Pittsfield — The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) is sponsoring “We Are Still Here: Indigenous Peoples of The Northeast University Days,” which includes various art shows, music performances, and tours of historical sites, through September 29.
Katherine Kidd, a retired professor, and teacher at OLLI is a co-organizer of the series of events. “I think that erasure of Indian communities is a part of our history,” Kidd said in an interview with The Berkshire Edge. “There are plenty of history books that say that there weren’t any Native Americans in Western Massachusetts after 1781 when the Mohican community left. But we know that Native Americans have continued to live here. In the 1970s, Native American communities in Massachusetts started to be recognized. We’re holding these series of events partly to remind people that the Mohicans didn’t die out. They’re still alive and out here.”
Kidd said that, throughout history, Massachusetts would sponsor actions to obliterate Native American communities. “In Massachusetts, from the 1690s to the 1750s, people got paid about $3,000 to show that they had gotten rid of some Native Americans,” Kidd said. “It was a scout bounty that was paid by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. We have books that tell us there were not Native Americans in New England, but now we have 10 federally recognized tribes in New England.”
Kidd added that Native American communities continue to grow in New England. “They have been able to reclaim their language and, in some ways, they’re more visible to us today than they were 30 years ago,” she said. “We’re holding these musical performances, lectures, and art shows because these are good ways to learn about a culture that is different from your own. For Native Americans, music and art are forms of spiritual practice. It’s medicine and a way of healing. This is a way for us to engage with their culture.”
For more information about the series of events in the Indigenous Peoples of the Northeast program, go to OLLI’s website.
