Surviving Document Genocide
© 1999 by Rose Powhatan
(Published in 2010 in: THE PEOPLE WHO STAYED: Southeastern Indian Writing After the Removal)
© 1999 by Rose Powhatan
(Published in 2010 in: THE PEOPLE WHO STAYED: Southeastern Indian Writing After the Removal)
Copyrighted by Auld/Powhatan
| ABOUT THIS PAGE: Hu'un was the Maya paper on which they wrote codices, with a mostly pictograph form of writing. Pawatun was the main scribe god. The Maya scribe, also depicted as a monkey, is seen in this masthead design. The Maya were writing 2,300 years ago and their script is part of ancient American writing systems. This method of recording history, commerce and myth seemed to have originated with Mexico's Olmec, the "mother" civilization of the Americas that also gave us the first team sport games, rubber and the rubber ball. All ball games played on a court or field had their origin in the Olmec game that the Caribbean's Taíno called batey. The Algonquian name "Powhatan" is similar to the Maya Pawatun and may refer to the rulers (men). The Powhatan people of Virginia told the English in 1607 that these men came from the south, the direction of Mexico, where some of the Maya live. The Maya were avid sea traders and Columbus's ship encountered a large Maya trading canoe whose captain became annoyed that the Spanish ship had run aground on a sandbar, blocking the Maya canoe's trip. It was at this 1400s encounter that Columbus first saw cacao (chocolate) beans, a highly valued Central American trade item and used as a monetary denomination. After all, corn (maize), a valued Native American food item, originated in Mexico in the south. |
NEWLY RECOGNIZED STATE TRIBES OF VIRGINIA
They are:
The Potowomek, for whom the Potomac River was named, originated as an Algonquian-speaking nation member of the
original Powhatan Confederacy/Chiefdom. The Nottoway nations belong to the neighboring peoples, one of the several
distinctive Iroquoian-speaking groups of Virginia and North Carolina. On the Treaty of 1677 at Middle Plantation, Virginia the
King of the Nottoways was the second signatory after Cockacoeske, the Queen of Pamunkey (Above).
On the weekend of September 18th and 19th the Nottoway Tribe of Virginia celebrated its recognition by the General
Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is one of the three tribes that had applied for recognition and was successful.
While the process of recognition was not without controversy, at the powwow, the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia's members
conducted themselves with the dignity and pride. To coincide with the occasion, they published a very informative 68 page
book titled DOTRATUNG (Do-Tra-Tung = New Moon) in which they tell their own story. One of the articles "Against All Odds:
The Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia and the Triumph of State Recognition" by Arica L. Coleman, Ph.D., details, with candor,
the tribe's rocky road to recognition.
===================================================================================================
They are:
- Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) in Courtland, Southampton County
- Nottoway of Virginia in Capron, Southampton County
- Patawomeck in Stafford County
The Potowomek, for whom the Potomac River was named, originated as an Algonquian-speaking nation member of the
original Powhatan Confederacy/Chiefdom. The Nottoway nations belong to the neighboring peoples, one of the several
distinctive Iroquoian-speaking groups of Virginia and North Carolina. On the Treaty of 1677 at Middle Plantation, Virginia the
King of the Nottoways was the second signatory after Cockacoeske, the Queen of Pamunkey (Above).
On the weekend of September 18th and 19th the Nottoway Tribe of Virginia celebrated its recognition by the General
Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is one of the three tribes that had applied for recognition and was successful.
While the process of recognition was not without controversy, at the powwow, the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia's members
conducted themselves with the dignity and pride. To coincide with the occasion, they published a very informative 68 page
book titled DOTRATUNG (Do-Tra-Tung = New Moon) in which they tell their own story. One of the articles "Against All Odds:
The Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia and the Triumph of State Recognition" by Arica L. Coleman, Ph.D., details, with candor,
the tribe's rocky road to recognition.
===================================================================================================
September, 2010
Diversity of resources at Riverbend has attracted visitors for millenia.
The article begins by saying: "An uplifted face, hewn from the wooden top of a modern-day totem pole, basks in the sun. It faces
east, where the morning light floods through a wall of windows at the Riverbend Park Visitors Center. It also faces the river.
Human faces have turned toward this majestic bend in the Potomac River for thousands of years as a source of sustenance,
trade and inspiration. Artist Rose Powhatan, who created the totem pole, counts her ancestors among them."
You may copy and paste the web page address at http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=3847 to read the Chesapeake
Bay Journal article in its entirety and also see the accompanying photographs. Ms. Powhatan's father's family owned large
tracks of land nearby. One property on which the Madeira School, "a girls' boarding and day school offering grades 9-12," was
sold by the family. Other tracks of their land was sold to build the CIA and areas in nearby Tyson's Corner. Her father and his
Tauxenent or Dogue relatives, hunted and fished in these woods like their ancestors did for millennial.
=====================================================================================================
The article begins by saying: "An uplifted face, hewn from the wooden top of a modern-day totem pole, basks in the sun. It faces
east, where the morning light floods through a wall of windows at the Riverbend Park Visitors Center. It also faces the river.
Human faces have turned toward this majestic bend in the Potomac River for thousands of years as a source of sustenance,
trade and inspiration. Artist Rose Powhatan, who created the totem pole, counts her ancestors among them."
You may copy and paste the web page address at http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=3847 to read the Chesapeake
Bay Journal article in its entirety and also see the accompanying photographs. Ms. Powhatan's father's family owned large
tracks of land nearby. One property on which the Madeira School, "a girls' boarding and day school offering grades 9-12," was
sold by the family. Other tracks of their land was sold to build the CIA and areas in nearby Tyson's Corner. Her father and his
Tauxenent or Dogue relatives, hunted and fished in these woods like their ancestors did for millennial.
=====================================================================================================
| NEWS ARTICLES BELOW (1) Newly Recognized Virginia Tribes of 2010 (2)Tauxenent/Dogue Exhibit at Riverbend Park, Virginia (3) Are "Indians" Indians? (4) Surviving Document Genocide |
TAUXENENT (Dogue)
EXHIBIT
AT RIVER BEND
PARK
EXHIBIT
AT RIVER BEND
PARK
The Fairfax County park at River
Bend in Great Falls, Virginia opened
a stunning exhibit on the Tauxenent
Indians. The exhibit also includes a
contemporary totem made by Rose
Powhatan and Michael Auld. The
article in an on line page
The Chesapeake Bay Gateways
Network article is by Lara Lutz
Bend in Great Falls, Virginia opened
a stunning exhibit on the Tauxenent
Indians. The exhibit also includes a
contemporary totem made by Rose
Powhatan and Michael Auld. The
article in an on line page
The Chesapeake Bay Gateways
Network article is by Lara Lutz
Photo by Cora Foley
Are "Indians"
Indians?
Indians?
- Indio,n Spanish."Indio" means Indian, as in
Native American. The more politically correct
word in Spanish is indígena, but indio is
also used, just like Indian in English. - Hindú, /hindoo/ n via Urdu to mid 17th
century Persian (pronounced in-doo in
Spanish. Indian from the country of India. - Dravidian n, Possibly the first people who
became “Indian”. According to a view put
forward by geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-
Sforza in the book The History and
Geography of Human Genes, The
Dravidians were preceded in the
subcontinent [of India] by an Austro-Asiatic
people, and were followed by an Indo-
European-speaking migrants sometime
later. - Indian, n., from Sanskrit sinduh, via Old
Persian Hindu “Indus” [River]: 1. A native of
the subcontinent of India. 2. Applied to the
native inhabitants of the Americas from at
least 1553, on the notion that America was
the eastern end of Asia. - “India”, n. More accurately Bharat, Bharata,
Bhārat, or Bhārata may be a transliteration
of either Bharata (Sanskrit: भरत, literally "to
be maintained") or Bhārata (Sanskrit: भारत,
literally "descended from Bharata") and may
refer to: “Originating from Bharata, brother of
the god Lord Rama.” - According to one source,
"the term 'Bharat' or 'Bharatiya' is not
universally accepted in India. It is
championed heavily by Hindu North Indians
and is not frequently used by South Indians,
Muslims, and Dalits; they may even feel
alienated by the term."
| Top left: “Indian on an Indian;” Silkscreen print of Pamunkey George Major Cook (a Virginia Powhatan tribe chief) advertising the popular early 1900s Indian Motorcycle. Silkscreen print by Rose Powhatan & Michael Auld Top center: Two Indian girls cooking rice in Jamaica. New immigrants from Northern India who came to Jamaica in the late 1800s as indentured workers after the emancipation of enslaved Africans. Bottom left: Evidence of pre-Columbian contact between India and the Americas? Disputed temple sculpture in Somnathpur, [India]. “We find two male and 63 female attendants to the deities holding the ‘maize ears’." CARL JOHANNESSEN ON ANCIENT INDIAN MAIZE, (p. 170) Bottom center: Etching of Columbus landing on Kiskeia/Haiti Bohio (later to become Hispaniola) Right: One of a variety of painted versions of Lord Rama. |
Given the above explanation for the name “India”, the people from that subcontinent do not necessarily refer to themselves by
the Persian word “Indian” from “people of the Indus River”. They use their own religiously associated Sanaskrit word, “Bhaarat”
(also "Desi") to refer to themselves.
Many of the popularly held notions about the Americas began in the Caribbean with the Columbian Encounter of 1492. The most
basic retention after meeting the Taíno in the Bahamas was that they were Indians in an extension of Asia. To Columbus, they
were, in color, like the Afro-European mixed people of the Canary Islands, a Spanish possession off the West Coast of Africa.
The English, coined the use of “Red Indians”, a designation that differentiated this ethnic group from the “other” Indians of India.
Growing up in the Caribbean, most people love to watch World Cup cricket played between, among others, India, Pakistan and
the West Indies. Who then is the real Indian? In this hemisphere, this dilemma of cultural misidentification began with Columbus.
The term became entrenched with the 16th century Spanish who created “a Juzgado de Indias or judicial zone [of the
Indians/Indies] that was established in the [Canary] islands in 1566” to control trade with the Americas. We tend to blame
Columbus for this dilemma, yet come to think if it maybe he did run into “the eastern end of Asia” in 1492.
.
Asia Extended
Asia [from the Greek name for] “the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern
hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.9% of its land area) and with approximately 4 billion people,
it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.” Wikipedia
Mix up the world’s population and every 3rd human you meet would be Chinese. Every 5th person would be from India. The rest
of the continent includes millions more of other Asians in East Asia and the Pacific. Added to these Asians, approximately
47,834,251,490 indigenous people who are genetically “Asiatic”, live in 16 countries in South and Central America. There are
roughly 3,672,790 in the USA and Canada. These overall numbers do not include the indigenous Caribbean populations or the
extremely large meztizo and other African, European and Asiatic populations with indigenous American genes in this
hemisphere. Even Europe (and possibly other areas) had its mixing of indigenous Americans soon after Columbus brought
some Taíno back to Spain. Some meztizos in the Americas obviously relocated to their father’s homelands in Europe and Africa
(For example, Jamaican Maroons to Sierra Leone and African Americans to Liberia).
Is the vast Western Hemisphere of the Americas also a part of Asia? Some folks think so. However, not according to some
writers. Yet, indigenous Americans, they contend, are believed to have come “from Asia over a land bridge that connected both
Asia proper and the Americas.” Indigenous Americans, at the time of Columbus, were genetically, philosophically and religiously
“Asiatic”. Columbus was on his way to Asia when he collided into the Caribbean homeland of these Asiatic peoples, the Taíno
and Island Carib. To him, they appeared to be Indios. Sailing down from the Guanahani in the Bahamas, he arrived in Cuba.
There he sent out an overland expedition to find the home of the Great Kahn of China. Until his dying day, maybe he was
rightfully convinced that he had encountered, explored and temporarily governed Indians (Indios) from the outer reaches of
Asia's subcontinent.
Who are the real "Indians"?
“East Indian” is not seen as a positive term by some people indigenous to the subcontinent of India. A close family friend, who is
from India, lamented that the word “Indian” should only apply to their people, is a frequent refrain heard among “true Indians”.
“Native Americans are not Indians”. Some Indians, like members of the Goins family (from Goans) originated from Goa, India and
married into Virginia’s Native American families as early as the 1700s. Some family members successfully defended themselves
in the state of Virginia against persons who erroneously tried to enslave them, since they had never been slaves.
The 1492 misnaming of peoples in an entire hemisphere is very confusing. They can be called “American Indian”, “Native
American” “Amerindian”, or “Indigenous Americans”. Even the word “America” may be troubling since it was coined from an
Italian named Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian man who never set foot in the Americas. The indigenous people of the Americas had
as many names for themselves and their territories as they had languages. The people whom Columbus met in 1492, called
themselves “Taíno”, which appropriately meant the “Good” or “Noble” people, a self-identifying concept that eluded both the
Spanish and Columbus. The Island Caribs, another indigenous Caribbean group, were appropriately called the “Strong Men” by
the Taíno.
Although Columbus was responsible for the first Caribbean misnomer, the other being Caribbean people as “cannibals”, he was
highly overrated as a “discoverer”. Many have now come to believe that, for indigenous peoples of the Americas, Columbus’
“discovery” of a “New World” was dismissive. The Spanish now distinguish between the indigenous people of India and the
Americas in the following way. Indu (in-doo) = the real Indian. Indio (in-di-oh) = Indigenous Americans. Today, when we call over
the telephone for technical help with our computer, we often get a real Indian on the other end of the line. Maybe we are talking
to people who are more “local” than we think. Remembering the invention of gunpowder, trigonometry, etc., etc., what makes it
equally interesting is that both they and the Chinese are well on their way to dominating the known world…AGAIN!
=====================================================================================================
the Persian word “Indian” from “people of the Indus River”. They use their own religiously associated Sanaskrit word, “Bhaarat”
(also "Desi") to refer to themselves.
Many of the popularly held notions about the Americas began in the Caribbean with the Columbian Encounter of 1492. The most
basic retention after meeting the Taíno in the Bahamas was that they were Indians in an extension of Asia. To Columbus, they
were, in color, like the Afro-European mixed people of the Canary Islands, a Spanish possession off the West Coast of Africa.
The English, coined the use of “Red Indians”, a designation that differentiated this ethnic group from the “other” Indians of India.
- • According to the British who colonized most of the Caribbean islands until 1962, people born on Caribbean islands
and South America (British Guyana) were called West Indians.
• In the Caribbean and Guyana an East Indian is a person whose family originated in India. Does this make them an
East Indian West Indian? Incidentally, some people from India are opposed to the term “East Indian”.
• Some Indians from the subcontinent (true Indians), do not think that American Indians should use the name “Indian”.
• To confuse matters worse, Native Americans often are misidentified as an Indian (from the country of India) by non-
Indians and people from India and other South East Asian countries. “Columbus made the same mistake,” is often the
reply by some Native Americans to the query, “What part of India are you from?”
• Pakistanis (pak = pure and stan = land) were Indians until they were partitioned from India, “which went into effect
on Aug. 15, 1947”.
Growing up in the Caribbean, most people love to watch World Cup cricket played between, among others, India, Pakistan and
the West Indies. Who then is the real Indian? In this hemisphere, this dilemma of cultural misidentification began with Columbus.
The term became entrenched with the 16th century Spanish who created “a Juzgado de Indias or judicial zone [of the
Indians/Indies] that was established in the [Canary] islands in 1566” to control trade with the Americas. We tend to blame
Columbus for this dilemma, yet come to think if it maybe he did run into “the eastern end of Asia” in 1492.
.
Asia Extended
Asia [from the Greek name for] “the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern
hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.9% of its land area) and with approximately 4 billion people,
it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.” Wikipedia
Mix up the world’s population and every 3rd human you meet would be Chinese. Every 5th person would be from India. The rest
of the continent includes millions more of other Asians in East Asia and the Pacific. Added to these Asians, approximately
47,834,251,490 indigenous people who are genetically “Asiatic”, live in 16 countries in South and Central America. There are
roughly 3,672,790 in the USA and Canada. These overall numbers do not include the indigenous Caribbean populations or the
extremely large meztizo and other African, European and Asiatic populations with indigenous American genes in this
hemisphere. Even Europe (and possibly other areas) had its mixing of indigenous Americans soon after Columbus brought
some Taíno back to Spain. Some meztizos in the Americas obviously relocated to their father’s homelands in Europe and Africa
(For example, Jamaican Maroons to Sierra Leone and African Americans to Liberia).
Is the vast Western Hemisphere of the Americas also a part of Asia? Some folks think so. However, not according to some
writers. Yet, indigenous Americans, they contend, are believed to have come “from Asia over a land bridge that connected both
Asia proper and the Americas.” Indigenous Americans, at the time of Columbus, were genetically, philosophically and religiously
“Asiatic”. Columbus was on his way to Asia when he collided into the Caribbean homeland of these Asiatic peoples, the Taíno
and Island Carib. To him, they appeared to be Indios. Sailing down from the Guanahani in the Bahamas, he arrived in Cuba.
There he sent out an overland expedition to find the home of the Great Kahn of China. Until his dying day, maybe he was
rightfully convinced that he had encountered, explored and temporarily governed Indians (Indios) from the outer reaches of
Asia's subcontinent.
Who are the real "Indians"?
“East Indian” is not seen as a positive term by some people indigenous to the subcontinent of India. A close family friend, who is
from India, lamented that the word “Indian” should only apply to their people, is a frequent refrain heard among “true Indians”.
“Native Americans are not Indians”. Some Indians, like members of the Goins family (from Goans) originated from Goa, India and
married into Virginia’s Native American families as early as the 1700s. Some family members successfully defended themselves
in the state of Virginia against persons who erroneously tried to enslave them, since they had never been slaves.
The 1492 misnaming of peoples in an entire hemisphere is very confusing. They can be called “American Indian”, “Native
American” “Amerindian”, or “Indigenous Americans”. Even the word “America” may be troubling since it was coined from an
Italian named Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian man who never set foot in the Americas. The indigenous people of the Americas had
as many names for themselves and their territories as they had languages. The people whom Columbus met in 1492, called
themselves “Taíno”, which appropriately meant the “Good” or “Noble” people, a self-identifying concept that eluded both the
Spanish and Columbus. The Island Caribs, another indigenous Caribbean group, were appropriately called the “Strong Men” by
the Taíno.
Although Columbus was responsible for the first Caribbean misnomer, the other being Caribbean people as “cannibals”, he was
highly overrated as a “discoverer”. Many have now come to believe that, for indigenous peoples of the Americas, Columbus’
“discovery” of a “New World” was dismissive. The Spanish now distinguish between the indigenous people of India and the
Americas in the following way. Indu (in-doo) = the real Indian. Indio (in-di-oh) = Indigenous Americans. Today, when we call over
the telephone for technical help with our computer, we often get a real Indian on the other end of the line. Maybe we are talking
to people who are more “local” than we think. Remembering the invention of gunpowder, trigonometry, etc., etc., what makes it
equally interesting is that both they and the Chinese are well on their way to dominating the known world…AGAIN!
=====================================================================================================
November, 2010. Updated, March 2011
Also Click on images
to enlarge
to enlarge
- [Document genocide (n. dok’y mont’ jen’ sid’), n. 1. the deliberate extermination of a race of people through
changing information about them in an official paper.]
Here I am, at 3:30 A.M., the day before the deadline for submitting this story, and the very morning of the first family reunion
of my father’s family that’s not a funeral. (Although I was enrolled as a member of the Pamunkey Indian Nation of King William
County, Virginia, by my late cousin Chief William “Swift Eagle” Miles, through my mother, my father’s family is one of two families
historically documented as “Indian” indigenous to Fairfax County.) I still can’t decide what to write about in relation to what it’s
like to be officially recognized as an Indian outside the indigenous community thanks to a cartoon movie about my ancestors.
Oh, excuse me. You, too? Okay. I’m an enrolled member of the Pamunkey Indian Nation. Never heard us before? Yes, you
have. Pocahontas was Pamunkey, and her father, Powhatan, is buried in a mound on our reservation in King William County.
That’s right. Now you know who we are. You just forgot for a moment. I’m not surprised. After all, I’m living in a country with the
curious distinction that your tribe can be changed and you can be erased from the Book of Life when you change your address.
Move off the reservation and you cease to be Indian. You never existed. You become a member of the “Walking Dead Extinct
Indian Nation.” That’s the reality of trying to be a survivor of “document genocide.”
Document genocide regulates your relationship to others with whom you interact on a daily basis. It’s not easy to be upbeat
about your tribal identity when most people around you constantly remind you that you are not supposed to exist. Even well-
intentioned librarians are smug in their knowing responses to my requests for information about Indians indigenous to my tribe’s
ancestral home region. They tell me that my ancestors became extinct through contact with European and African germs. When
I identify myself as an enrolled Pamunkey Indian, they act sanctimonious and try to correct me. They tell me I must be a
Cherokee or a Blackfoot. I’m told that I’m extinct, since all Indians indigenous to the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and northern
Virginia region became extinct “hundreds of years ago.” “Government Indians” who have come to Washington to work at the
Bureau of Indian Affairs and other federal agencies play the same game with me. Why, they even form social clubs and
perpetuate information about the people in the “official” organization mission statements. Supposedly, the main reason for
starting such organizations is because, in their view, “there were no Indians in the region” despite the fact that many members of
one such organization have repeatedly been shown hospitality by Virginia tribes, invited to enjoy the amenities of the
reservations (the Pamunkey and Mattaponi reservations, the two oldest in the United States.)
New Indian arrivals in my home area constantly inform me that “back on the rez” they have been told that there are no Indians
east of the Mississippi River. In response, I frequently reply to their ignorance by informing that, on the contrary, there are still
many here, and some are descendants of warriors who fought long and hard battles against the invasion of our homeland. I
encourage these Western Indians to return home and thank God that, because of us Eastern Indians, their ancestors were
given extra time to enjoy their culture before the onslaught of a European ethnocentrism that believed in destroying all vestiges
of indigenous culture whenever and wherever they found it. Southeastern indigenous people paid a very high price for the
misfortune of being the first to live in close proximity to the first permanent English settlement in America. While the English did
indeed come here for better opportunities than existed for them back in the old country, you might say that they actually bore a
close resemblance to a later group often found in the region, those known as “Carpetbaggers.”
Growing up under document genocide requires constant vigilance if you intend to be a survivor. Residing in the Washington,
D.C., and suburban Fairfax County, Virginia, area makes you painfully aware of the insidiousness of document genocide.
Whenever you fill out forms requiring you to identify a racial or ethnic designation, you are challenged by the intake personnel.
Since I’m a “carded” Indian, I show them my official tribal identification. Other Indians who lack the same papers generally have
their identities changed, after having endured a condescending lecture on how they should be proud to be a member of the
race to which the clerk’s “eyeball test” has thus relegated them. I have also had the personal experience of having had my race
changed without my knowledge. I’ve found out about it later on when I’ve gone back to get copies of a particular official
document. The Washington, D.C., Vital Statistics Office once informed me that I would have to retain the services of an attorney
if I wanted to correct the misinformation appearing on my records.
Oh, I’m a pro when it comes to administering, as well as taking the “eyeball test.” I have been teaching school in Washington
since February of 1973. Every year, homeroom teachers are asked to fill out an official ethnic designation “head count” form to
identify the races of the students in their classrooms. Teachers are instructed to survey the class, and then, by casually
glancing at the students, write down on the form how they “fit” in the various racial classifications. One year, I asked students to
raise their hands if they knew they had a family history of descendants from indigenous American ancestors. Most of the
students raised their hands in affirmation of having Indian ancestors, I wasn’t surprised. When I was appointed by the secretary
of the interior to the nine-member Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Nation Committee, I engaged in in-depth research
on African displacement in the American South. The committee’s findings revealed that since the overwhelming majority of
Africans brought to America were male, and since so many male Indians had been killed in conflict with invading colonists or
made into slaves and absorbed into African slave groups, it generally holds that most African Americans claiming Indian
ancestry will cite a particular Indian woman in their lineage to show their claim to Indian heritage. European Americans like to
refer to this country as the “New World.” More appropriately, it should be called the “Widowed World”. Countless Indians are
“hiding out” or “passing” in African and European American communities, due in great part to the eternal shame of the legacy of
slavery. To add to this travesty is the recent trend of calling legally enrolled Indian people “black Indians” instead of their more
correct tribal names. Misguided authors in search of a quick buck or instant public attention perpetuate this racist misnomer.
“Where are you from honey?” Is the question I have been asked my entire life. It is a question that is never asked of me by
indigenous people. Nonindigenous Americans have made me conscious that I don’t “fit in” no matter where I go. Most people
assume I am a Latina or I’ve recently arrived from the subcontinent of India. Hispanic people speak to me in Spanish and grow
angry or impatient with me when I respond to them in English. Continental Indians are accepting of me when I am by myself, but
frown when they see me with my Taíno Jamaican husband. I’m not surprised at both groups’ reactions to me. It’s a commonly
held joke in the Indian community that Latino people are really Indian cousins from the South, coming up North to help us
repopulate the United States of America with Indian people. As for mistaken Hindu Indian identity, one can always remember that
Christopher Columbus made the same mistake when he landed in the Caribbean and encountered the Taíno (one of several
Arawak-speaking tribes) and Carib people. We have all been called Indians ever since that fateful encounter.
In the school year of 1994-1995, when I was on a Fulbright Teacher Exchange Fellowship to the United Kingdom, a colleague
from Spain told me that I was called an “India” whereas someone from India was called an “Indu”. It would seem as though the
Spanish are still confused about who we are. I found that the Brits and Africans in the UK also had the same problem in
recognizing my true identity. After each of the three times I had been mugged in London, the police reported the incidents as
“Paki-bashings,” a term used to designate crimes perpetuated against Southeast Asians.
My most memorable and positive experience during my Fulbright year was due mainly to my ancestral cousin, Pocahontas. Oh, I
know what you’re thinking — “Here we go, back to the Disney cartoon story:” No, it’s not at all related to make-believe. After the
last time I had been assaulted in London, I decided to go to Gravesend, Kent, where Pocahontas is buried in the St. George’s
Church of England sanctuary. I wanted to lay some flowers at the foot of the statue erected to her memory (the statue is a twin
to the one erected at the original site of Jamestown, Virginia), and pray, since she was the closest link to home that I had in
England. I had initially planned to go to Gravesend on March 21, 1995, which would have coincided with the anniversary of her
death date in 1617. There was a mix-up at the railroad station, and I wasn’t able to complete my journey. As a result, I was a day
late arriving in Gravesend. However, March 22nd was a more personally significant day for me since it is the day, in 1622, that
Opechancanough (brother of Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas, and his successor—because of his place in the matrilineal
line of descent—as head of the Powhatan Confederacy, following Powhatan’s death in 1618) launched his war against English
imperialists in Virginia.
When I arrived at St. George’s, the church just happened to be open for a special service, although it was usually closed on that
day of the week. I went inside and identified myself to the pastor, the Reverend David Willey. He seemed genuinely glad to meet
me. He told me about a special teacher at the church named Di Coleman, who was currently writing a play in honor of the 400th
anniversary of Pocahontas’s birth. He said that she would welcome my help with the production and that the children of the
church’s school would benefit from my working with them. I called the school and received permission from Head Teacher Jean
Bannister to give a lecture at the school and to work with the Resolution Theater Group, directed and sponsored by Di Coleman.
I assisted Ms. Coleman as cultural consultant, set designer, and costume designer, and it was truly a godsend experience.
The experience, however, stands out in stark contrast with that of my initial dealings with the Disney Corporation when they
began their work on Pocahontas. Soon after I had agreed to work with them as an advisor, when I insisted the true story of
Pocahontas should be told and not the fantasy it became, I was dismissed. Disney eventually hired one of my cousins to work on
the movie. She later pretended not to know that Disney would deviate from actual historical fact in order to fabricate the love
story between Pocahontas and John Smith. The movie was universally panned by well-informed members of the indigenous
community when it was released. My cousin benefited from her collaboration with Disney by being able to charge higher fees for
appearances as an entertainer.
My affiliation with the staff and students at St. George’s and Di Coleman remains one of the highlights of my life. There I was,
thousands of miles from home, being accorded respect and recognition that I had never experienced in my homeland. At the
end of the historic performance of the Pocahontas commemorative production (which was also performed at other locations in
England before it went on to the International Folk Festival in Scotland), I marveled at how far I had come to receive such
respect for who I was, instead of the ridicule that is commonplace in the United States. I thanked Head Teacher Jean Bannister
and the people of Gravesend for extending hospitality to me in the same spirit of humanity that they held for my ancestral cousin
Pocahontas. I felt as though I was partially repaying their kindness to her through the work I was engaged in with their children. I
was fortunate that document genocide against me and my people did not extend to the town of Gravesend. The Virginia Indian
presence is a viable part of the ongoing, living history of the town. Our history is shared by them as a legitimate source of
cultural tourism and a source of pride in themselves.
Where do I go from here? As an educator and curriculum writer, I lecture and write about the history and cultural retentions of
my people. I’m an active member of the “powwow circuit:" and I set up exhibits and displays, which celebrate the cultural
possessions of my people. I serve on numerous historic, educational, and cultural boards, where I can have a direct impact on
information and participatory events that are made available to both regional and national audiences. I’m both a Washington
Teachers’ Union building representative and a member of the Local School Restructuring Team, given the mandate to improve
education for young people at the grassroots level. As a practicing professional artist, my culturally based artwork is exhibited
through numerous venues and is, at present, touring the country in a show commemorating seven decades of American art. I’m
the founder/director of the Powhatan Museum and the Center for Indigenous Culture in Washington, which is affiliated with the
City Museum of Washington. I’m the mother of three sons, all of whom are dedicated to do all they can to help eradicate
document genocide that is directed towards indigenous Americans in courtrooms, schoolrooms, living rooms, and film-screening
rooms in this country. My never-ending battle continues, but I am determined that my people and I will survive document
genocide.
- Postscript: Ms. Powhatan was prematurely “retired” from the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) in 2002 in
spite of her many years of acclaimed successes by and with her students. She and her husband (also retired under
the same DCPS edict) continue to lecture on their indigenous cultures, and inform the general public about the
history, achievements and world impact of indigenous American cultures, both on the Internet, powwows and
various venues.
Front and back views of book that can be ordered from this website for $24.95
plus shipping.
plus shipping.
The author on a research grant viewing the original "Powhatan's
Mantle" at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University, England.
Mantle" at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University, England.
The author at the Pocahontas statue in 1995, Gravesend, Kent,
England
England
Rose Powhatan (Pamunkey/ Tauxenent/Dogue) is a member of
the Pamunkey Tribe of Virginia via her mother’s family and
Assistant to the Chief of the Tauxenents (Dogues) via her father’s
family. A teacher for more than thirty years both in the
Washington, D.C. area and the United Kingdom, she is a
prominent artist who has had many exhibits of her work
throughout the United States and England. She holds B.F.A.
(cum laude) and M.A. degrees from Howard University. She has
done graduate work in history, humanities, education and
administration at universities in the USA and the UK. Powhatan
has served on numerous boards, including the Maryland
Commission on Indian Affairs, American Association of Museums,
the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and is a
member of the American Indianan Society of Washington, D.C.
She has published articles in journals and newspapers, such as
The Sun (Baltimore), Kent Today (Gravesend, Danford, England),
The London Times, and The Washington Post. Her film credits
include: Cultural consultant on the movie and role as a clan
mother , "The New World"; Acting in the role of Crispus Attucks'
Natick Indian mother in the HBO mini series, "John Adams"; She
has appeared in a number of film documentaries including one by
the Jamestown Settlement Park on the Powhatan Confederacy.
the Pamunkey Tribe of Virginia via her mother’s family and
Assistant to the Chief of the Tauxenents (Dogues) via her father’s
family. A teacher for more than thirty years both in the
Washington, D.C. area and the United Kingdom, she is a
prominent artist who has had many exhibits of her work
throughout the United States and England. She holds B.F.A.
(cum laude) and M.A. degrees from Howard University. She has
done graduate work in history, humanities, education and
administration at universities in the USA and the UK. Powhatan
has served on numerous boards, including the Maryland
Commission on Indian Affairs, American Association of Museums,
the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and is a
member of the American Indianan Society of Washington, D.C.
She has published articles in journals and newspapers, such as
The Sun (Baltimore), Kent Today (Gravesend, Danford, England),
The London Times, and The Washington Post. Her film credits
include: Cultural consultant on the movie and role as a clan
mother , "The New World"; Acting in the role of Crispus Attucks'
Natick Indian mother in the HBO mini series, "John Adams"; She
has appeared in a number of film documentaries including one by
the Jamestown Settlement Park on the Powhatan Confederacy.
Click on photos to enlarge
- Desi is another term used by people from the subcontinent. Wikipedia states that "Desi or Deshi originated from the Sanskrit word देश deśa--
('region, province, country'). It refers to the peoples, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and, increasingly, to the people,
cultures, and products of their diaspora." Especially in countries like "India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka,
[where] there are large desi populations (e.g.) the UK, US, Canada and other western countries as well."