Album I’m listening to while writing this: Daisies of the Galaxy by Eels
On the day where the US celebrates its independence from England, I want to give some space to speak about the people that are long forgotten in this narrative, which are the people that lived on Turtle Island (North America) long before the Europeans ever “discovered” it. European colonization would not have been successful without the generosity of the Native Americans, and without the subsequent exploitation of them for wealth and resources. Without these people, the US would have never existed. And still, the US continued to exploit, murder, and force these people off of their land. Today, the US stands upon land stolen by Native Americans, who will never be probably repaid for all of the harm caused upon them by the US.
Even though I am not a US citizen, I live in the US and am therefore complicit in its damages. I have a responsibility to do better and learn about the harm caused to Indigenous people of the US. And by “Indigenous people” I do not mean a generalized community. Millions of Indigenous people made up thousands of nations on Turtle Island, each with their own histories, traditions, beliefs, etc.
Today, I want to tell the displacement of the communities that lived on the lands I now inhabit. Specifically, I will write about the Paiute and Washo tribes that inhabited the land now taken up by Reno, Nevada. I will also write about the Lenape tribes, which inhabited the land that Swarthmore College stands on, where I am currently a student at. Note: I am not an expert in any of these communities, but I did my research and this is a brief version of what I learned. If there are any inconsistencies, I would be more than happy to discuss and learn more.
Washo. The name Washo comes from the original name of Wa She Shu. These people lived in the Great Basin around Da Ow, now known as Lake Tahoe. The Washo found out from surrounding tribes about Spanish colonization during the 1700’s, although they never directly engaged with the Spanish. Because of this, they carried stories of invaders, and when fur trappers in the early 1800’s arrived to the Sierra Nevadas, Washo were hesitant to interact, but nonetheless offered gifts such as pine nuts to these trappers. In the 1840’s they witnessed the Donner Party get stranded (you can read about the Donner Party in US history books), and although they offered them food, the Donner Party eventually resorted to cannibalism, which terrified the Washo who lived in these winters but never committed these acts. So, again they remained hesitant to interact with invaders. In the 1840’s and 1850’s, the gold rush of California and silver rush of Nevada caused massive amounts of settlers to move west, which made it impossible for the Washo to avoid interacting with them. The settlers used sacred woods to build their homes, and built towns on top of fertile gathering areas. After destroying the supply of nuts, fish, and game, the settlers further stated that the Washo should leave the land they inhabit. Settlers suggested that Washo be moved to reservations around Pyramid Lake and Walker Lake, but this was to be a shared reservation with the Paiute (who spoke a different language) and would move them from the land of their Creation. Because the Washo were reluctant, and “they were going to die off anyways” settlers took back their offer and gave Washo no official land. It wasnt until the General Allotment Act of 1887 that they were offered land, which was usually in infertile lands with no access to water. After a fierce attempt to assimilate the Washo by forcing them into schools to learn English and US customs, the US finally granted the Washo recognition in the 1900’s for participating in WWI. Throughout the 1900’s they were given reservations around Carson City and Reno, but were closely watched by the US and forced to get rid of many traditional practices and customs because they seemed “immoral” or “savage” to the US.
Paiute. The name Paiute comes from Piute. These people also lived in the Great Basin, though comprised much more of Nevada than the Washo did, claiming almost everything besides the Tahoe area, though were mainly centered around Pyramid Lake. Unlike the Washo, they were contacted by the Spanish, although there was no major issues until US settlers arrived. Because the main group of Paiute relied on Pyramid Lake for fishing, and scarce resources around it, settlers quickly upset that access and this led to a series of wars between the Paiute and the US over resources, which frequently led to the US Army “ending” the conflict. After the Paiute refused to be put into a reservation with the Washo, they were given a reservation in Utah territory, which was very far away and had very little resources, so the Paiute refused to move. Through the Allotment Act, Paiute were finally given reservations around Pyramid Lake, though it wasn’t until the late 1900’s that they had ownership of the lake, and even then the US decimated the Paiute’s resources by redirecting rivers that flow into Pyramid, threatening two important species of fish in the river. (This is definitely the one I am the least knowledgeable on, so I would love some resources if you have them!)
Lenape. The name Lenape means “original people”, as they were widely considered by tribes around them. The Lenape were not one sole group, but made up of different clans that lived around the Delaware, such as the Munsee (Wolf Clan) that lived up north, the Unami-Unalachtigo (Turkey Clan) that habited central Delaware river, and southern Unami (Turtle Clan) that were towards the bottom of the Delaware. When William Penn arrived in 1682, the Lenape were very hospitable and worked with Penn to make a treaty about land rights, which Penn agreed to. As more settlers arrived, they asked for more land, which made the Lenape hesitant. in 1737, the sons of William Penn tricked the Lenape into giving up a large piece of their territory through something known as the Walking Purchase. The Lenape agreed to give up land that could be reached in “a day’s walk”, which included time to hunt, sleep, and gather. The Penn sons hired professional runners for this, which resulted in the Lenape losing land that stretched from Pennsylvania to New York. After this, the Lenape were forcibly pushed westward, and this caused the Lenape to split up as they did what they had to in order to survive. It is harder to write down dates and events for this because of these splits and migrations occurred, so I will try to write some overarching larger migrations, but keep in mind that there are some of many events to happen to the Lenape. Some Lenape, mostly from the Unami, chose to marry into white families to stay in Pennsylvania, and now make up the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania. Many of the Munsee and some of the Unami were forced north along with surrounding tribes and formed the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe in Wisconsin. Some of these went even further north into Canada. Other Unamani and Unalachtigo were pushed south to Missouri, to Kansas, and finally to Oklahoma. A lot of communities along this path were also created as some were unwilling to continue being moved. Alongside the Lenape were the Nanticoke, a tribe that migrated north after European contact with Jamestown. The Nanticoke existed with the Lenape before Penn arrived, so the Nanticoke stayed with Lenape around the Delaware area, with a majority staying around New Jersey after forced removal. Today, there are many recognized and unrecognized groups of Lenape around the US, with the majority of recognized tribes being those that were pushed south or north, and many unrecognized tribes around PA and NJ unable to receive recognition because of blood quantum laws (“you need to have a certain percentage of ‘native’ blood to be considered native'”) that have gone through their own processes of recognition with communities around them.
Those are the histories I have learned about the tribes from the lands I inhabit. Again, I want to say that these are brief histories, and I do not know all of the intricacies of the migrations, treaties, etc., but am doing my best to actively learn so I do not stay complicit in ignorance. If you have more resources, I would love to learn more.
If you want to take some time to learn more about the native history of the land that you are on, I invite you to visit native-land.ca to find out what Indigenous people lived on the land you are on, and then use that to find resources to learn about their histories.
Yours,
Oswaldo.
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