Week 2 Blog Post: Honoring the Massachusett People and Their Legacy in Cambridge

 The Massachusetts state flag shows a Native American figure holding a bow and a disembodied sword overhead. This flag attempts to reflect the colonial history of the region, but ultimately provides a simplified and romanticized version of that past. The figure is dressed in traditional attire and is portrayed in a static and submissive posture. Furthermore, he is overshadowed by a sword which symbolizes colonial dominance. This imagery reflects the perspective of European settlers and the authority they seeked to impose, but it contrasts with the actual history of the Massachusett people.The Massachusett tribes had complex social, political, and economic systems well before European contact. The sword hovering over the figure is particularly problematic, as it embodies the threat of violence and subjugation that came with colonization, rather than honoring the agency, resilience, and leadership of the indigenous population.

The history presented on the Massachusett Tribe's website portrays a very different story. The Massachusett confederacy, led by Sachems like Chickataubut, governed a thriving society that spanned from Salem to Plymouth. There were villages along the Neponset and Charles Rivers. Long before the arrival of European settlers, the Massachusett people were skilled hunters, farmers, and artisans, with quarries for tools and weapons, large planting fields, and complex systems of governance. They were self-sufficient, planting crops such as corn, beans, and squash, and managing their resources for both their own use and for trade. The English settlers, however, introduced diseases that decimated the population, killing around 80% of the indigenous people by 1616. This was followed by land dispossession, forced relocations, and violent clashes, such as the 1623 Wessagusset massacre, where English forces led by Myles Standish killed several Massachusett warriors, further fracturing the tribe.

One of the most significant issues raised on the tribe’s website is the concept of land ownership, which was misunderstood by the English settlers. The Massachusett people viewed land as communal and not something to be sold, whereas the English, believing they had purchased it, claimed much territory. This misunderstanding led to disputes, with Sachem Chickataubut consenting to English "occupancy" but never relinquishing the land in the way the settlers perceived. As a result, the tribe was gradually pushed onto less fertile lands, such as Ponkapoag, where they struggled to maintain their way of life. In spite of these hardships, the Massachusett people preserved their cultural identity and passed down their traditions through oral histories, storytelling, and rituals like dance and drumming.

To appropriately memorialize the first occupants of Cambridge, I would propose a monument that honors their resilience and educates the public about the true complexity of their society. This monument could be placed in Harvard Square and consist of multiple elements. For example, a central statue could depict Sachem Chickataubut, not in a passive pose like the figure on the state flag, but as a leader standing tall, representing his leadership and defiance in the face of colonial pressures. Around this central figure, plaques could provide detailed historical context about the Massachusett confederacy, including their agricultural practices, their matriarchal social structure, and the quarries and planting fields that sustained their economy.The design could incorporate artistic representations of their traditional dwellings, known as wetus, and symbolic references to their sustainable way of life, such as the "Three Sisters" crops—corn, beans, and squash—which they cultivated. The monument could also include a map of the historical Massachusett territories, showing the extent of their lands before European colonization, juxtaposed with the drastically reduced areas they were forced to occupy afterward, such as Ponkapoag.