a good canoe but it was up in the woods so we need somebody to move him so I said we got the whole tribe involved so with the pattern while Mack the only tried to make stock-outs actually many tribes have that skill and opportunity Indians have many other common beliefs oh I know like your dancing and music sort of a lot of our traditions our spiritual religion is very important to most of Virginia's tribes today a lot of these beliefs are a mix of both ancient Indian spirituality and Christianity the churches were very very important in holding the groups of people together by holding homecoming ceremonies and things like that every year where people would come together the church was more or less the hub of our community our church was a focal point of our community still is today so is dancing part of your religion yes it is a part of worship dancing was a way that Indian people practice part of their ceremonies doing the dances was a way that they used to give thanks and even to say prayers as they would do their dances and they would walk and step and pray to the Creator dancing music and ceremony your clothes are usually parts of a spiritual ceremony called a powwow I've heard that isn't it like a big meeting sort of well what most people don't know is that powers are mostly spiritual ceremonies you may see what I think it looks like a party and although it is fun there are a lot of traditions that are spiritual what sort of traditions well like the dance area is called Ann Arbor and it is always blessed before the beginning of a powwow so that the land is sacred to us the Arbor is always in the shape of a circle and anyone who comes in should always walk or dance in a clockwise direction you should also come in and go out in the same place to keep the circle sacred people come together in ceremony United in the circle of life it is a time for looking forward and looking back we are all in the circle in that unbroken chain of existence so do you have powers after church every Sunday well we could but many of the tribes on Virginia want to use piles to teach other people each tribe has a large power every year and usually anyone can come and watch the ceremony where they can learn more about Virginia Indian cultures and traditions one of the important messages of a powwow as it conveys the identity of Native Americans to the rest of the American society many people who go to these powwows probably leave with a lot of ideas changed in their minds the whole reason that we put on the event mister educate we don't do this to entertain people because we can have a powwow and not invite anyone and it would be the same power for us most powwows also begin by thanking tribal members who have been in the United States military but you say it's fun too right yeah there's a lot of food music and dancing that's all a part of the tradition so the music is like Georgia songs that sometimes yes the drumming that's sacred to us most Virginia tribes believe that using a drum the spiritual and it's used in many religious ceremonies the drum is the heartbeat of a power the wood is nature trees plants the skin on the drum symbolizes our animals we appreciate all of it the music the drum as we sing and gather around it their spirits are uplifted in song and the songs that we sang a warrior songs of Prayer songs and their song of thanks and you can only dance your singing if you wear your clothes not all Virginia Indians dress and regalia to dance and sing but the ceremonial clothes are part of the powwow so you don't have to wear that stuff to the grocery store most of time for Jimmy Indians only wherever Gary its powers and other religious ceremonies even though we could wear them all the time most tribal members wear the same clothes to work at school as everyone else the regalia is what we were to show honor and respect to our ancestors and to try to hold on to part of where we've come from but that we are just plain people who live just like everybody else working at the doctor's office is named American I had pictures on my desk my friend and I with their regalia and people come up to me and they say are you really Indian and I say of course I'm Chuck aha me and they've never heard of that it just used to those big tribes so they don't think I'm a real Indian because they never heard of Chickahominy but we call the ceremonial clothes were Delia not costumes we wear regalia that's a lot like what our ancestors used to wear most of it is made from Diskin in different animal furs so everyone was the same thing most of the Virginia Indians who are Diskin that was what they had close by the triumph of Virginia are all a part of the Eastern woodlands Indians this group was made up of all the tribes in the east half of the land that would become the United States because the land was mostly woods the same plants and animals were close by to all the trials of the Eastern woodlands Indians so they had a lot of the same ways of making clothes tea and houses yeah they all live in teepees right no those were actually built by the Midwestern tribes most of the Eastern woodland Indians but long houses they were made from Flint trees bitten to the shape of a long barrel then they were usually covered with grass mats although most of them were very long the Monacan usually made theirs looks like a circle so they could fit a lot of people definitely and they lasted a long time most long houses could be used by many generations of the same family inside they usually had fur bed storage and even a fire pit the ceiling usually had open and so that the smoke could escape all of their houses clothes and food came from the lands natural resources like corn and Chad right the eastern woodland Indians a different food during different seasons of the year in the spring they could gather berries and catch the most fish in the summer they could usually farm being scorned and squash in the fall they can gather their crops and in the winter they had to use food they had saved from the rest of the year but they could still catch and eat birds they actually hunted all year long and ate a lot of deer all of their food could be stored and cooked right inside their long houses but you guys don't look at the bunk houses anymore no Virginia Indians living also it's a house Virginia Indians are everywhere dela they're your friends co-workers neighbors and classmates that's neat thanks Kenan you're welcome yeah thanks for sharing I like to help people learn more about Virginia Indians because there are a lot of things people think about us that aren't true one thing I really want people to understand is that we're still we're still here we're still here we're still here we're still here we're still here we're still here we're here today and we're not going anywhere

Channel: dellayoung

Views: 25,625

Rating: 4.712121 out of 5

Keywords: Virginia Indians, Native Americans In The United States (Ethnicity), Chickahominy tribe, Mattaponi, Pamunkey, Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Rappahannock, Upper Mattaponi, Nansemond, Monacan Indian Nation, Cheroenhaka Nottoway, Nottoway of Virginia and the Patawomeck tribes of Virginia.

Id: 3B2qp0r-Zxk

Length: 25min 9sec (1509 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 17 2015