A new exhibit at the Tomaquag Museum in Exeter shines a light on the contributions of Indigenous peoples in the founding of the United States.
“Revolution to Reclamation, Freedom through Indigenous Sovereignty,” coincides with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. It provides visitors with the opportunity to reconsider the relationship between the Indigenous communities that have lived in southern New England for thousands of years and European settlers.
Ocean State Media morning host Luis Hernandez discussed the exhibit with Silvermoon Larose, assistant director of the Tomaquag Museum.
Interview highlights
On where the idea for the new exhibit came from
Silvermoon LaRose: There’s been lots of conversations happening in regards to the country’s semi-quincentennial. As a community organization, we were having conversations amongst our own Indigenous people, thinking, like, “What does 250 years mean for us?” It’s not the same as everyone else is experiencing, this celebration that’s kind of happening around you. There’s really a reckoning. That word – reckoning – just kept coming back to us. We’re reckoning with 250 years, and we are, in a way, reclaiming our space and our story as part of this nation’s story.
On what to expect from the exhibit
LaRose: It’s very broad. We cover topics like paper genocide; our understanding of Indigenous values in relation to land and government versus colonial and U.S. understandings of those things. We speak to Native service. Native people serve the highest per capita in all branches of the U.S. military, and they have since the Revolutionary War. The Revolutionary War was fought on Indigenous soil. What does it mean to have this war being fought for your homelands, and how do you make the decisions that are best for your community, and how to survive whichever way this war goes?
Those were really troublesome decisions that needed to be made by communities, and they didn’t know the future that we know now. They didn’t know the outcome, so they were doing what felt best for them at the time. Certain things were promised to individuals, and those promises were not upheld. So we are, kind of, speaking to those points in history where people felt displaced, dishonored by a government. Samson Occom was quoted in our exhibit, and he’s like, “The English tell us one thing and do another,” and that was, kind of, the experience people were having.
This exhibit is not meant to chastise anyone. It’s meant to inform. A tribal elder, Ella Secatau of the Narragansett tribe, said, “We tell our own stories because our history cannot be fully understood without our voices.” So this is our opportunity to add our voice into these conversations. We need communities that are informed. This is an active part of U.S. civics. Federally recognized tribal nations are political entities with a sovereign status, but that status is constantly in flux, and so we need an informed public to know that this is a part of your government. This is a part of your ongoing systems that are happening right now, and what does that mean when you’re sharing this space with other sovereign nations?
On how the exhibit honors Indigenous peoples who contributed to the founding of the United States
LaRose: For Rhode Islanders that are familiar with Rhode Island’s first regiment, this was the first integrated regiment in the U.S. military, and it had white, Black, and Indigenous soldiers that were all fighting in the Revolutionary War together. And why were they fighting? For some, they were fighting for their freedom. They were promised freedom for their participation in this war. Sometimes that was not honored. They were promised payment for service in war, and sometimes they (and) their widows didn’t receive those payments for their contributions.
So (we want to share) that kind of acknowledgement of these people who have always been a part of our military service. We also have some oral history recordings that are a part of this exhibit from our community members speaking about their military service and what that means to them. There’s a long legacy of proud military service in our community members, so we want to acknowledge, why did they participate?
On the immersive nature of the exhibit
LaRose: This is the first time we had the funding and the support to really do a comprehensive exhibit that totally transformed the [museum] space. So we always tell people, “If you’ve been to see us before, now’s your chance to come back and just see it totally reimagined.” It’s very immersive. There was a lot of input from the local tribal community, from native veterans. So many fed into this, so this is really reflective of our southern New England community.
This story was produced as part of Ocean State Media In Motion.
