Who We Are

Who We Are: The Five Tribal Nations of Connecticut

In 2021, the United States Census Bureau reported that 3,626,205 persons are living in Connecticut, with 0.7 percent of them (25,283) of these describing themselves as American Indians or Alaskan Native persons.  American Indians, however, have traditionally been “notoriously underrepresented by censuses, however, and also the federal census does not discern the many residents who describe themselves as “white” but trace descent from one or more American Indian ancestors.” 

U.S. Census Bureau Quick Facts: United States,” U.S. Census Bureau, accessed March 20, 2023, https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/RHI325221.

Meet the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation

Current  Leadership:

Location:  

Facebook Post from Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation regarding the new Connecticut Curriculum: 

We are overjoyed to be able to tell OUR story in OUR voice, in order to ensure that Connecticut students are able to learn the integral role Tribal Nations have played (and continue to play) in the history of Connecticut. We are so proud to celebrate our Eastern Pequot Heritage every day. WE are still here! Aho!

https://www.facebook.com/EasternPequotTribalNation/posts/pfbid0Jq2zTUxRfJGxx14WDWXCZUBdCmTqoCKpXvvuxDSofr2nX9JNwjEa4hhDe7JM1SrFl

Thank you to the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation's Facebook page!

Photos taken from the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation Facebook page (cover photo). 

*Note: More photos to come


The Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation settled in the area surrounding the Connecticut River from Old Lyme to Westerly, Rhode Island. There were approximately twenty-six villages on the Connecticut, Pequot, Mystic, and Paucatuck Rivers and the coastal inlands around the time the English first began settling in the area.  The Eastern Pequots shared the same lands as the Mashantucket Pequots before the Pequot War.  After the massacre at Mystic and the Pequot War, one group of Pequots was placed under the rule of the Mohegan tribe to the west (the Mashantucket) while the others retreated to the east. The eastern group became known as the Eastern Pequots.   Around the forty-sixth anniversary of the Pequot War, two hundred and eighty acres were given to the Eastern Pequots from Isack Wheeler in 1683. 

Today, the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation consists of 1,246 members and has continually controlled and lived on the two hundred eighty acres that were deeded to them in 1683. Their mission is to “protect our sovereignty, conserve and develop our tribal resources, and promote the self-sufficiency of our people and our descendants.”  The tribe holds an annual ceremonial powwow, a daylong celebration, as well as other potluck and community events. The Eastern Pequot Archeological Field School was established in 2003 in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts Boston to study cultural and archeological sites on the reservation. In addition, they have the Oskoosooduck Community Garden that consists of two-acres of land where members can take crops home or sell at the local farmers’ market.  

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Meet the Golden Hill Paugussetts


Current  Leadership:

Location:  


Clan Mother Sharon Waupatukuay Piper

"Keeping our name alive and bringing awareness that we are still here and never gone is important to us.”

A special thank you to Clan Mother Shoran Waupatukuay Piper Tribal Head Leader and War Chief Kickingbear Piper for the images to the left. 

The Golden Hill Paugussetts occupied a sizeable portion of Western Connecticut along the coast between present day Norwalk and West Haven and inland up the valleys of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers. They were an agricultural people and planted their crops of corns, beans, squash, and tobacco. They also gathered fruits, hickory nuts, and acorns from the forests and fished in the current day Long Island Sound and the many rivers in the area.  The Paugussett lands had “long sandy beaches adjoined by extensive tidal flats and salt marshes, quite the opposite of the “rock-bound coast” usually associated with New England.”   During the warmer months, they would locate on the coasts and enjoy shellfish, often saving some for the winter months.  During the colder months, they would journey inland to hunt deer and other game away from the winds of the Long Island Sound.   The Paugussetts also cleared substantial areas of the lands to create major planting fields.  The area of what is now Bridgeport, “Pequonnock,” means “cleared land.”   The Golden Hill area of present-day Bridgeport was considered “a sacred place due to its gushing springs (a river flowing underground from the vicinity of New Milford surfaces here) and the Pequannock River on its eastern flank was ideal for weir fishing and planting fields” on its banks.  The Paugussetts formed alliances with several other Algonkian speaking tribes include the Mahican, Wappinger and other tribes of the Hudson River Valley and the Shinnecock on Long Island. 

Today, the Golden Hill Paugussett tribe has two reservations in Connecticut.  The site at Trumbull is a quarter acre property but is known to be the oldest, continuing site since 1659.  The site at Colchester is located ninety minutes away from the original Trumbull location and has 106-acres. The Colchester location was provided by the state as “recompence for the unlawful sale of the tribe’s homeland by its government-appointed white overseers.”  The tribe currently has one hundred fifty members, and they have year-round ceremonies including powwows within tribes and with other tribes and many socials.  They pass down their history from their ancestors using song, drum, dance, and storytelling.  Members of the Paugussett tribe still follow traditional ways as the foods, medicines, beliefs are all part of their identity. They try their best to live off the land using herbs and plants for teas, tinctures, and oils.   Shoram Waupatukuay Piper is the current tribal head leader and clan mother. She is also the author of Red Road: Traditional Voices of Afro-Indigenous America, a recent book that was published in 2021 to highlight their culture and heritage throughout its rich history.   According to Clan Mother Piper, “keeping our name alive and bringing awareness that we are still here and never gone is important to us.”

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Meet the Mashantucket Pequots


Current Leadership:  

Location: 

Rodney Butler, Chairman of the Tribal Council

“The history of Connecticut is founded on the backs of Native Americans, and most residents have no clue that that’s the case."

Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, Ledyard, Connecticut

Photos from the Museum showcasing various permanent exhibits.

Website: https://www.pequotmuseum.org/ 


Photos by Katie Boland on April 14, 2023

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation have occupied the area in Southeastern Connecticut for over 10,000 years. The Pequot territory before the arrival of the Dutch in 1611 and the English in the early 1630s consisted of approximately two hundred fifty square miles in southeastern Connecticut. Today, this area includes the towns of Groton, Ledyard, Stonington and southern portions of Preston and Griswold. The territory was surrounded by the Thames and Pawcatuck Rivers to the west and east, the Long Island Sound to the south and Preston and Griswold to the north.  During the early 17th century, approximately eight thousand Pequot members resided in this area in villages located along the Long Island Sound and the Thames, Mystic, and Pawcatuck Rivers.   Archaeological evidence suggests that the Pequot villages before European contact were situated on low, flat land that were close to the salt marshes and along the banks of the Thames, Mystic, and Pawcatuck rivers. Each village contained the resources that the natives needed to survive including fresh water, firewood, land suitable for crops, plenty of plants, fishing ponds, and hunting grounds.   The Pequot language, part of the Algonquian language group, was the primary “medium for trade negotiations, political diplomacy, storytelling, and all other aspects of communication.”  

The history of the Mashantucket Tribal Nation changed drastically with the Pequot War that happened between 1636 and 1638.  After years of skirmishes over land, trade and livestock, the Colony of Connecticut formally declared war on the Pequot and their allies in May 1967. The war ended with the Pequot fleeing down the coast of Connecticut after the brutal massacres in Mystic where more than 500 Indian women, men and children were either burned or massacred.   When the Pequot War formally ended with the Treaty of Hartford, many tribal members had been killed and others placed in slavery or under the control of other tribes, such as the Mohegans. Those under the control of the Mohegans became known as the Mashantucket (Western) Pequots and were given land at Noank in 1651. However, in 1666, the land at Noank was taken from the Tribe, and the Mashantucket Pequots regained their property at Mashantucket. 

Today, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation has over one thousand members and includes a 1,640-acre reservation near Ledyard, Connecticut.  Mashantucket owns and operates the Foxwoods Resort Casino, the Lake of Isles Golf Course, the Pequot Pharmaceutical Network, and the Spa at Norwich Inn.  It also is home to the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center which broke ground on October 20, 1993, in a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of federal recognition of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.  The goal of the Mashantucket Tribal Government is “to protect and advance the sovereign rights of the Tribal Nation in order to build and preserve a cultural, social, and economic foundation that can never be undermined or destroyed.”   Rodney A. Butler is the Chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation since January of 2010.  Latoya Cluff is the Vice Chairwoman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council, serving her second term of office as of 2022. Marjorie Colebut-Jackson, Chairwoman of the Elders Council. 

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Meet the Mohegans  (Maheehkanuwuk, Wolf People)

Current  Leadership:

Location:  

Beth Regan, "Morning Deer" - Vice Chairwoman of the Elders

 "We can now bring curriculum our stories to everyone in Connecticut.  We want people to know that we are still here, have a thriving culture, and have a history and a story that people want to know."

Selected Photos around the Mohegan Tribal Reservation

Uncasville, Connecticut

Photos by Katie Boland on October 22, 2020 and March 5, 2023

1 - Headquarters of the Mohegan Tribal Government

2 -  Lantern Hill

3&4 - Uncas Leap at Yantic Falls

5 - Royal Mohegan Burial Ground

6 - A list of some of the Mohegans buried at Royal Mohegan Burial Ground

7 - Uncas Monument and Burial Location 

The Mohegans, or the “Wolf People,” descended from the Lenni Lnenape Delaware Indians. They first settled in the northern New York area but then moved south towards southeastern Connecticut after hearing about the hunting and shell fishing in the area. They inhabited the lands west of the Thames River (Pequot River) and survived on hunting, shell fishing, gathering and maize agriculture.  The largest Mohegan settlement was at Fort Shantok, built on the west bank of the Thames River. The Mohegans made use of the land and the water as needed for survival. Sturgeon, mackerel, scallops, clams, lobsters, oysters, and more provided substance to the Mohegans during the summer months and they were able to dry the products to preserve them for the colder months.  Corn, beans, and squash were cultivated along the flatlands of the river, and these became known as the Three Sisters Garden. They also hunted turkey, deer, geese, and other game birds.  They had a deep connection to the land and appreciated “all the gifts from the land and the water.” 

During the time of European contact, there was a split among the Pequot tribe. The Pequot Sachem (head chief) and the Sagamore (sub chief) Uncas ended their relationship and Uncas and his followers moved to the western bank of the Thames River and settled near Fort Shantok. They took the old clan name of Mohegan. After Uncas became the Sachem of the Mohegans, he favored good relationships with the British and soon helped the British defeat the Pequots in the Pequot War. By the late 1700s, the Mohegan tribe held 2,700 acres of land in Connecticut, but the state began to sell off the tribal lands. 

Today, the Mohegans live on a 507-acre reservation near Uncasville, Connecticut with a total population around 1,300 people. Every year, the Mohegan Tribal Nation hosts the Wigwam Festival, otherwise known as the Green Corn Festival. During a weekend in August, members gather as “a celebration of thanks, a symbol of Tribal survival, and the chance to feel connected to other Tribal members, past and present.”  The tribal nation owns the Tantaquidgeon Museum in Uncasville, Connecticut and it is one of the oldest Native American owned and operated museums in the United States. The museum opened in 1931 and hopes to share eastern woodlands Indian history and traditions from the native perspective. In addition, Mohegan operates the Mohegan Sun casino, other entertainment resorts in the United States, Canada, and Northern Asia as well as the Connecticut Sun (Women’s NBA team based in Uncasville). They are involved in their community by supporting many local charities as well as sponsoring the Connecticut Teacher of the Year program each year.  

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Meet the Schaghticokes


Current  Leadership of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation:

Location:  

Darlene Kascak, Education Coordinator and Traditional Native American Storyteller at the Institute for the American Indian Studies,

“It is important that we express our gratitude and appreciation by understanding the long history that has brought us to this land and seek to understand our place within that history. Truthful acknowledgment of our past is crucial to building mutual respect- Connecting us once again regardless of barriers of heritage and difference.” 

Selected Photos around Schaghticoke Reservation and the Institute for American Indian Studies

Kent and Washington, Connecticut

Photos by Katie Boland on March 10, 2021 and October 10, 2020

1&2 - Schaghticoke Tribal Burial Ground, Kent

3&4 - The Institute for American Indian Studies, Washington  (https://www.iaismuseum.org/) 

5&6 - Replicated Algonkian Village at the Institute for American Indian Studies, Washington

The Schaghticoke lived in the Hudson and Harlem Valley regions of New York, Western Connecticut and Massachusetts. According to their website, the “term Schaghticoke means ‘the Mingling of waters,’ signifying the joining of rivers, as well as the merging of related Algonquian-speaking Tribes.”  The ancestors of the Schaghticoke were living in this region for generations before the first European settlers arrived. They hunted and gathered to sustain their community, but only took what was necessary for survival.  Darlene Kascak, Education Coordinator and Traditional Native American Storyteller at the Institute for the American Indian Studies, said that “anything we take from the land, we receive it as a gift. We take a third for our survival, leave a third for the animals, and a third for future generations.”  When they hunted deer and other wild game, the members used each part of the body, and nothing went to waste.  It was respected as a gift and a sacrifice.  

Today, the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation encompasses four hundred acres between the Housatonic River and New York State.  The current reservation on 400-acres consists of three buildings, a small campground, and a burial ground.  Most of the tribal members live off the reservation with the campground serving as the tribal social and political center.   Culture and storytelling is important for the Schaghticoke as they pass down their history through the generations.  The Institute for American Indian Studies in nearby Washington, Connecticut offers many educational programs for all grade levels and a replicated Algonkian village. In recognizing the importance of education, Kascak said, “It is important that we express our gratitude and appreciation by understanding the long history that has brought us to this land and seek to understand our place within that history. Truthful acknowledgment of our past is crucial to building mutual respect- Connecting us once again regardless of barriers of heritage and difference.” 

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