In order for a society to exist it has to have a form of language and the ability to establish the rules to maintain its structure.
A civilization needs a language to pass down the history of its existence, its God(s), religious ceremonies, its Laws, and its structure. How the different aspects of a culture developed were based upon the usage of the language as it evolved. Language enables a civilization to record its history through either oral, written, or a combination of both forms of communication.
For the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, their oral languages went back generations so it was also a historical account of that particular Tribal Nation’s evolution, as well as a means of establishing the laws and regulations pertaining to their everyday life.
The paper titled “Language, Places, and Spaces” that is attached to this article addresses what happens when an Indigenous Nation is defeated by a foreign power unknown to them. How the consequences of that loss, forces upon the defeated Indigenous Civilizations the Conquerors’ language, laws, religion, etc. It would cause those Indigenous Cultures that did not have a written language to eventually lose much of their oral history and its identity if it was unable to be recorded.
For many of the Indigenous Nations living along the East Coast of what is now the United States, up through the eastern section of Canada’s subarctic, down to the Great Lakes, and through some parts of the Great Plains in the United States, they spoke the Algonquian language.
The paper focuses on two Tribes of the Eastern Algonquian speaking Tribes: The SandHill Band of Lenape and Cherokee Indians (the SandHill), which was a Tribe of the Delaware Nation (before the majority of the Tribal members of that Nation were relocated to Oklahoma) and the Mashagaug Nahaganset of Rhode Island.
It strongly brings to light the two Indigenous Tribes’ determination in protecting, observing, and preserving their language and cultures, as well as re-establishing their laws and justice system in the 21st Century.
How this attached paper came about began when the SandHill decided to undertake a project to preserve and restore the Delaware Nation’s language within the tribe.
Principal Chief Dr. Ronald Yonaguska Holloway is a founding member of the Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas (FANA), as well as its International Ambassador. He is assisting in this endeavor. When he was looking over FANA’s tribal members, he realized that the majority of FANA’s makeup was Algonquin.
That realization prompted him to reach out to FANA to discuss the possibility of attempting to preserve and restore the ancient dialects and shared customs by working together to achieve those goals.
FANA’s executive committee approved of the idea and Principal Chief Holloway was given oversight of the project. He immediately reached out to Kevin Inglesby, who had been an Intern working for FANA, and under his supervision.
At that time, Kevin was attending West Chester University and he decided to produce a research paper on the Lenape Delaware Algonquin dialects, and how FANA has a new court system that would be a unification benefit for the FANA tribal Nations, as it would reintroduce the laws of the Tribal members as dictated by their Culture.
Also at that time, one of the members of FANA had established an organization called The Providence Cultural Equity Initiative (PCEI). “Its purpose is to promote, cultivate, and advocate for the Cultural Sector and Economy of Rhode Island”. The ways and means are to “steward and ambassador Rhode Island’s Cultural Sector and Economy” so that the State could be transformed into New England’s cultural hub.
“PCEI supports and values uncompromising commitment to cultural authenticity, equity and sustainability by promoting and presenting products, services, and opportunities to engage with Rhode Island’s cultural sector, economy, and communities.”
PCEI offered to assist FANA and the above-mentioned Tribes in the restoration and preservation of their language, history, customs, and laws as these tribes take their place upon the stage of the modern world.
FANA, The SandHill, and the Mashagaug Nahaganset have been diligently working together for the past few months and are trying to collect as much of the Algonquin language and customs that can be gathered by reaching out to other Indigenous people who are also trying to reintroduce the language so it can be archived for future generations.
Here is the link for the Language, Places, and Spaces document: https://www.fana.global/languageplacesspaces
If the link does not work, please copy and paste
If you have any questions, please comment below or email sandhillindiansnynjpa@gmail.com.