Roughly three decades ago a country lawyer from Maine unearthed a
forgotten 18th-century federal law and sparked a series of large Indian
land claims that led to federal recognition for a number of tribes
throughout the Northeast, including the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
(Aquinnah).
Marking a potentially historic moment for town-tribal relations, Aquinnah voters next week will decide whether to adopt an untested land use agreement that bridges two governments: the town and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah).
The purpose of the document is to resolve a longtime dispute over who has authority to issue permits, and to prevent future lawsuits like the four-year landmark sovereignty case that cost the town, tribe and private citizens a great deal of money and goodwill.
Cheryl Andrews-Maltais’s landslide victory as chairman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) last Sunday stunned some tribal members, and while the chairman-elect was surprised by her margin of victory, her opponent said he was not.
After a brief public hearing and a whirlwind deliberation session, the Martha's Vineyard Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a community center for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) on Black Brook Road.
The community center is in fact already partially built. The tribe first broke ground on the center in the spring of 2004; the building remains half-finished.
BOSTON — The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) publicly stepped back into the casino game this week, as tribal leaders formally announced that they have formed a business partnership with Seneca Nation, an upstate New York tribe that owns and operates three successful casinos.
Aquinnah Wampanoag tribal chairman Donald Widdiss announced the partnership at a press conference at the Omni Parker House in Boston late Wednesday morning, although news of the partnership had been reported in the regional print press early this month.
When the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) broke ground on a community center building in the spring of 2004, tribal leaders envisioned it as an important gathering place, and said young members would be shooting hoops inside the new gymnasium by the end of the summer.
Three years later, the building is still unoccupied, sitting half-finished on tribal lands.
The third annual Aquinnah Youth Powwow on Sunday will have an Ivy League flavor. Not that Polos and Dockers will replace traditional breech clouts and jingle dresses, but this year the event, hosted by the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), will include 120 graduate students from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, courtesy of Tobias Vanderhoop, a prime mover in this event produced by tribal young people.
For the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) on Tuesday, Cranberry Day was more about culture and heritage than the pragmatic crop-gathering aspects of 100 years ago. Several dozen tribal members gathered around a fire all day on a sandy spot in the dunes at Lobsterville beach for communal and historic sharing,
That’s an appropriate use for the fall harvest Wampanoag national holiday, according to Cheryl Andrews-Maltain, tribal historic preservation officer and a candidate for tribal chairman in the upcoming elections next month.
The Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities has awarded matching grants totaling $48,645 in support of eight humanities projects in communities across the state. Five of the grants, totaling $33,645, were made under the theme Liberty and Justice for All for projects that explore these fundamental principles in American political life and their interplay, past and present.
While the vestiges of hurricane Hanna whipped rain onto the Aquinnah Circle and sucked at the canvas tent covering Saturday’s annual youth powwow, inside spectators dropped bills on the grass for fancy dancer Savannah Maher, 13, from Mashpee.
Rarely using more than the balls of the feet inside her moccasins, champion dancer Savannah swung and hopped her way around the tent, sending blue and yellow ribbon work flying out from her tribal dress. Dots of make-up spread out symmetrically from each eye and a single scalp feather shot up above her fabric-adorned braids.
