• Go to a PowWow

• Read PowWow books

• Read the book Clambake

• Look at contemporary photos of clambake in 'Clambake' book and compare to the drawing of building a clambake. How are they same or different?

• Build a Clambake (Activity materials included in 'Indians who met the Pilgrims' kit. When the kit was developed the publishers felt that people would not recognize the name Wampanoag and suggested that it be called 'Indians who met the Pilgrims.' If this kit, developed over twenty years ago, was named today it would be called "The Wampanoag: People of the First Light." See Collections and Resources for a list of The Children's Museum circulating kits)

• Make a contemporary cornbread recipe

• 1 cup corn meal
• 1 cup white flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup shortening, melted
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk

Stir dry ingredients. Beat shortening, egg and milk. Gently mix in dry ingredients. Pour into greased 8"x 8" pan. Bake at 350° for 30 minuets.

Language

• Say and identify Wampanoag words that have become a part of everyday English: Skunk, Moose, Pumpkin, Squash, Succotash, Quahog, Moccasin.

• Identify place names that are Wampanoag and find them on a map:

• Aquinnah - "The end of the island" or "the seashore." Europeans named this part of Martha's Vineyard Gay Head, after the 'gaily colored cliffs'.
• Cotuit - "The speaking place" currently one of the seven villages in Barnstable, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It is a Wampanoag name and was originally a part of Mashpee.
• Hyannis - This Cape Cod town is named for a Wampanoag chief, Iyanough, who lived there in the 1600's.
• Mashpee - Mashpee is one of the major Wampanoag communities. It means "Big pond" or "Big Water." Mashpee pond is the largest body of fresh water on Cape Cod.
• Pocasset - "Place that is clear." Wampanoag word which is now the name of the village of Bourne, Cape Cod, MA
• Watuppa - A pond and Indian reservation located in Freetown, MA owned jointly by the Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag tribes.

• Locate the four contemporary Wampanoag communities: Aquinnah, Mashpee, Herring Pond, Watupa.

• Locate the other major native community in the state of Massachusetts: Nipmuc peoples in Grafton, MA.

• Have the class draw how they think an "Indian" or Native person looks. Look at the completed drawings and ask the group what identifies those depicted as Native American. List the traits suggested by the class (i.e. feathers, arrows). This list can be a jumping-off point for a conversation about stereotypes, and where they originate.

• Ask the class where they got these ideas about Native people. Do they know a Native person who fits this description? How do they know it is a true depiction? How do you think a Native person would feel about this representation? This activity is excellent for beginning a curriculum, as it provides a good idea of how the class understands Native people. It can also be repeated at the end of the curriculum -- and the "before" and "after" drawings can be compared -- as an evaluation tool. The role plays exlained in After 1620 can be used to address the stereotype of Native people as unjustly aggressive warriors.

• Start collecting images of native people found in books, magazines, products etc.

• Photographic tour of Mashpee and Aquinnah
• Summary Activities
• Glossary
• Return to Now