Maushop: An Oral Tradition

• Read "How Martha's Vineyard Came to Be"

• Recreate the story by having each child draw and write a brief description of one section of the story. Post the drawings and then the story can be retold by the class

• Got to 'The Pageant,' a recounting of the Maushop oral tradition by the Wampanoag community in Aquinnah, Martha's Vineyard (Summer time).

• Read "Before You Came This Way" and "The People Shall Continue" (See Books and Videos). Both these books discuss the origins of the native people of this continent.

• Look at pottery made from cliffs where Maushop lived.

• Review Maushop oral tradition "How Martha's Vineyard Came to Be" and then find a storybook or textbook that inappropriately presents the Bering Straits 'theory' as fact. Have the class discuss the meaning of a theory versus a fact. Compare the Bering Straits theory to Wampanoag creation stories what do they have in common? What is different?

• Discuss: When did your family immigrate to this country? What are your origin stories? How did your culture begin?

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