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Lewisboro Land Trust is proud to present to present a dramatic exhibition that recalls the Native American diaspora out of the lower Hudson Valley

“While we cannot undo history, we can foster greater appreciation of the Indigenous cultures that disappeared from this region…”

While the grim history of Indigenous people in the northeast United States during the period of colonization is not unknown, the Pope’s recent six-day visit to Canada to apologize for the “devastation visited on generations of Indigenous people” memorialized that complex history on front pages everywhere. Locally, in the Hudson Valley, whose towns and rivers still bear the names of the people who first inhabited these lands – Chappaqua, Katonah, Kitchawan, Armonk, Mamaroneck, Amawalk – that unfortunate history may not always be top of mind, but it is not forgotten. In fact, it will be honored in Katonah this fall.

Between October 1–26, 2022, the Lewisboro Land Trust, with support from The Jerome Levy Foundation, and with assistance from The Katonah Museum and the Katonah Village Library, will present a special exhibition titled “Living Memory: Indigenous Stories of Our Past, Present, and Future,” to honor the descendants of the Mohican people who once populated the lower Hudson Valley. It will be on view at the Katonah Village Library in the same space where a prior exhibition from which the current one is derived was displayed nearly 40 years ago.

The new show, organized as part of the Lewisboro Land Trust’s Native American Acknowledgment program, will feature 20 portraits of Native Americans whose ancestors were part of the original diaspora out of the Westchester region to what is now Kansas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Ontario. The photos were taken by the late documentarian Rae Russel, a photographer who was commissioned in 1983 by the Katonah Museum of Art (the then-Katonah Gallery) for their groundbreaking exhibition, ''Many Trails: Indians of the Lower Hudson Valley,'' which contained these and other portraits, as well as also 19th century photographs, books, documents, objects from museums and private collections across the US, and craftwork created after the Native Americans left their eastern homeland.

“By restoring part of the original exhibition, we honor the people whose land we now inhabit,” explains Jackie Daluk, Co-Chair, Lewisboro Land Trust. “They are an essential part of our heritage. And while we cannot undo history, we want to foster greater appreciation of the Indigenous cultures that disappeared from this region and memorialize their culture whose roots have been nearly obliterated.”

On the day the “Living Memory: Indigenous Stories of Our Past, Present and Future” opens, the President of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, Shannon Holsey, will travel to Katonah to speak about the Great Diaspora and the difficult journey their ancestors took in search of a new home: Shannon Holsey serves as president of the Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohican Indians. Holsey is the longest serving female president, serving her fourth term as President, following eight years as a member of the Tribal Council. Holsey grew up on the Stockbridge-Munsee reservation in Bowler, Wisconsin, and has committed the Tribe to serving as good stewards of its economic, environmental and culture. She also serves as president of the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, which represents eleven-member tribes with a land base of about 1 million acres spanning 45 counties. 

Holsey’s personal philosophy on leadership focuses on Native Americans as growing economies, preparing students to succeed, delivering high-quality health care, protecting the environment, upholding tribal sovereignty, and solving the unique challenges facing tribal communities. She received her bachelor’s degree in business administration magna cum laude and master’s degrees in strategic leadership and communication from Seton Hall University with distinction. She will speak on October 1, at 4 pm at the Katonah Village Library. A reception will follow. There is no admission charge, but registration is required due to seating capacity.

REGISTER HERE FOR THE OCTOBER 1 PRESENTATION: (SOLD OUT!)

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/exhibition-opening-and-talk-tickets-405916315627

“Through the exhibition and presentations, a new generation will come to better understand the endurance, suffering, strength, and hope of a proud and determined people,” says Bobbe Stultz, LLT’s Co-Chair.

The Katonah Village Library is located at 26 Bedford Road, Katonah, New York. It is open Monday through Thursday, 10 to 6; Friday and Saturday, 10 to 5. Closed Sunday. There is no admission fee. Parking is on the street for 1, 2 and 4 hours until 6 pm, Monday through Saturday. For further information, please visit www.katonahlibrary.org

Background

The tribes identified by the places where they lived: Muh-he-ka-neew (or "people of the continually flowing waters"). The word Muh-he-kan refers to a body of water that flows in both directions, so they named the Hudson River Mahicanituck, or “people of the continually flowing waters.” The word Muh-he-kan refers to a body of water that flows in both directions, so they named the Hudson River Mahicanituck, or the river where there are people from the continually flowing waters in both directions. They, along with other tribes living along the Hudson River (such as the Munsee to the west and the Wappinger to the south) were called “the River Indians” by the Dutch and English.

The Hudson River and its tributary streams have sustained numerous prehistoric and early historic families over the last 12,000 years. All spoke a Munsee dialect of an Algonkian language and were related to people who inhabited in what is today northern New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and the northern Hudson Valley. They based their livelihoods on hunting, fishing, and gathering; their principal weapons were spears or javelins, traps, deadfalls, and snares. About 1000 years ago, farming was added to the traditional forms of hunting. Trees were removed and underbrush cleared. The need for food and tool storage led to the construction of more permanent houses, made from saplings driven into the ground, with bark shingles overlaid to provide a weatherproof covering. Houses and gardens were managed by women; social organization was matrilineal with descent and inheritance traced through the mother. Women raised children, planted crops, cooked, prepared skins, and made garments. Men hunted, trapped fished and did heavy work such as clearing land, building houses and making dugout canoes. The life span rarely exceeded 35 years and infant mortality was high.

“Long ago, before Henry Hudson and the Dutch, before the English who created the entity called Westchester, they were here: the…bands of coastal Indians who spoke a common Algonquian dialect and referred to themselves as the Lenape, the common people. By the time of the American Revolution, the majority of them had [been driven out]. But there existed among them a tradition that one day they would return to the Hudson, to the place ‘where the water was never still.’” (Quoted from The New York Times, 1983)

About Shannon Holsey

Shannon Holsey serves as president of the Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohican Indians. Holsey is the longest serving female president, serving her fourth term as President, following eight years as a member of the Tribal Council. Holsey grew up on the Stockbridge-Munsee reservation in Bowler, Wisconsin, and has committed the Tribe to serving as good stewards of its economic, environmental and culture as well as intellectual resources.

Holsey also serves as president of the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, which represents eleven-member tribes with a land base of about 1 million acres spanning 45 counties.  She is appointed as the Wisconsin State Legislature’s Special Committee on State-Tribal Relations. NCAI Treasurer, MAST Secretary, INMED Advisory Council, CMA Tribal Technical Advisory Group, NCAI Sub Committee member of land management, Co-chair of NCAI Violence Against Women’s Act Task force, Wisconsin’s MMIW Task Force, Governor Appointed Student Debt Relief Task Force National Council on Aging committee member, Region 5 EPA RTOC member.

Holsey’s personal philosophy on leadership recognizes that Native Americans are growing economies, preparing students to succeed, delivering high-quality health care, protecting the environment, upholding tribal sovereignty, and solving the unique challenges facing our tribal communities. Holsey received her bachelor’s degree in business administration magna cum laude and master’s degrees in strategic leadership and communication from Seton Hall University with distinction.

Special thanks to our neighbor Carolyn Mandelker, Founder, Harrison Edwards Inc., an award-winning national PR and Marketing firm based in Armonk, NY, for helping us to spread the word about this event.