Hierarchy Within the Tribe

Within the Wampanoag tribe existed a system of hierarchy, where people are ranked higher than others based on social status. Leaders of the Wampanoag tribe were referred to as Sachems. There was also a higher power of Sachem, which could be considered the chief, called the Grand Sachem. The Grand Sachem had more power than any other Sachem or member of the Wampanoag tribe and was heavily respected. Sachems were never treated as a king or queen, however, and though they had a great amount of power, it was limited. The Sachems never dictated anything to their people and did everything they could to work alongside the rest of the Wampanoag to help and provide for their community. Also, within the Wampanoag tribe women were given some amount of respect as they were allowed to told the title of Sachem, however only when a male Wampanoag was not present to take the title.

Personal Reflection:

Personally, after researching the system of hierarchy within the Wampanoag tribe I was kind of surprised. I thought that the leaders would take a higher role and hold more power within the tribe. I expected the Sachems to be looked upon as kings, queens, princes, and princesses because many tribes tend to have their leaders hold their role like that. However, I think it's great that they are almost essentially "equal" to the rest of the Wampanoag people and don't command or try to control the rest of the tribe. Instead, they join the tribe in fixing the problems they may face in their community and I think it's wonderful.

I was also surprised to see that women did have the possibility to hold a role as a Sachem. In many other tribes, women are seen as inferior to men and not given the opportunity to hold a powerful position as such. Although women are only given the position when no male is available to claim the role, it still is amazing to me that a woman could be given the power. I think it's great that this occurs. This shows that the Wampanoag tribe is more liberal when it comes to allowing women's rights in the tribe compared to many other tribes. 

Resources:

Queen, Jacob, and J.T. Gale. WiseGeek. 30 Sept. 2013. Conjecture. 04 Nov. 2013 <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-wampanoag-tribe.htm>.
"The Wampanoag Tribe." Abcteach.com. 2006. 4. Nov. 2013 <http://www.abcteach.com/free/r/rc_native_wampanoag_upperelem.pdf>.

Wampanoag Family and Marriage

     Family was most important to the Wampanoag people. Clans were made up of the relatives of each family. All members of the family taught the children the skills needed to live. Land was passed down through the family by the mother and was always given to her daughter. The girls were taught how to make clothes, work the fields and how to work around the family wetu which is their oval hut. They would gather fruit, vegetables and nuts for the family. The boys would learn how to be hunters and how to survive in the wilderness to support the family. Children were the center of the clans. Even though boys and girls learned different tasks, these tasks were only split as such for the summer. In the spring and winter time, as a family, the Wampanoags would hunt and fish together.
     Marriage was taken very seriously by the Wampanoags and once you are married, infidelity was not allowed. However, sex was allowed before marriage. Divorce was very common because family ties and clans were more important to the Wampanoag people than martial ties.


Personal Reflection

     Personally after researching about the Wampanoag people I was very surprised about how family roles were assigned. It seems like women have a lot of power in the tribe by basically owning the land. This is interesting to me because many tribes depict the men as superior to women. I also found it absolutely amazing that the women were taught how to hunt and fish and could use those skills with the men during the spring, fall and winter months. I loved how even though there were gender roles, it seemed like anyone in those months could help do all of the chores. On every group of people there is always "known" facts, but this was new and interesting to me because it has always been taught that Native American tribes only had the men hunt and the women gather. These labels are clearly not demonstrated in the Wampanoag tribe and it should not be taught that ALL tribes interact through life the same way as the other groups.
     After reading about the marriages of the Wampanoag, I was surprised that divorces happened. I really did not know anything about marriages in their tribes, but did not think that divorces would have taken place. I thought it was interesting because I had seen clans as close knit and never really separating. I found their beliefs of marriage and sex to be similar to that of Americans because it is very common to have sex before marriage nowadays and to get divorces. I have a lot of respect for the fact that family was more important than relationships. It shows that the Wampanoag put their children first before personal wants or needs.

Resource

Hicks , Jeanne. "Wampanoag Tribes." Last modified 2010. Accessed November 4, 2013. http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jmh4/nativeamerican/wampanoag

Gender Roles within Wampanoag Society

Synopsis:

The Wampanoag people’s way of making a living was organized on a family level. Meaning that it was the family’s sole duty to support itself and in essence be independent. Families supported themselves by having seasonal movements from the shores in the spring till the summer when they would move inland for the winter. In the spring, families came together to fish, in the winter they hunted game and in the summer they spread out to cultivate particularized planting fields. Boys were taught the ins and outs of the woods, where being a skillful hunter and the ability to survive under all conditions were vital to his family’s well-being. Women were taught to work diligently in the fields and around the wetu, which is a portable oval house that the Wampanoag people lived in; additionally, they learned to gather fruits, nuts, and other produce from the habitat.

            The production of food was also divided along gender lines. Men and women had specific tasks, and the women play and active role in most of the stags of food production. Women were responsible for up to 75% of all food production in Wampanoag societies. They took care of the farming and the gathering of fruits, nuts, berries, and so for, while Wampanoag men were mainly responsible for hunting and fishing. Since the Wampanoag society relies so heavily from this kind of work, women had socio-political, economic, and spiritual roles in their communities.

 

Reflection:

After reading several articles on the gender lines in Wampanoag society and composing this synopsis, I learned not only how resourceful they were but also how big of a role women played in their society. In today's world women are looked down as a lesser being, at least in western civilization, but women in Wampanoag tribes played such a vital role for food production and maintenance of their wetu. It was said in an article that Wampanoag women were responsible for 75% of all food production, and this in turn made them have a big socio-political and economic role in the community. I find this remarkable because without the help and the roles the Wampanoag women played, the tribes would suffer detrimentally.

Now on to how resourceful they were as a whole. The Wampanoag people were intelligent people, and knew that they had to migrate between the shores and inland to prevent over-exploitation of resources and animals. They did this by staying by the shore in the spring and then moving slowly towards inland for the winter. They also adapted to their lifestyle by creating a movable house they call a wetu. Finally, they were able to find and gather foods that grew naturally in their environment that they used to either grow crops, heal wounds, or feed themselves.

All in all, the Wampanoag people adapted well to their environment and showed how they broke down the gender barrier centuries before it even became a problem in western civilization. If I had to critic my work, I would say that I was able to provide substantial information of the gender roles within Wampanoag society; however, I wish I was able to find differences between the groups of Wampanoag people because not every tribe followed this generalized structure of defined gender roles.

 

Resources:

 

Eldredge, Wampanoag N, & Penobscot. “Who Are the Wampanoag?”. Plimoth Plantation. 2003. November 4, 2013. http://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids/homework-help/who-are-wampanoag

“The Wampanoag Tribe”. Abcteach.com. 2006. November 4, 2013. http://www.abcteach.com/free/r/rc_native_wampanoag_upperelem.pdf

Who Are the Wampanoag?

          The Wampanoag are one of many Nations of people all over North America who were here long before any Europeans arrived, and have survived until today. Many people use the word “Indian” to describe us, but we prefer to be called Native People.

          Our name, Wampanoag, means People of the First Light. In the 1600s, we had as many as 40,000 people in the 67 villages that made up the Wampanoag Nation. These villages covered the territory along the east coast as far as Wessagusset (today called Weymouth), all of what is now Cape Cod and the islands of Natocket and Noepe (now called Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard), and southeast as far as Pokanocket (now Bristol and Warren, Rhode Island). We have been living on this part of Turtle Island for over fifteen thousand years.The Wampanoag, like many other Native People, often refer to the earth as Turtle Island.
Today, about 4,000-5,000 Wampanoag live in New England. There are three primary groups – Mashpee, Aquinnah, and Manomet – with several other groups forming again as well. Recently, we also found some of our relations in the Caribbean islands. These people are descendants of Native Wampanoag People who were sent into slavery after a war between the Wampanoag and English. We, as the People, still continue our way of life through our oral traditions (the telling of our family and Nation's history), ceremonies, the Wampanoag language, song and dance, social gatherings, hunting and fishing.

          The Wampanoag Homeland provided bountiful food for fulfillment of all our needs. It was up to the People to keep the balance and respect for all living beings and to receive all the gifts from The Creator. We were seasonal people living in the forest and valleys during winter. During the summer, spring, and fall, we moved to the rivers, ponds, and ocean to plant crops, fish and gather foods from the forests.

          Because of many changes in North America, we as the Wampanoag cannot live as our ancestors did. We adapt but still continue to live in the way of the People of the First Light.

Reflection:

          Judgement calls are made every single second of everyday. Labels are formed and placed on individuals almost subliminally in this day and age. These characterizations mold society notions surrounding certain groups of people who may be different or considered "outsiders". The Wampanoag people have suffered tremendously since the landing of the Europeans on North American soil due to retribution, simply because they were not seen as equals in the minds of the Europeans.The Wampanoag people were now just seen as "Indians" rather then the natives who RIGHTFULLY own the land they have built their whole livelihood on. The Wampanoag once attributed from about 40,000 of the worlds populations, although it may not be seen as an astounding numbers, in the grand scheme of things this was an enormous amount of Wampanoag people who solely lives in the modern day New England area.

                Amazingly enough, the Wampanoag people are stills striving as a community today. Although the 40,000 Wampanoag are not roaming around the North East as frequent as they once were, a relatively large amount of Wampanoag, about 4000-5000, still are living their daily lives just as their ancestors did. Living for balance, respect, tradition and lastly agency can be attributed to the last few Wampanoag alive. This agency seen helps maintain cultural continuity and has allowed this once grandiose tribe to survive, even if they did split into three different groups (Mashpee, Aquinnah, and Manomet) they still manage to keep their true identity and values at the forefront of their daily lives. 

       Eldredge,Wampanoag N, & Penobscot (N.d.). Who Are the Wampanoag? Retrieved November 1 1998, from Plimoth Plantation Web Site: http://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids/homework-help/who-are-wampanoag