Background:
Wampanoag
Much of what is known about early Wampanoag history
comes from archeological evidence, the Wampanoag oral
tradition (some of which has been lost), and documents
created by seventeenth century English colonists.
The Wampanoag people have lived in southeastern New
England for thousands of years. In 1600 there were
as many as 12,000 Wampanoag who lived in 40 villages.
Both oral tradition and archaeological evidence suggests
that Native people lived in the area for 10,000 years.
Wampanoag means “People of the Dawn” in
the Algonquian language. There were sixty seven tribes
and bands of the Wampanoag Nation. Three epidemics
swept across New England between 1614 and 1620, killing
many Native peoples. Some villages were entirely wiped
out (such as Patuxet). When the colonists we now call Pilgrims
arrived in 1620, there were fewer than 2,000 Wampanoag
living. After English colonists settled in Massachusetts,
epidemics continued to reduce the Wampanoag to 1,000
by 1675. Only 400 survived King Philip’s War.
Today there are 3,000 Wampanoag that are organized
in five groups Assonet, Gay Head, Herring Pond, Mashpee
and Namasket.
European Colonists
In 1620, a group of Europeans, today called Pilgrims,
landed and settled around Cape Cod.
One band of Wampanoag, led by Sachem (or leader) Massasoit,
made an alliance with these colonists. The Wampanoag
population had been greatly reduced by epidemics. The
Wampanoag believed that the colonists, with their powerful
weapons, could be an ally in the case of a Narragansett
attack. The colonists also could benefit from the alliance.
The Wampanoag, Samoset and Tisquantum all helped these
Europeans learn how to adapt to the land in this “New
World.” The two groups cooperated for some time.
The colonists actively worked to convert the Wampanoag
to Christianity. Those who did convert were called “praying
Indians.” There were many differences between the
groups, which eventually led to conflicts. For example,
colonists let their livestock run loose and destroy Wampanoag
crops. Still, the treaty was honored until 1662, when
Metacomet, known to the English as King Philip, became
the tribe’s leader, and relations between the Wampanoag
and colonists became very tense. In 1675, hostilities
broke out in the town of Swansea. The war, know as King
Philip’s War, soon spread to the New Hampshire and
Connecticut Colonies. King Philips war was one of the bloodiest
and costly wars in American history.
Essential Question:
How did the colonists and Wampanoag view land, nature,
and life differently and how could these differences
lead to misunderstandings and conflict?
Objectives:
This lesson may be conducted with students from 1
st through 5 th grade, using various levels of support,
text lengths and groupings and will build students’ skills
in reading, analyzing, and interpreting primary and
secondary source documents.
A primary source is a document or other source of information
that was created at or near the time being studied
and written by an authoritative source, usually one
with direct personal knowledge of the events being
described.Often, primary sources are
inaccurate, incomplete, lost or were written decades
after an event. Primary sources are often filled with
bias. For example, a journal entry reflects only the
writer’s understanding of the events. Participants
in an event may misunderstand the event, or misrepresent
events. Some cultures did not have written records.
Therefore, analyzing sources often raises more questions
than answers!
A secondary source is written by one who has carefully
studied a topic, usually using primary sources. In
studying history, we use all possible resources available,
including both primary and secondary sources to try
to understand the past.
As students look at primary sources, there are three
types of questions to ask. When student are just beginning
to analyze and interpret sources, questions 2 and 3
are often combined.
- Observe: What do you notice?
- Contextual: What do you already know? What do
these “new” details mean /suggest?
- Interpret: What does this source suggest about
our topic?
As students complete this lesson, they will be able
to note the facts included in primary source documents,
contextualize the documents’ place in history,
and interpret the significance of these documents.
- Students will analyze primary and secondary sources,
in an effort to identify views of early European
colonist and Indigenous people concerning land, nature,
and way of life.
- Students will create a T chart to organize the
differing understandings / viewpoints.
- Students will discuss the differing views of the
colonists and Wampanoag and how these views led to
conflict.
Materials:
Compare and contrast T- chart (click here for the pdf)
Wampanoag Sources:
- Sewall, Marcia. People of the Breaking
Day
This
children’s book describes Wampanoag
life before Europeans came to the area. This
book has been used 1 st – 6 th grades.
- Sewall, Marcia. Thunder From the Clear
Sky
- Levy, Janey. The Wampanoag of Massachusetts
and Rhode Island
- Riehecky, Janet. The Wampanoag: The
People of the First Light
- Walters, Kate. Tapenum’s Day:
A Day in the Life of a Wampanoag Indian Boy
Additional books about Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag
can be found at http://www.plimoth.org/education/teachers/bibliographies.php
Colonist Sources:
- Mourt’s Relation was originally
printed in London in 1622. A “Relation” is
a story or an account. This document was written
to try to entice others to come to Plymouth.
This publication tells the story of the colonists
first months at Plymouth Plantation. The signer
of the preface, G. Mourt has been identified
as George Morton, who settled in Plymouth in
1623. Most historians have taken William Bradford
and Edward Winslow as the chief authors of the
book. The original version uses varied spellings
and seventeenth century English.
- Brown, Margaret Wise, ed. Homes In The
Wilderness: A Pilgrim’s Journal of Plymouth
Plantation in 1620 by William Bradford & Others
of the Mayflower Company. 1932. (Reprint)
Amden, Conn.: Linnet Press, 1988. This version
of Mourt’s Relation has been retold for
young readers. It retains the flavor of the
seventeenth-century original version. Illustrations
contain minor anachronisms, (for example, buckle
on hats).
- Heath, Dwight B., ed. Mourt’s Relation:
A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Cambridge
Boston Apple wood Book, 1986. This is a modern
reprint of the account that was written in
1622 of the emigration of the colonists to
Cape Cod and their first year in Plymouth Colony.
- Roop, Connie and Peter, eds. Pilgrim Voices
Our First Year in the New World. New York,
Walker and Company, 1995.Written in diary format,
this book follows colonists as they leave on
the voyage and through the first year. It is
based on the primary document, Mourt’s
Relation and William Bradford’s Of
Plymouth Plantation. It includes a glossary
of unfamiliar words.
- PDF of chart for comparing and contrasting
Wampanoag and colonist ways of life
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