Melvin Coombs (January 30, 1948 – March 18, 1997) was a

Wampanoag The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 17 ...

dancer Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...

, cultural educator, and cultural interpreter.

Early life and career

Born and raised in

Mashpee, Massachusetts Mashpee ( wam, Mâseepee) is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, on Cape Cod. The population was 15,060 as of 2020. The town is the site of the headquarters and most members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, one of two feder ...

, Coombs' native name was ''Kennupmussitaccq,'' meaning "Quick Foot". He graduated from

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in Falmouth. After attending

Cape Cod Community College Cape Cod Community College, known locally as "Four Cs", is a public community college in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. It was established in 1961, the second institution to open as part of what is now a 15 community college system in Massachu ...

in Barnstable, he began dancing competitively at local

pow-wow A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an ...

s. Coombs later began speaking in schools and other community gatherings in an attempt to dispel

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

s and

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

s about

indigenous peoples of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

. In the 1990s, he served as a cultural interpreter at the

Plimoth Plantation Plimoth Patuxet is a complex of living history museums in Plymouth, Massachusetts, founded in 1947. Formerly Plimoth Plantation, it replicates the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony established in the 17th century by the English coloni ...

while working for the Wampanoag Indigenous Program. Together with his fiance, Dawn Dove, he managed the Dovecrest Cultural Center in Exeter, which includes the

Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum The Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum is an Indigenous museum in Exeter, Rhode Island. The museum was founded by anthropologist Eva Butler and a Narragansett and Wampanoag woman named Princess Red Wing in the 1950s. It is one of the oldest tribal ...

, the Dove Trading Post, and a cultural education program.JOANN W. GODDARD, "A Living History Lesson: Festival An Outdoor Classroom"
''Hartford Courant'', 18 August 1996

Death

On March 18, 1997, Coombs died of severe injuries in

Richmond, Rhode Island Richmond is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island. The population was 8,020 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. It contains the villages of Alton, Rhode Island, Alton, Arcadia, Rhode Island, Arcadia, Barberville, Rhode Island, Barbe ...

. He and Lloyd Lance Comer, an acquaintance, were seen together drinking much of the day and night. Comer was initially charged with

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

, as Coombs' body was found on his property. He was later acquitted.ELIZABETH ABBOTT, "Comer cleared of manslaughter in Coombs slaying"
''Providence Journal'', 5 May 1999

Personal life

At the time of his death, Coombs was engaged to Dawn Dove, a Narragansett. They lived in

Exeter, Rhode Island Exeter is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. Exeter extends east from the Connecticut border to the town of North Kingstown. It is bordered to the north by West Greenwich and East Greenwich, and to the south by Hopkinton, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coombs, Melvin 1948 births 1997 deaths 1997 murders in the United States 20th-century Native Americans People from Mashpee, Massachusetts Wampanoag people Murdered Native American people People murdered in Rhode Island Native American people from Massachusetts