By Amy Miller
During college I spent a Columbus Day hiking in the Adirondacks with a friend who hobbled back down with a sprained ankle.
A few years later, as a reporter I was assigned to the annual Columbus Day community hike up Mount Greylock. This assignment was given to new reporters who might find something novel to say about trekking amid fall foliage.
Columbus Day has traditionally meant to me being outdoors surrounded by the orange, yellow and red leaves of fall. It has never brought images of the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, never prompted me to learn more about the Italian explorer who actually never set foot in what became the United States.
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The holiday has been renamed in Maine
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Now the holiday has been renamed in Maine and more than a dozen other states, including Alabama. Why did the state legislature feel it necessary in April of 2019 to sign a law renaming the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples Day? Since many of us look at this federal holiday as just a chance for a long weekend, we may have to stop for a minute to consider why the change is important.
In signing the renaming, Gov. Janet Mills said the new title would give Mainers “a time to learn and appreciate the history and culture of Maine’s first settlers.”
Each of the 11 federal holidays brings a day off and its own flavor. On Presidents Day we may remember the Gettysburg Address; on Christmas we may sing about Christ in a manger; and on the Fourth of July we often consider what liberty means in this country. Indigenous Peoples Day ideally will have us thinking about the population that was here – still is here – for millennia before Europeans arrived.
As a child, I learned of Indians as if they no longer existed. In fact, about 5.2 million native Americans live in this country, some half of them in designated tribal lands. About 9,400 Indians live in Maine.
The new holiday lets us learn of the history and culture of Maine’s four tribes – the Micmac, Maliseet, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy, which in 2020 formed the collective Wabanaki Alliance.
On Indigenous Peoples Day we may learn that Maine is the only state where native tribes can’t govern themselves under federal Indian law. A suit filed by Maine tribes in the 1970s led to an $85 million payout to Indians and to the 1980 Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act, which stripped away tribal sovereignty afforded to other tribes.
Most of us have little knowledge of the people who were here before Europeans came. Most of us know little about how and where they live now. Maybe our new holiday will take us further along on this journey.
By Guy Trammell Jr.
The Mvskoki Nation came to Alabama from the area of New Mexico, chased by Spanish conquistadors. The Nation’s central town was Talisi, located near Talladega. James McQueen, a Scotsman who married into the Nation, persuaded leadership to move Talisi south to Macon County’s Euphabe Creek. After the federal government ceded away the Nation’s land, white European settlers moved Talisi north, along the Tallapoosa River, and it became Tallassee.
Each tribe the Mvskoki conquered was adopted into the Nation, along with their culture. They occupied all of Alabama and areas in surrounding states. Their population of over 24,000 motivated the newly formed Continental government, under President George Washington and Secretary of War John Knox, to create its first treaty, since the Continental army totaled only 5,000 troops.
Women ran the Nation and its towns. Men built the towns, hunted, and provided protection. The women conducted the agriculture – producing melons, squash and corn – and decorated the buildings and fencing. Their government included foreign affairs diplomats, departments for domestic affairs and disputes, and when needed, the Department of War.
Peter McQueen, a Red Stick, as War Department officials were known, was the son of James McQueen and lived near Little Texas. The Nation was basically peaceful, but when hunting disputes or attacks by the British, Spanish, French or federal troops occurred, the Red Sticks were called to serve.
Big Warrior, a powerful Mvskoki leader, was a very large man covered with spots, possibly from chicken pox. He and his son ran a “stand” or boarding house (forerunner of the motel) on Federal Road in Creek Stand. Customers feasted on a meal of venison, boar, chicken, and more.
On the bank of the Euphabe Creek near Chehaw, Polly Copinger, granddaughter of James McQueen, gave birth to Little Owl in 1804. During the Creek War, Polly fled to Florida where her son became Osceola, war chief of the Seminoles. This tribe never surrendered to the federal government. Osceola’s grandson was Chaplain Edgar Penny, serving with Tuskegee’s Booker T. Washington.
Jeremiah Evarts, a white New England lawyer from Yale, abandoned his law career and became an advocate against Indian removal, persecution and oppression. Writing under the pseudonym William Penn, he was a painful thorn to Andrew Jackson and his Indian eradication plans. Despite ill health, Evarts traveled extensively in the Southeast, assisting indigenous nations with the onslaught of settlers, and strategizing against the drive for their elimination.
Concerning the Cherokee Nation near the time of the Trail of Tears, Evarts wrote in his diary: “A letter from father Gambold, which came to hand this day, mentions that Mr. Hicks and others, had gone to Washington ‘to try to obtain permission to remain on their own land.’” He adds, “May the Lord be with them and influence our government to do them justice!”
As history reflects, millions of indigenous people were eliminated, and justice was never done.
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