Education
History + Truth Telling = Education
The new Tomaquag Museum Campus tells the full, rich story of the region’s First Nations
ALGONQUIAN-SPEAKING PEOPLES thrived across southern New England for tens of thousands of years, living sustainably on these same lands and waters, keeping a large population fed and prosperous...
Until a European invasion brought devastating sickness, conflict, even enslavement...
Followed by centuries of relentless, government-sanctioned policies aimed at emptying the land of Indigenous peoples...
And yet, the culture is remarkably resilient. Today, in fact, Indigenous populations are increasing at a record pace.
Stolen Lands
Rhode Island’s human history predates colonist Roger Williams by thousands of years, according to archaeologists. In 1676 Indigenous peoples still sustainably occupied much of the lands and waters of what is today’s southern New England. The 1880 act to abolish the Narragansett Tribe and the quick sale of their lands in 1882 shows how far legal genocide had come in two centuries.
The new Tomaquag Museum Campus will offer an unforgettable experience on many levels.
Learn the TRUE story ... a PROUD, intense Indigenous story still unknown to most Rhode Islanders ... or to our state’s millions of annual visitors.
Now you’ll know this land and its heritage in a way you’ve never known before.
National Day of Mourning. Plymouth, MA — Boston Globe Via Getty Images