People who are not Indigenous often think of King Philip’s War - if they know of it - as part of a distant past. If we have read children’s stories of an idealised colonial life, or educated with traditional textbooks, we might think of the war as a single violent chapter in an otherwise quaint, albeit colourful, history, with colonial heroes bravely conquering their enemies.
Historical markers dotting the New England countryside, especially in Massachusetts, reinforce this idea: it was brutal, but the colonists emerged victorious, and in any event it was long ago – nothing to do with life today.
For Indigenous communities, the past is not so easily left behind – and nor should it be for non-Indigenous people. We all live today with its aftermath. King Philip’s War continues to shape daily life, experience, and memory.
The Past is Now was the second event in our spring program, Metacom’s Resistance. It brought together four prominent Indigenous speakers to tell us what Metacom’s resistance means to them today – and why we cannot ignore this most fundamental of conflicts.
Held in person at the Cambridge Public Library and livestreamed, panelists included: Hartman Deetz, Mashpee Wampanoag; Brad Lopes, Aquinnah Wampanoag; Elizabeth Solomon, Massachusett at Ponkapoag; and Brittney Walley, Hassanamisco Nipmuc.
On the eve of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, this panel invited audiences to grapple with a foundational war of Indigenous resistance on its 350th anniversary - and to see that it is not past, but deeply present, for us all.
PANELISTS
Hartman Deetz is an enrolled member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. He has spent over 30 years educating and advocating around issues of Native American rights and environmental justice. He is currently working with the Charles River Watershed Association and Cultural Survival and the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. Hartman Deetz’s artwork ranges from contemporary arts such as painting and lino cuts that often incorporate social themes and issues, and through to museum- quality traditional Wampanoag arts such as wampum and woodcarving. Through his work in arts education and advocacy, he has traveled through all of the lower 48 states to Peru, Mexico, Bermuda, France, Switzerland, and the UK.
Brad Lopes is a Wampanoag man and a citizen of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah, who call Nôepe (Martha's Vineyard) home and have lived there for over 12,000 years. Brad currently serves as the education manager for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah and as the education and outreach coordinator for the Aquinnah Cultural Center, a Wampanoag history museum founded in the Edwin DeVries Vanderhoop homestead. His experiences growing up and attending public schools set Mr. Lopes on a path of seeking to decolonize educational pedagogies and content. At the core of his work is the notion of educational sovereignty for Tribal Nations and a responsibility to ensure culturally aligned educational opportunities for Wampanoag youth and adults. Understanding that for Wampanoag people that the transference of knowledge is communal, intergenerational, and reciprocal, he works to ensure that Wampanoag citizens have opportunities to learn from one another in community settings and ensure that cultural knowledge is passed along from one generation to the next. Outside of these roles, Brad Lopes also serves on the boards of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, Indigenous Resource Collaborative, and Martha's Vineyard public charter school.
Elizabeth Solomon is an enrolled member of the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag. Ms. Solomon speaks frequently about local indigenous issues and has a long-standing commitment to human rights, diversity, inclusion, and community building that she brings to both her paid and volunteer work.
Ms. Solomon recently retired after serving as the director of administration in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She has over three decades of public health experience working in in both university and community-based settings. She also serves on multiple advisory and management boards. Elizabeth Solomon is committed to working with native communities and others that are currently underrepresented in museum exhibits and public history programs to help them bring their voices and stories to the fore.
Brittney Peauwe Wunnepog Walley is a Nipmuc artist and historian. Her interdisciplinary work is displayed in Chemacheg Menuhki, a permanent installation she co-curated at the Concord Museum. Her art has been displayed at the Mystic Seaport Museum, the Mead Art Museum, the Roger Williams Park Museum of Natural History and Planetarium, and the Dover Street Market Place. She is a project assistant at the Institute for New England Native American Studies at UMass Boston, the Anti-Mascot representative for her tribe, and a board member of Mass Humanities. She has advised on multiple projects related to Native representation from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston to the Massachusetts state seal and motto. Brittney earned a Master of Science from the University of Massachusetts, Boston in the Critical Ethnic Community Studies program, with a concentration in historical archaeology (2024). She earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology with minors in philosophy and business management from Rhode Island College (2013). Brittney enjoys leading Basketry Revitalization and Weaving workshops for local Indigenous communities and is committed to honoring the past and future seven generations.
FIND OUT MORE
Chemacheg Menuhki: Paddle Strong Exhibiti