Native Providence: Memory, Community, and Survivance in the Northeast

461 Pages·2020·19.977 MB·English

by  Patricia E. Rubertone

Native Providence

Native Providence
Memory, Community, and
Survivance in the Northeast
Patricia E. Rubertone
University of nebraska Press | LincoLn
© 2020 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. All rights
reserved. Portions of chapters 2 and 3 are from “Archaeologies of Native
Production and Marketing in 19th Century New England,” in Foreign
Objects: Rethinking Indigenous Consumption in American Archaeology, ed.
Craig N. Cipolla, 204–21 (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2017), and
“Memorializing the Narragansett: Placemaking and Memory Keeping
in the Aftermath of Detribalization,” in Archaeologies of Placemaking:
Monuments, Memories, and Engagement in Native North America, ed.
Patricia E. Rubertone, 195– 216 (Walnut Creek ca: Left Coast, 2008).
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Rubertone, Patricia E., author.
Title: Native Providence: memory, community, and survivance in
the Northeast / Patricia E. Rubertone, University of Nebraska Press.
Other titles: Memory, community, and survivance in the Northeast
Description: Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, [2020] | Includes
bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Native Providence reveals
stories of Native urban life in the Northeast United States shaped by the dynamics
of colonialism, race, and class, and not in the least by the survivance of people
who today still live among the ruins of modernity”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: Lccn 2020007610
isbn 9781496217554 (hardback)
isbn 9781496223999 (epub)
isbn 9781496224002 (mobi)
isbn 9781496224019 (pdf)
Subjects: Lcsh: Indians of North America— Urban residence—R hode
Island— Providence. | Indians of North America— Rhode Island—
Providence— Antiquities. | Indians of North America— Cultural
assimilation— Rhode Island— Providence. | Narragansett Indians— Cultural
assimilation. | Cultural landscapes— Rhode Island— Povidence. | Indians of
North America— Rhode Island— Providence— Genealogy. | Indians of North
America— Rhode Island— Providence— Biography. | Providence (R.I.)—
Genealogy. | Providence (R.I.)— Biography. | Providence (R.I.)— History.
Classification: Lcc e78.r4 r83 2020 | ddc 974.5/00497— dc23
Lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020007610
Set in Lyon Text by Laura Buis.
The cover illustration, Still Here by Gaia (2018), is a mural created in partnership
with The Avenue Concept and Tomaquag Museum honoring the indigenous
heritage and peoples of Providence. The artwork shows Lynsea Montanari
(Narragansett) holding a black-and-white picture of Princess Red Wing
(Narragansett-Wampanoag), an educator, historian, and activist. Reproduced
with permission of the artist; photograph by Patricia E. Rubertone.
In memory of William S. Simmons

We have the same blood running through our veins that
we had before we sold our lands. Now let the same sun
shine on us that shines on others. That is all we ask.
Joshua H. Noka (Narragansett), in Fourth
Annual Report of the Commission on the Affairs
of the Narragansett Indians, 1884
If some of these old roofs could talk,— they would laugh
at some theories of the “vanishing American.”
Princess Red Wing (Narragansett- Wampanoag),
in Narragansett Dawn (August 1935)
The earth pushes through the pavement in the city . . .
[an] urban and material landscape where no sacred
sites are thought to exist, and a sacred stream may still
trickle waiting to heal again.
Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo) in Goeman,
“From Place to Territories and Back Again”

Contents
List of Illustrations | xi
Preface | xiii
Acknowledgments | xix
A Note on the Maps | xxiii
Introduction: Narrating Indigeneity in a
“Thoroughfare Town” | 1
1. Fox Point: A Waterfront Homeland, Encounters at a
Stopping- Over Place, and Indigenous Legibility | 29
2. Lippitt Hill: Homelands of the Hill and Hollows,
Unholy Water, and Traditional Knowledge | 71
3. Upper South Providence: Homeland at the Crossroads,
Churchgoing, and Community Making | 111
4. Lower South Providence: Habitations by the River
and Bay, Mobility, and the Urban Imaginary | 155
5. Mashapaug Pond: The Pond Lands, from Planting
Fields to Industrial Transformations | 195
6. Federal Hill: Homeland above the River at the Town’s
Doorstep, Commonplace Streets, and Uncommon Labor | 239
7. Johnston: Homeland at the Borderlands, Powwows,
and Urban Mythscapes | 283
Epilogue: Imagining Past, Present, and Future Urbanity | 325
Appendix: Native Residents of Providence Homelands | 335
Notes | 347
Bibliography | 389
Index | 417