General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPenobscots don't want ancestors' scalping to be whitewashed
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Most Americans know about atrocities endured by Native Americans after the arrival of European settlers: wars, disease, stolen land. But they arent always taught the extent of the indiscriminate killings.
Members of the Penobscot Nation in Maine have produced an educational film addressing how European settlers scalped killed Indigenous people during the British colonial era, spurred for decades by cash bounties and with the governments blessing.
It was genocide, said Dawn Neptune Adams, one of the three Penobscot Nation members featured in the film, called Bounty.
She said the point of the effort isnt to make any Americans feel defensive or blamed. The filmmakers say they simply want to ensure this history isnt whitewashed by promoting a fuller understanding of the nations past.
At the heart of the project is a chilling declaration by Spencer Phips, lieutenant governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
Issued in November 1755, it gave His Majestys Subjects license to kill Penobscots for this entire month. The reward was about $12,000 in todays dollars for the scalp of a man, and half that for a womans scalp. The amount was slightly less for a child. Settlers who killed Indigenous people were sometimes rewarded with land, in addition to money, expanding settlers reach while displacing tribes from their ancestral lands.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/penobscots-dont-want-ancestors-scalping-to-be-whitewashed/ar-AARsCpR
NewDayOranges
(692 posts)That scalping was a practice that Native Americans learned from being victimized by Western European trappers...
And here is a reference for me to follow now. Thank you so much for sharing...
Bayard
(22,110 posts)Especially now, when kids are only taught happy history.
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)at least the Romans, but it was here too long before Columbus.
There's archeogical evidence of scalping in rhe "New World" going back yo 600 AD. It also known that Plains Indians used scalping as means of psychogical warfare wirhout any help from us.
All this shows us not so much who are the bad guys, but the act of war itself is dehumanizing.