The Algonquian People — An attempt at Correcting the Narrative

Before Europeans arrived in North America, the people who lived and thrived here were from many different ethnic groups; they had a linguistic system or language that allowed for communication across the entire Eastern Seaboard and through the Great Plains of North America. This language was called Algonquian, which means “To belong”. Some of the ethnic groups who belonged were the Wampanoag, Patuxet, Mohican, Lenni Lenape, and the Waccamaw. The Waccamaw were native to what is now called Cape Fear, North Carolina. As we explore the existence of the Algonquian people, some things; previously hidden will come into full view.

In 1524, a European named Giovanni De Verrazzano; was granted a commission and fleet to explore what became known as the New World on behalf of King Louis of France. As Verrazzano’s ship and crew sailed the North American coast, the boat anchored at what is now considered Cape Fear, North Carolina. When the team came ashore, much to their astonishment; welcomed by the Waccamaw, who had features and mannerisms that mirrored what Verrazzano had seen in east Africa. Their skin was full of melanin, and their hair was full of life, standing erect upon their heads. Upon meeting this ethnic group, Verrazzano immediately penned a letter to King Louis of France describing what he and his crew had seen. This event occurred ninety-five years before the events in 1619 at Jamestown, where the first Africans arrived, some nineteen of them.

European expeditions began moving further north up the coastline and through the many European journeys that were to take place. Encounters with dark-skinned indigenous Americans; continue to be omitted from the current historical narrative. For example, the Separatists arrived in Massachusetts Bay in 1620, met by the Wampanoag people and their Sachem, who was called Massasoit and was the leader of the Wampanoag Confederacy. Massasoit was able to communicate with these Separatists, as they referred themselves through the guidance of Tisquantum “Squanto,” who had been captured and enslaved by the English several years before. Tisquantum was of the Patuxet people, who, like the Wampanoag, were known for their indigenous features, Squanto had returned to Massachusetts Bay after escaping bondage in Europe, only to find that his people were all gone, due to plagues and war with Europeans who had come on earlier explorations.

The war between the Europeans and the indigenous people along the Connecticut River began in 1636. The Pequot were unmercifully slaughtered, and their survivors; were taken to Bermuda; ultimately enslaved on the existing plantations there. Customs, traditions, and sacred burial grounds were forsaken due to these actions. Religious practices were foregone and Christianity was forced upon these indigenous people, who seemed to be fairing quite well for centuries as they worshipped the creator by their own means without incident.

Indigenous people are a reflection of the soil they stand upon; thus has been the case all around the globe. Why is this universal occurrence inconceivable here in the land called America? It is due to the narrative being obstructed by traumatic events. According to Noah Webster’s 1828 version of his dictionary, the term American itself applied only to the aboriginal copper-skinned people of these lands. It is now a hijacked term and applied to the descendants of the European settlers who are not privy to the historical aspect of what the word American has evolved from.

Here is a picture of Crispus Attucks, who is a descendant of the indigenous Wampanoag people of Massachusetts through his mother’s bloodline. Attucks was first to die on March 5, 1770, during the Boston Massacre.

Respectfully,

Terrence Knox, Ed.M.