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BRES seventh grader wins Native American essay contest

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is congratulating three students as the winners of the 2021 Maine Native American History and Culture Essay Contest.

Ronan Drage, a seventh grade student at Boothbay Region Elementary School won middle school first place for his essay, “The Wabanaki Dawn Versus The First Light.”

Jasai Marable, a seventh grader at Windsor Elementary School won middle school second place for his essay “The Maine Maliseet Tribe.”

Shylah Woodford, an eleventh grader at Maranacook Community High School won high school first place for her essay “The People of Dawnland.”

“Connecting with students about the full history of their home – especially the parts of history that are often distorted or overlooked – is a vital part of their education,” said Secretary Bellows. “Learning about Wabanaki history helps set up non-Wabanaki Maine students to be conscientious and thoughtful citizens as well as providing some of the tools to be able to assess how we as a community and state are correcting or perpetuating misdeeds of the past. For Wabanaki and other indigenous students, inclusion of Maine Native American history is an important validation of their communities, cultures, and traditions as important parts of our shared narrative.”

Open to middle and high school students statewide, the annual contest requires participants to explore at least one aspect of Maine Native American history and to write an essay describing what they have learned.

Bellows encourages students and all Mainers to explore the holdings of the Maine State Archives, where they will be able to view Maine’s original treaties with native peoples and original field books of early Maine land surveyors. Many of these documents have been digitized for online access .

Maine law Title 20-A 4706 requires schools to teach Maine Native American history. This contest provides Maine students with a unique opportunity to share what they have learned in their studies. To learn more about this contest and other student programs offered by the Office of the Secretary of State, visit https://www.maine.gov/sos/kids/programs .

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Maine DOE Newsroom

From the Maine Department of Education

Native American history and culture essay contest call for entries

In an effort to enhance Maine Native American Studies lessons, the Secretary of State is sponsoring an essay contest in which middle and high school students explore at least one aspect of Maine Native American history.

Authors of selected essays in both the middle school and high school categories and their respective classmates will be guests of the Secretary of State for a day in Augusta where they will visit the Maine State Archives.  Students will view Maine’s original treaties with Native peoples and original field books of the early European explorers, historical documents rarely available for public viewing. In addition, these selected classrooms will receive a free Abbe Museum experience, either at the Abbe Museum in downtown Bar Harbor, or an Abbe educator will travel to the winning classroom.

Entries must be submitted by Friday, Nov. 14 and the announcement of the winners is anticipated on Dec. 19.

For more information including contest rules and a registration form, visit www.maine.gov/sos/kids/nativeamerican/ or contact Nicole Ladner at [email protected] or 626-8400.

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Secretary of State’s 2022 Maine Native American History and Culture Essay Contest

In an effort to enhance Maine Native American Studies lessons ( MRSA 20-A Sec. 4706 ), the Secretary of State sponsors an essay contest in which middle and high school students explore at least one aspect of Wabanaki history and then write an essay on their findings.

This program is designed to give students an opportunity to share and showcase what they’ve learned in this fascinating area of study. Essays are reviewed by a panel of judges, who will select a top entry in both the middle and high school categories.

For details visit: maine.gov/sos/kids/programs/nativeamerican . Entries are due November 10.

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2018 Native American Essay Contest winners visit Maine State Archives

Windsor Elementary essay contest winners find inspiration from grandparents.

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AUGUSTA — Windsor Elementary seventh-graders visiting the Maine State Archives Thursday saw meeting minutes recorded during the drafting of the state’s constitution.

Essay contest winner Caleb Gay, center, and other students looks at book held by archivist Sam Howes on Thursday at the Maine Archives in Augusta. Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan

“Now that’s a primary resource,” their Maine Studies teacher, Jana Diket, told them.

Students across Maine participating in the Secretary of State’s Native American Essay Contest gained experience researching in order to write detailed histories of the state’s earliest peoples. The program started around 2007 in order to give young people the chance to learn about Maine Native Americans.

The first and second place winners for the middle school division were Windsor Elementary School seventh-graders Jeremy Parker and Caleb Gay.

Winner Parker wrote “ The Passamaquoddy Native American of Maine .” The Windsor 12-year-old was inspired to learn about the people because his grandparents lived near the Passamaquoddy land, and his grandfather taught on the reservation.

“I wanted to learn about those people that my grandfather taught,” Parker said. Advertisement

His essay halted a common myth that Native Americans live in teepees.

“The Passamaquoddy people lived in wigwams as did most of the Wabanaki people …,” Parker wrote. “The Passamaquoddy Tribes normally did not move around much so they could build these sturdy shelters.”

His father, Josh Parker said his family was very proud of his son.

“He showed us early drafts, and we saw how it came together,” Josh Parker said.

Second place winner Gay wrote “ Weapons of the Dawnsmen ,” an essay rich with detail describing weapons of Maine Native Americans, including bows and arrows, the atlatl or spear-thrower, and the root war club.

The Windsor 12-year-old chose the topic because he has a growing interest in weapons. Advertisement

“I love to make stuff and build things,” said Gay, who recently learned that his grandfather was part Native American.

The essay started with a narrative that took readers to a time before black powder, and into the mind of a hunter.

“If I slay this deer, I would possess enough antlers to make myself a new knife, more spear points and more arrowheads,” wrote Gay.

Gay’s mom, Laura Gay, said he has a big interest in writing and history.

Archivist Sam Howes shows Windsor Elementary School students items from the collections on Thursday at the Maine Archives in Augusta. Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan

Diket and writing teacher Helen Beesley worked together on the curriculum, Diket teaching Native American history, while Beesley taught writing. The students researched, drafted, workshopped and drafted again, until their essays were ready for submission.

Parker and Gay were presented awards by Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap at the Maine State Archives. Parker, Gay and their classmates saw original exhibits, including Native American records at the archives, and they observed toured the State House and observed a session. Advertisement

The winner of this year’s high school division was Samantha Siemling, a 15-year-old sophomore from Dover-Foxcroft attending the Maine Virtual Academy in Augusta.

Siemerling wrote “ Indigenous Arts of Maine Native Americans ,” an essay that described the intricate art of Maine tribes. She explained how wampum beads were used as authority and currency with European colonists.

“A messenger would be given a string of wampum beads as proof he was authorized to deliver that message,” she wrote.

“I learned how (Native Americans) took art and put it into the regular things they would do, like basket-making,” Siemerling.

“Samantha is a prolific writer, she’s always writing and enjoying it,” Siemerling’s mother, Margaret Siemerling, said.

She was proud  that during the drafting experience, Samantha was learning to take constructive criticism. Advertisement

“There was a time when she wouldn’t want to do revisions,” Margaret said.

Maine Virtual Academy social studies teacher Kristen Tripp said Siemerling was the only student from the academy to write an essay this year. She proposed the idea to Tripp, and they drafted the essay together.

“Samantha creatively goes above and beyond on many of our assignments,” Tripp said.

Siemerling and her family have also been invited to tour the archives, and is making plans to visit, her teacher said.

Archivist Sam Howes shows Windsor Elementary School students a military log book entry about wearing black armband after death of George Washington and other items from the collections on Thursday at the Maine Archives in Augusta. Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan

Dunlap said Thursday that he appreciates the amount of material that students have now that he didn’t have as a child. While a member of the Wabanaki State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he said, “We had no idea what was happening to our native peoples.”

While on the commission, he reflected on what he knew as a child. He learned about Native Americans at age 5 or 6 by watching “Gunsmoke” and “Bonanza” on television. Advertisement

“I was actually afraid to go in the woods,” Dunlap said. “(His generation was) a victim of cultural dogma of the time that was very racist and stylized.”

He sees the essay contest as “an opportunity to bring young people at a much earlier age awareness of who these native peoples were and are.”

Abigail Austin — 621-5631

[email protected]

Twitter: @AbigailAustinKJ

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Maine lawmakers taking up thorny issue of tribal sovereignty

Protesters concerned with tribal sovereignty laws gather at the State House, Monday, April 11, 2022, in Augusta, Maine. Maine tribes gave up some sovereignty rights to the state when they settled their land claims more than 40 years ago. They’ve battled ever since to regain the same rights as the nation’s other tribes. The debate now begins in the Legislature. (AP Photo/David Sharp)

Protesters concerned with tribal sovereignty laws march at the State House, Monday, April 11, 2022, in Augusta, Maine. Maine tribes gave up some sovereignty rights to the state when they settled their land claims more than 40 years ago. They’ve battled ever since to regain the same rights as the nation’s other tribes. The debate now begins in the Legislature. (AP Photo/David Sharp)

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AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Tribes in Maine gave up some of their rights to the state when they settled their land claims more than 40 years ago.

They want to change that agreement so they can enjoy the same self-governing rights as the other Native Americans.

The Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet and Mi’kmaq view legislative debate this week, ahead of the midterm elections, as their best opportunity for establishing rights to self determination.

The proposed changes come against a backdrop of President Joe Biden’s administration seeking to ensure that tribes are consulted early when it comes to policies or actions that impact them. It also has sought ways for the federal government and tribes to co-manage federal land that is part of tribes’ ancestral homeland.

But unlike the hundreds of tribal reservations across the United States, the Passamaquoddy’s and Penobscot’s three reservations in Maine are governed like municipalities and bound by state laws under the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980.

In Maine, the larger Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes operate their own police departments and health clinics but don’t have full autonomy over matters on their land. The state and tribes have butted heads on environmental, fish and wildlife rules.

Change could come with votes in the state Legislature that began Tuesday.

One of the bills would amend the land claims act to ensure that tribes have control over their land that’s comparable to other tribes in the U.S. Of the 574 federally recognized tribes in the country, about 325 have reservation land. The Legislature has not voted on that bill.

Another bill would ensure the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point can regulate its own drinking water, drilling wells on land owned by the tribe, for example, and working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency instead of being bound by state regulatory agencies.

That bill overwhelmingly passed, 103-35, in the initial House vote on Tuesday. The Senate will take it up later this week.

On Monday, about 300 tribal members and supporters gathered at the State House and marched to the home of Gov. Janet Mills, who’s opposed some aspects of both proposals.

One of the speakers, 19-year-old Passamaquoddy Noela Altvater, told the crowd that clean drinking water is available virtually everywhere in Maine — except on the Pleasant Point reservation where she’s grown up.

“Our community has been stripped and kept from this basic need for our entire existence,” she said.

Chief Maggie Dana of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point, also known as Sipayik, put it in stark terms.

“Our culture is clear — water is life. And for the Passamaquoddy people at Sipayik, it is poison,” Dana said.

For the tribes, it has been a long, frustrating battle since they traded some rights to the state under an $81.5 million settlement that was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. The settlement can be changed, but only with the agreement of both the state and the tribes.

That settlement for the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet, along with a 1991 agreement for the Mi’kmaq, all federally recognized, put the Maine tribes on a different footing from tribes elsewhere across the country.

In Maine, opponents fear unintended consequences, like tribes flexing their muscle on environmental, fish and wildlife, and economic development.

That’s one of the reasons why Maine’s Democratic governor has not warmed to the sovereignty bill. If it’s approved, she might veto it.

A spokesperson said the governor is committed to improving drinking water quality by working with the local water district, Passamaquoddy Tribe, and the federal government. But Mills didn’t appreciate one tribal leader’s suggestion that she was offering “beads and trinkets” instead of substantive proposals.

“The governor is focused on bringing people together to solve problems, not trading insults at press conferences,” spokesperson Lindsay Crete said.

Despite the governor’s opposition, the tribes still see this as their best chance, potentially for some time, to get the bills passed because they have the support of Democratic leadership.

With the midterms coming up, Republicans could take control of one or both Democratically controlled chambers in the State House, along with the governorship, hampering efforts to press forward with the proposals.

Maggie Dana said the tribes have been educating lawmakers and creating alliances, and they’re hopeful for change.

It’s time for the state to live up to its motto Dirigo, which is Latin for “I lead,” instead of being last to expand the rights of Native Americans to the same rights enjoyed by others, Dana said.

Native American Studies: Resources

Article indexes.

• America: History and Life This link opens in a new window U.S. and Canadian history journal articles. Citations with links to full text. Publication dates: 1964 to present america history and life ahl
• Anthropology Plus This link opens in a new window Anthropology and archaeology journal articles.
• JSTOR This link opens in a new window

Maine Resources

• The Indians of Maine : a bibliographic guide
• The Wabanaki : an annotated bibliography of selected books, articles, documents
• Wabanaki: Culture, Continuity, Courage & Change
• Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth & Reconciliation Commission archives
• Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission (MITSC)
• Wabanaki Collection
• Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Language Portal
• Hudson Museum Education Resources
• Wabanaki Peoples at Mount Desert Island
• Northeast Folklore: Malecite and Passamaquoddy Tales
• Maine Native Americans Subject Guide (Folger Library, UMaine)
• Penobscot Nation, Cultural and Historic Preservation

Getting Started with a Topic

• Handbook of North American Indians Classic text on regions and themes.
• Oxford Handbook of American Indian History Essays on eras, regions, and themes with bibliographies.
• Atlantic History - Oxford Bibliography Great starting point for research, with lists of relevant works by topic.
• Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas Available online and in print: E77 .N62 1996
• Columbia Guides to American Indian History and Culture
• Primary Sources and Government Documents
• Indigenous Peoples: North America This link opens in a new window Primary sources on Native American life.
• Early Canadiana Online This link opens in a new window Canadian publications from early colonial times through 1940. more... less... The Early Canadiana Online collection of rare books, magazines and government publications has over 80,000 titles (3,500,000 pages) and is growing. The collection includes material published from the time of the first European settlers to the first four decades of the 20th Century.Books written in 21 languages including French, English, 10 First Nations languages and several European languages, Latin and Greek.
• Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: 1610 to 1791 Online in English translation. A selection in book form is at F1030.7 .Z969 1990.
• Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology Series reports from 1965 on; most available at Govt. SI 1.33:
• Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History Some of the great ethnographies of the 20th century, particularly on North American Indians.
• Indians/Native Americans - National Archives
• Native Northeast Portal A scholarly critical edition of New England Native American primary source materials.
• Duke Collection of American Indian Oral History Interviews conducted with hundreds of Indians in Oklahoma (1967 -1972)
• Genoa Indian School Digital Reconciliation Project

• Primary Sources in the Library Link to primary sources--testimony, letters, government documents, and so on--that have been published in book form and available through the library.
• Early American Indian Documents: Treaties and Laws, 1607 - 1789 Key source arranges treaties and law into volumes by states or regions. Unfortunately, we don't own it, but many of our consortial partners do. So direct request or use ILL after you figure out which volume you need.
• Kappler's Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties Full text from 1778.
• Treaties in the American Indian Law Collection Via HeinOnline.
• Indigenous Digital Archive Treaties Explorer The Ratified Indian Treaties held by the US National Archives.
• Early Recognized Treaties with American Indian Nations Adds 9 earlier treaties (1722 - 1805) Kappler left out because they were negotiated by the British covering.
• Documents Relating to the Negotiation of Ratified and Unratified Treaties With Various Indian Tribes, 1801-1869
• Native Land Interactive map of territories and treaty cessions. Useful for land acknowledgements.

• Curtis's North American Indian Follows the nineteenth-century Euro-American tradition of capturing the “otherness” of indigenous American Indian life in photography and narrative chronicles.
• Portrait Index of North American Indians in Published Collections
• Photographing the American Indian: Portraits of Native Americans, 1860-1913, from the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society
• American Heritage Center - Richard Throssel Papers Images taken on Crow Reservation in Montana.
• American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Collection
• Native Peoples of Northern Great Plains Digital Images Database

• Updated: Jul 28, 2023 9:02 AM
• URL: https://libguides.bates.edu/native-american-studies