The Public History of King Philips War
The October program, “Public History of King Philip’s War: A Panel Discussion” was offered jointly by the Wayland Free Public Library, the First Parish in Wayland and the Historical Society. If you missed this fascinating discussion, you may see it here. The program began with a Land Acknowledgement, an honest and historically accurate way to recognize the traditional First Nations of a place. A Land Acknowledgement recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ principal kinship to the land and the fact that those people have not and cannot be erased from that land.We are learning that a land acknowledgement is meaningful when it is coupled with authentic and sustained relationships with Indigenous communities.
We, as a community, have work to do. A start is to reflect on the words of the Rev. May’s Land Acknowledgement: Today, as we begin, we would like to acknowledge the following Indigenous Peoples on whose traditional homelands we live, work and gather: the Massachusett, the Nipmuc, the Wampanoag, and the Pawtucket; we acknowledge their ancestors, particularly Karto of the Massachusett tribe, who was steward of much of the land now encompassing Sudbury and Wayland when European settlers arrived to colonize this place in 1638.
We seek to understand, acknowledge, and remember the painful, ongoing history of war, genocide, and forced removal of Indigenous peoples by European settlers. And we offer a living celebration of the Indigenous communities who are not just part of the past, but who continue to live and make new history here today. May we all commit to deepening our relationships with Indigenous communities and to being their allies in working for justice.
