The Power of Native Women Online Resources
As a part of Historic Huguenot Street’s 2020 initiative to shed light on the history of women’s rights in America,
we were honored to present “The Power of Native Women” on Saturday, September 19, 2020. Due to health and safety concerns brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person program attendance was extremely limited. However, HHS and the program presenters were able to develop a virtual version of the experience in order to reach an even greater audience. By the conclusion of the entire four-day experience, HHS had engaged over 100 individuals who had tuned in from across the country, including California, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Florida, and even Ontario, Canada.
The feature presentation, along with three virtual follow-up sessions, which focused on the efforts of modern Indigenous women who are working to preserve their culture, were recorded and are now available to the general public for free.
Heather Bruegl streamed in live from Wisconsin to present “The Power of Native Women”. Bruegl, the Cultural Affairs Director for the Stockbridge-Munsee Community of Mohican Indians, spoke about the important role that Indigenous women have played, and continue to play, within their families and communities for thousands of years. Her talk focused on Native women throughout history who have broken down barriers to become soldiers, doctors, politicians, and activists.
The next three links provide you with access to recordings of the virtual follow-up discussions, which took place the week following the feature presentation.
The first follow-up session was with the event’s featured presenter, Heather Bruegl (Stockbridge-Munsee descendent and member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin). During the discussion program attendees were invited to ask Bruegl questions about her presentation, her present-day research, and her activism. We, additionally, discussed current issues being faced by her community, as well as issues being faced by Native nations as a whole and what we could be doing to help.
For the second follow-up sessions we chatted with Indigenous chefs Kristina Stanley (Red Cliff, Lake Superior Chippewa) and Quentin Glabus (Frog Lake Cree First Nations). During this virtual discussion, we learned about the research required in developing Chef Glabus’s menu for “The Power of Native Women” in-person event. We focused on the significance of cultural preservation through food and what is means to “decolonize native cuisine.” With Stanely we also had the opportunity to discuss sexism in the food industry and how she has faced such discrimination in her own career.
For the final follow-up session, we spoke with Lenaape language teacher Karen Mosko (Munsee-Delaware Nation Ontario, Canada) about her mission to revitalize what the government considers a dead language. Mosko detailed her personal journey in studying the language and discussed what it means to her to be teaching the next generation.
Interested in more? Be sure the check out these additional links:
See the 1677 Land Agreement made between the Esopus Munsee sachems (leaders) and the French Huguenot settlers by visiting the New York Heritage Digital Collections website. This more than 340 year old document, which is written in Dutch, includes the marks, or signatures, of several Esopus women (page 3).
Watch the construction of a replica wigwam, which was constructed at Historic Huguenot Street in 2017, through this time-lapse video available on YouTube. The structure was built by Barry Keegan, former Supervisor of Native American Programs at the New York State Historical Association and Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown, NY, with input from Historic Huguenot Street and Bonney Hartley, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Stockbridge-Munsee Community and HHS Board Member. Funding for the wigwam was generously provided by the Vernon D. and Florence E. Roosa Family Foundation Memorial Fund of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, and by the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.
Make your own version of Indigenous Chef Quentin Glabus’s Three Sisters Salad with a complete list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions. Share your final creation by posting photos of the dish to social media using #threesistersPNW and you could be featured on our Facebook and Instagram!
If you are experiencing trouble accessing the video resources or if you have any questions about the recordings or the in-person program, be sure to email us at education@huguenotstreet.org.
This online resource is generously sponsored by Indigenous Media Initiatives.
Land acknowledgement
It is with gratitude and humility that we acknowledge that we are learning, speaking, and gathering on the ancestral homelands of the Munsee Lenape people, who are the indigenous peoples of this land. Despite tremendous hardship in being forced from here, today their people and culture persist on reservations and in communities across the United States and Canada. We pay honor and respect to their ancestors both past and present, and we at Historic Huguenot Street are committed to building a more inclusive and equitable space for all.
Background information
The Esopus Munsee people inhabited and sculpted this land for thousands of years prior to European contact. 343 years ago, French Huguenots, Dutch and English colonists, and Esopus sachems and representatives met at the Kingston court to confirm the completion of a trade that had been initiated in May of the same year, 1677. Nearly 40,000 acres of Esopus ancestral land was being granted to the Huguenot settlers in exchange for stockings, shirts, weapons, wampum, and other items. Recent wars had had a significant impact on the native population. It is likely that the Esopus intended to eventually return to their ancestral homeland to farm, settle, and re-establish communities. However, as we know, this is not how the history of this region or its indigenous people played out.
The 1677 land trade agreement that I’m referring to, which is a New Paltz Town Record that is preserved in the HHS archives, is on exhibit today in our Visitor Center. Images and a transcription of this document can be found on the New York Heritage Digital Collections website, which has been shared with those of you who are joining us virtually. This document tells us so much and so little, all at the same time. Perhaps, one of the most special and unique aspects of the document, is the fact that it includes the marks, or signatures, of Esopus Munsee women who participated in and witnessed the agreement being finalized.
A matrilineal society, the Munsee traced lineage through the female line. Women had recognized authority roles within the family and the community, and participated in making important decisions that would have great impact on their people. The sick irony imbedded in our country’s history is that indigenous people would not only be stripped of their land, but of their culture, rights, and citizenship.
In 2020, we’re celebrating the sesquicentennial the 15th amendment, which granted US (male) citizens the right to vote regardless of race. This year, we also celebrate the national centennial of the 19th amendment which granted all women who were US citizens the right to vote.
Yet, it wasn’t until the Snyder Act of 1924 that Native Americans would be given US citizenship and could, therefore, enjoy the rights granted by these previously passed amendments.
After the passage of the 1924 citizenship bill, it still took over forty years for all fifty states to allow Native Americans to vote.
Through centuries of war, racism, discrimination, forced assimilation, refusal of rights, and more, Native people – and today we emphasize Native women – have broken down barriers and accomplished incredible feats, against incredible odds.