Overview - For teachers - We have a story to tell: Native peoples of the Chesapeake region

The Native peoples of the Chesapeake Bay region were among the first in the Western Hemisphere to encounter European explorers and colonists. Their stories, however, have usually been told by others, and usually only when
their history helps to shed light on the birth and early development of the English colonies and the United States. Their perspectives have been overlooked and ignored in exhibitions, the media, educational materials, and most histories of the region. This guide offers contemporary Native perspectives about the historical experiences of the Native Americans of the Chesapeake, in particular, the Powhatan, Nanticoke, and Piscataway peoples.

The history of the Native Americans of the Chesapeake region is a remarkable story of resilience and survival. For thousands of years, until the late sixteenth century, they were sustained by and lived in balance with a verdant, pristine, and generous environment. The region was heavily populated and vibrant with human activity. The people spoke languages that were part of the immense Algonquian language family that reached from the Southeast up the Northeast coast into what is now Canada, across to the Great Lakes and even to some parts of the Great Plains and what is now California. These languages were not mutually intelligible but they bore enough similarities to enable peoples of the Chesapeake region to communicate with one another.

The communities were organized under chiefdoms, a sophisticated and multi-layered system of government. They practiced diplomacy and developed political and military alliances. They were deeply spiritual and expressed
their religious values and beliefs in cyclical ceremonies and rituals that kept their world in balance. Long before Europeans arrived, Native people developed and participated in widespread trade systems that brought them into contact with people, goods, and ideas from distant places. Although change has always been part of Native American cultures and lives, Chesapeake peoples’ ways of life were destroyed in a relatively brief period of time when contact with Europeans occurred. Confronted with a catastrophic tidal wave of change, they incurred devastating losses and had to summon every ounce of ingenuity and strength to survive. Some were overwhelmed and extinguished, but some remain to tell their stories today. One of their descendents, Dr. Gabrielle Tayac, a member of the Piscataway Nation of Maryland, is the coauthor of this guide.

We Have a Story to Tell: The Native Peoples of the Chesapeake Regionis intended for use with students in grades 9–12. Ways of life before contact with Europeans are briefly introduced. This is followed by coverage of the period of colonization (1607) through the present. The guide focuses especially on how Powhatan, Nanticoke, and Piscataway peoples responded to the upheavals that began with the colonial period. It includes activities that fix attention on critical contemporary issues that affect Native communities in the region.

Educators are encouraged to use these materials as an introduction to ongoing studies of the Native peoples of the Chesapeake and other regions — past, present, and future. The interactions between the colonists and the Natives of
the Chesapeake established a pattern of relations that would persist for centuries. This history offers students important new perspectives about the events that shaped the experiences of indigenous peoples throughout the
continent, as well as the development of the United States.

A note about languages and pronunciation of place names, personal names, and other Algonquian language terms used in this guide. Although phonetic spellings of many Algonquian words remain, their precise pronunciation has been lost in many cases. Some tribes are working with linguists and other Algonquian-speaking tribes to reconstruct their languages. For this document, we offer below a modern-day pronunciation guide for regional tribes. For historic place names and other terms we recommend using the common International Phonetic Alphabet guidelines for phonetic pronunciation. Please note that the Monacan Indian Nation is one of eight state–recognized tribes in Virginia. Because they were not originally part of the Powhatan, Nanticoke, or Piscataway Chiefdoms, their history is not discussed in this guide.

Pamunkey: Puh-MUN-kee
Mattaponi: MATTA-puh-nye
Chickahominy: Chick-uh-HAH-muh-nee
Nansemond: NAN-suh-mawnd
Rappahannock: Rap-uh-HAN-ick
Nanticoke: NAN-ti-coke
Piscataway: Pih-SCAT-uh-way
Monacan: MAWN-uh-kuhn