Emma Tyler Fielding Baker Dec. 5, 1828 - Jan. 20, 1916) was a member of the

Mohegan The Mohegan are an Algonquian Native American tribe historically based in present-day Connecticut. Today the majority of the people are associated with the Mohegan Indian Tribe, a federally recognized tribe living on a reservation in the east ...

Pequot Indian tribe and was posthumously awarded the title of

medicine woman A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective languages, for spiritual healers and ceremo ...

in 1992. Medicine women were culture-bearers and required to have an in-depth knowledge of tribal customs and possess good leadership qualities. She was also a tribal historian and ceremonial leader of the Mohegan Tribe.

Early life and family

Baker was born in the village of Mohegan (now

Fort Shantok Fort Shantok, in Montville, Connecticut, was the site of the principal Mohegan settlement between 1636 and 1682 and the sacred ground of Uncas, one of the most prominent and influential Mohegan leaders and statesmen of his era. Originally part o ...

, Montville, Conn.) on December 5, 1828, to Francis Fielding and Rachel Commenwas Hoscott and was one of ten children. As an adult, Baker helped preserve tribal historical records and oral traditions thus becoming known as a culture-bearer. Baker married a Mohegan man named Henry Greenwood Baker on November 30, 1854, who became the father of her eight children.

Leadership within the tribe

In 1860, Baker served as the president of the Church Ladies Sewing Society which was considered to be an auxiliary of the Mohegan Church. This group of women worked to preserve Mohegan culture and, as part of their matriarchal role within the tribe, considered new chiefs and decided land claims. This group met regularly at the Mohegan Church in Montville, Conn. One of Baker's actions as president was to restore an ancient Mohegan

Green Corn Festival The Green Corn Ceremony (Busk) is an annual ceremony practiced among various Native American peoples associated with the beginning of the yearly corn harvest. Busk is a term given to the ceremony by white traders, the word being a corruption of ...

nicknamed the "Wigwam Festival" ("wigwam" meaning "welcome"). This Festival continues into the present as a celebration of Mohegan tribal culture and is annually held during the third weekend in August. Because the Mohegan Green Corn Festival was to be held on the grounds of the Mohegan Congregational Church (whose land was tribally owned), this provided solidarity for the tribe in the following years when the reservation land was eventually broken up. Baker also served as a Sunday School teacher at the Mohegan Church. Baker was elected president of the Mohegan Indian League in 1896. She represented the Mohegan Nation before the all-white, all-male

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

legislature as part of an endeavor to protect Mohegan land and sacred sites. She also chaired the Mohegan tribal council. and documented the desecration of the Norwich Royal Mohegan Burial Ground. Baker also lent some "Indian Relics" to the Converse Art Gallery in Norwich, Conn., for display in honor of the anniversary of the town on Saturday, July 3, 1909; this display was curated by the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

. Long after her death, she was posthumously elected as a member of the

Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame The Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame (CWHF) recognizes women natives or residents of the U.S. state of Connecticut for their significant achievements or statewide contributions. The CWHF had its beginnings in 1993 when a group of volunteers partn ...

in 1994.

Later life and legacy

Baker was a "nanu" (mentor or respected elder woman) to her niece

Gladys Tantaquidgeon Gladys Iola Tantaquidgeon (June 15, 1899 – November 1, 2005) was a Mohegan medicine woman, anthropologist, author, tribal council member, and elder based in Connecticut.

, by instructing her in tribal spirituality and herbal medicine which Baker had learned from Martha Uncas, her grand-aunt. Baker died on January 20, 1916, and is buried at Shantok Burial Grounds in Uncasville, Conn. Baker was immortalized in 2017 by artist Adam Chambers when he created her portrait for one of eleven ornaments to decorate one of the 56 trees representing each U.S. state and territory at the President's Park in Washington, D.C. She was selected because she is considered a Connecticut native who dedicated her life to promote tolerance and diversity.

Ralph W. Sturges Ralph Weston Sturges (December 25, 1918 – October 1, 2007) was an American Mohegan tribal chief who helped gain Native American recognition in the United States, federal recognition for the Mohegan people of Connecticut in 1994. He also he ...

(1918-2007), Baker's great grandson, was instrumental in assisting the Mohegan Tribe achieve construction of the

Mohegan Sun Casino Mohegan Sun is an American casino, owned and operated by the Mohegan Tribe on of their reservation, along the banks of the Thames River in Uncasville, Connecticut. It has of gambling space. It is in the foothills of southeastern Connecticut, ...

on 240 acres of the Tribe's reservation land in Uncasville, Conn. The casino opened October 12, 1996, eighty years after Baker's death. With proceeds from this casino, the Mohegan Tribe was able to contribute $10 million to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

toward building the

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

Gallery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Emma People from Connecticut 1828 births 1916 deaths Indigenous American traditional healers Native American leaders 19th-century Native American women 19th-century Native Americans 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native Americans Mohegan people Native American history of Connecticut Burials in Connecticut 20th-century American women physicians 20th-century American physicians Native American people from Connecticut