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We the People Called Quinnipiac
by Iron Thunderhorse - Thunder Clan Grand Sachem
Introduction
WE THE PEOPLE CALLED QUINNIPIAC are a family of tribal bands and clans who have lived in what is known today as Greater New Haven, CT for thousands of years. There are many incorrect, confusing, even prejudicial ideas, concepts, appellatives, labels and data that exists today about exactly who we are, who our ancestors were, where we lived, etc.
In the year 1643 Roger Williams, who lived among the Narragansett People of Rhode Island, wrote that: “[The Natives] have often asked me why we call them Indians.” Anthropologist David Hurst Thomas also calls attention to these errors in his book Skull Wars. He says: “Romantic stereotypes have defined and directed mainstream American attitudes toward Indian people.” No other people in Southern New England were more stereotyped and misunderstood than the Quinnipiac.
The American Indian as a public icon became a symbol of convenience where the ‘noble savage’ (friend) and the infamous ‘vanishing American’ (foe) catered to the shifting whims of prevailing political agendas.
Most written accounts of the American Indian People have been written by scholars of upper middle class white men (and a few women) i.e. historians and anthropologists whose preconceived opinions created the impetus for these stereotypes. In 1975, the widely circulated academic Indian newspaper Wassaja dubbed ‘anthropology’ as a “vulture culture”.
One of our ACQTC members made an interesting point not long ago. He wanted to know more about the history and culture of the Quinnipiac, but when he went to the library he found nothing. When he asked questions from people in local schools he was told they just didn’t know.
There is only one so-called ‘book’ about our ancestors. It is entitled The Quinnipiack Indians and Their Reservation, written by Charles Hervey Townshend of East Haven (grandfather of Henry Townshend) and published by Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor in the year 1900. This 79-page work gives some very basic facts, but the main focus, as the title indicates, is directly related to the 1200-acre parcel of land reserved for our ancestors. It is often referred to as the first Indian reservation in what is now the United States of America. Townsend gives very detailed excerpts (mostly anything that would not prejudice their position) from the public land transactions, and it all leads up to the sale of the last 30 acres, part of which Townshend made claims to have received from so-called relatives. What he didn’t say is the subject of a long-standing controversy between the Townshends (descendants of the original Puritans) and ACQTC Inc., which is covered in detail in Chapter 5 of this book.
There are also a small handful of short articles and one thesis about the history of our ancestors, and mostly they emulate the subject of the land transactions. But this is where the scholars differ from the Townshends. The scholars, at least, noted that the land transactions were obtained under dubious circumstances.
This book, written exclusively by ACQTC Inc. and published by the Quinnipiac Tribal Council Press sets the record straight. It defines our existence, then and now, as we know and understand it and as it was passed to us from generation to generation. This is our own history, culture, language, arts and crafts as WE, THE PEOPLE CALLED QUINNIPIAC know it.
Keenau Quttiantamauwe
(Yours Respectfully)
Iron Thunderhorse / Biwâbiko Paddaquahas
Thunder Clan Grand Sachem / Pinessiwekit Kici Sachemau
Quinnipiac Nation / Quirripeokke Arkeis
