Blog: Voices of Decolonization

by Meadow Dibble Upper and Lower Negro Island. Uncle Tom’s Mountain. White S-word Island. Some of Maine’s most beautiful islands, summits, and brooks are marred by racist names that are offensive to Black and...

Beyond the Claims– Stories from the Land & the Heart  Wabanaki REACH, a Native-led nonprofit organization, has launched its newest truth-telling initiative focused on the Maine Indian land claims, Beyond the Claims– Stories from...

by Brian Altvater   During the last few cold and windy days of December, I decided to hike to the top of Black Mountain. I was very excited, especially since it had been a...

by Marieke Van Der Steenhoven, Special Collections Education and Engagement Librarian, Bowdoin College   How do you prepare to bear witness—even if from a distance—to genocide? Bringing the archive of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare...

by Maria Girouard   When I was first approached to work on TRC efforts, I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic. As a Penobscot historian, I was well aware of the legacy of trauma that Wabanaki people...

by Maulian Bryant   In 2015 the Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe voted to remove their Representatives to the Maine State Legislature. The Representatives held seats in the House (lower) chamber, could sponsor legislation,...

by Crow Suncloud (AKA Tom Newman)   From the dawn of history when the people were one and the gatherings weren’t of need but were life, there was nothing to turn back to, nowhere...

by Butch Phillips, Penobscot Nation   (An  excerpt from “`Wilderness within Wildness without’ by Bridget Besaw) During an up river canoe trip to Katahdin, our sacred mountain, my son Scott and I paused to...

by Erika Arthur   [Warning – painful content on Indian Boarding Schools below] In May, 2021 the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation of Canada announced that they had discovered the bodies of 215 children...

by Jeffrey Hotchkiss   In 2009, I learned of my connection to an infamous act of violence against Indigenous people. My family name was on the four cannon that helped to kill hundreds of...