The Shinnecock Indian Nation is a
federally recognized tribe
This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...
of historically
Algonquian-speaking
Native Americans based at the eastern end of
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, New York. This tribe is headquartered in
Suffolk County,
[ on the southeastern shore. Since the mid-19th century, the tribe's landbase is the ]Shinnecock Reservation
Shinnecock Reservation is a Native American reservation for members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation in the town of Southampton in Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is the furthermost east of the two Native American reservations in Suffo ...
within the geographic boundaries of the Town of Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
. Their name roughly translates into English as "people of the stony shore".
History
The Shinnecock were among the thirteen Indian bands loosely based on kinship on Long Island, which were named by their geographic locations, but the people were highly decentralized. The most common pattern of indigenous life on Long Island prior to their economic and cultural destruction - and, on occasion, actual enslavement - by the Europeans was the autonomous village linked by kinship to its neighbors.[John Strong, "The Thirteen Tribes of Long Island: The History of a Myth"](_blank)
''Hudson River Valley Review'' They were related and politically subject to the Pequot
The Pequot () are a Native American people of Connecticut. The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut including the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, or th ...
and Narragansett, the more powerful Algonquian tribes of southern New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
across Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...
. The Shinnecock are believed to have spoken a dialect of Mohegan-Pequot-Montauk, similar to their neighbors the Montaukett
= Montauketts =
An indigenous Native American People.
Name and Identifications
The Montaukett ("Metoac" or Matouwac), currently more commonly known as Montauk. The meaning of the name ''Montauk'' is unknown.
Native Americans living on Long ...
on Long Island. As is the case with many North Eastern tribes after the establishment of reservations, the Shinnecock language was not allowed to be spoken in schools and its use was highly frowned upon off the reservation. This caused a decline in the number of people who spoke the language, however, the tribe is actively engaged in language renewal programs to secure the legacy of the language for future generations.
The bands in the western part of Long Island were Lenape
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
(Delaware), such as the Matinecock and Patchogue. Also part of the large Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages ( or ; also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous American languages that include most languages in the Algic languages, Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language f ...
family, these Lenape spoke a Delaware-Munsee dialect, one of three of their people. They shared a longhouse
A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America.
Many were built from timber and often rep ...
social system with their people also located in a territory that extended through the mid-Atlantic area, from western Connecticut, the lower Hudson River Valley, through present-day New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania.
Like the other Native peoples of Long Island, the Shinnecock made ''wampumpeag'' (wampum
Wampum is a traditional shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of Native Americans. It includes white shell beads hand-fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell and white and purple beads made from the quahog or Western Nort ...
), shell beads strung onto threads that were used as currency, for record-keeping, for aesthetic purposes, and to symbolize a family. These shell beads have been found at Native American-inhabited sites as far west as the Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
, showing their value in a trade. Although other New England tribes produced ''wampumpeag'', the Indians of Long Island are reputed to have made the best. Paumanok, one of the many names given to Long Island, means "land of tribute". The tribe was subject to raids by the Pequot
The Pequot () are a Native American people of Connecticut. The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut including the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, or th ...
and other New England tribes to control this valuable trade commodity. The Europeans quickly learned the value of the Shinnecock ''wampumpeag'' in a trade with other tribes. Cockenoe
Cockenoe (also known as Cockeno, Cockenow, Chachaneu, Cheekanoo, Cockenoe, Chickino, Chekkonnow, Cockoo) (born before 1630 and died after 1687) was an early Native Americans in the United States, Native American translator from Long Island in New ...
, a Montaukett/Shinnecock captured during the Pequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place between 1636 and 1638 in New England between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the colonists from the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Narragans ...
in 1637, worked with John Eliot in Boston in the 1640s to translate the first parts of the Eliot Indian Bible
The ''Eliot Indian Bible'' ( alq, Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God; also known as the ''Algonquian Bible'') was the first translation of the Christian Bible into an indigenous American language, as well as the first Bible publishe ...
, before returning to Long Island.
Native American populations on Long Island declined dramatically after European colonization due mostly to vulnerability to the new infectious diseases
An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...
carried by colonists, to which they had no immunity
Immunity may refer to:
Medicine
* Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease
* ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press
Biology
* Immune system
Engineering
* Radiofrequence immunity desc ...
. In 1658 a smallpox epidemic caused the deaths of nearly two-thirds of the Indians on the island. In addition, their communities were disrupted by land encroachment by Dutch and later English colonists; they had to shift from hunting and fishing to horticulture. By 1741, estimates are that only 400 Native Americans in total survived.["American Indians of Long Island, NY"](_blank)
Richmond Hill Historical Society
In 1641, English colonists signed a lease with the Shinnecock Indians. In 1703, this was ratified to include more land for English colonists. In 1792, the state of New York
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...
passed a law reorganizing the Shinnecock Indian Tribe as a trusteeship
Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...
. The law also established annual elections for three tribal trustees, which have continued from 1792 to the present.[ The Shinnecock, Montauk and ]Unkechaug
Quiripi (pronounced , also known as Mattabesic, Quiripi-Unquachog, Quiripi-Naugatuck, and Wampano) was an Algonquian language formerly spoken by the indigenous people of southwestern Connecticut and central Long Island,Rudes (1997:1)Goddard (19 ...
developed tribal systems to deal with external forces; the Shinnecock depended on their trustees to manage some relations with local farmers in the 18th century,[ and with other jurisdictions in contemporary times. For more than two centuries, the trustees have managed the tribe's land and resources. In the fall of 2010, the Shinnecock gained federal recognition.][
After the ]American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, a number of Shinnecock left Long Island to join the Brothertown Indians
The Brothertown Indians (also ''Brotherton''), located in Wisconsin, are a Native American tribe formed in the late 18th century from communities of so-called "praying Indians" (or Moravian Indians), descended from Christianized Pequot, Narr ...
in western New York, where the Oneida people
The Oneida people (autonym: Onʌyoteˀa·ká·, Onyota'a:ka, ''the People of the Upright Stone, or standing stone'', ''Thwahrù·nęʼ'' in Tuscarora) are a Native American tribe and First Nations band. They are one of the five founding nat ...
gave them some land on their reservation. (By the mid-19th century the Shinnecock and Brothertown migrated to Wisconsin, pushed out of New York.) On Long Island, some Shinnecock intermarried with local colonists and enslaved Africans, who worked on farms and as craftsmen.[The Shinnecock tribe and casino in the Hamptons: ''The New Yorker''](_blank)
Ariel Levy, ''Our Local Correspondents'', “Reservations,” The New Yorker, December 13, 2010, p. 40 They often reared their children as Shinnecock, maintaining their identity and culture.
The Shinnecock were at home on the water, long being fishermen and sailors around the island. Through the 19th century, Shinnecock men worked as fishermen and sailors on the whaling
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
It was practiced as an organized industry ...
ships based at Sag Harbor
Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on eastern Long Island. The village developed as a working port on Gardiner's Bay. The population was 2,772 at the 2 ...
and other local ports. It was said that not a ship left Eastern Long Island without at least 1 Shinnecock male on board. In December 1876, ten Shinnecock men died while trying to save a ship stranded off East Hampton. The tribe is famous in local lore for such heroic efforts. At the start of the 20th century, the Shinnecock were described as "daring seamen," and "furnishin efficient recruits to the United States Life Saving Service
The United States Life-Saving ServiceDespite the lack of hyphen in its insignia, the agency itself is hyphenated in government documents including: and was a Federal government of the United States, United States government agency that grew out ...
" (Coast Guard).
Every Labor Day Weekend
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...
since 1946, the reservation hosts a powwow
A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Powwows today allow Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their cultures. Powwows may be private or pu ...
, based on ceremonies beginning in 1912. The Shinnecock Powwow is ranked by ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' as one of the ten great powwows held in the United States. In 2008 the powwow attracted 50,000 visitors.
Federal recognition
The Shinnecock were recognized by the United States government in October 2010 after a more than 30-year effort, which included suing the Department of Interior. The Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, George T. Skibine issued the final determination of the tribe's recognized status on June 13, 2010.
The first Secretary of the Interior to visit the Shinnecock Indian Reservation was Sally Jewell
Sarah Margaret "Sally" Roffey Jewell (born February 21, 1956) is a British-American businessperson who served as the 51st United States secretary of the interior in the Obama administration from 2013 to 2017.
Jewell was born in London and moved ...
, who visited in 2015. She was joined by Kevin K. Washburn
Kevin K. Washburn (born 1967) is an American law professor, former dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law, and current Dean of the University of Iowa College of Law. He served in the administration of President Barack Obama as Assi ...
, the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs. One of the purposes of the visit was to highlight renewable energy initiatives.
Reservation
The Shinnecock Indian Reservation is a self-governing reservation. By 1859, the current borders of were established.
In 1972 the Shinnecock Native American Cultural Coalition (SNACC) was formed to establish a Native American arts and crafts program. Traditional dancing, beadwork, Native American crafts, and music are studied. A group called The Youngblood Singers was formed. Dedicated to learning traditional Algonquian songs, chants, and drum rituals, they travel throughout the Northeast performing at powwows and drum contests. The Cultural Enrichment Program is a sharing and learning process that the community has engaged in to ensure that the ideals and traditions of their ancestors are passed down through the generations. It involves sharing knowledge of food, clothing, arts, crafts, dance, ceremonies, and language.
The reservation has a museum, shellfish hatchery, education center, cultural and community center, playground, and Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
church. The reservation is three miles (5 km) west of the village of Southampton, New York. In 1903, it had a population of 150. In 2012 the Shinnecock Nation numbered more than 1,400 people, with more than half residing on the reservation.
Land claims dispute
In 2005 the nation filed a land claim
A land claim is defined as "the pursuit of recognized territorial ownership by a group or individual". The phrase is usually only used with respect to disputed or unresolved land claims. Some types of land claims include aboriginal land claims, A ...
against New York seeking the return of 3,500 acres (14 km²) in Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
located near the tribe's reservation, and billions of dollars in reparations
Reparation(s) may refer to:
Christianity
* Restitution (theology), the Christian doctrine calling for reparation
* Acts of reparation, prayers for repairing the damages of sin
History
*War reparations
**World War I reparations, made from G ...
for damages suffered by colonial land grabs. The disputed property is worth $1 billion and includes the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club is a Links (golf), links-style golf club located in an Shinnecock Hills, New York, unincorporated area of the Southampton (town), New York, Town of Southampton on Long Island, New York (state), New York, situated betwee ...
,[ which Shinnecock say is the location of traditional tribal burial grounds.
The tribe's lawsuit challenged the state legislature's approval of an 1859 sale of the 3500 acres of tribal land to non-native persons. This broke the terms of a 1,000-year-lease signed in 1703 by Southampton colonial officials and the tribe. The suit charges that in 1859, a group of powerful New York investors conspired to break the lease by sending the state Legislature a fraudulent petition supporting the sale, which was purported to be from a number of Shinnecock tribal members. Although other tribal members immediately protested that the petition was a forgery, the Legislature approved the sale of 3,500 acres (14 km²) of tribal land.
In 2019 a documentary film entitled "Conscience Point" was released and shown on WNET in New York City and other PBS stations. It documents the struggle for land rights and protection of Shinnecock ancestral burials over a five-year period and features Shinnecock activist Becky Hill-Genia.
]
Casino proposals
In 2007 the tribe proposed building a gaming casino to generate revenues for welfare and education, but it has not proceeded to development. In negotiations with the state and local government, the Nation agrees a location out of the Hamptons area would be better for the environment.[ If they develop a site in partnership with the state, they could build a Class III gaming casino, which is more lucrative than the Class II they would qualify for on their reservation.][
]
Whaling
The commercial whaling fishery in the United States is thought to have begun in the 1650s with a series of contracts between Southampton resident English settlers John Ogden, John Cooper and the Shinnecock Indians.The English settlers were primarily farmers at that time with very little experience on the seas. The Indians had an expertise at both seamanship and whale hunting which were necessary to commercialize the industry, known as ye whale design.
The skill of the hunters had a direct impact on the number of whales harvested in a season, as a result, Shinnecock men were often contracted by the whaling companies months in advance and for years at a time. This arrangement was wildly successful, and the whale fishery was soon seen all over New England. So valued were the Indian fisherman that in 1708 the governor made a law stating, “Indians under indenture to whaling companies could not be arrested, molested, or detained in any way from November first to April fifteenth”. This version of whale fishing continued with Indian contract labor until at least 1746.
The whaling industry declined sharply in the mid-1700s. Whales were no longer found near shore in their former abundance. The hunt for whales went worldwide, and the Shinnecock were still very valued within the industry well into the 1800s. Notably, on April 18, 1845 aboard the whaling vessel the ''Manhattan'', a Shinnecock Indian named Eleazar became the first Native American to enter into Japanese territory, anchoring in Tokyo Bay
is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous a ...
.
Wampum
The Shinnecock Indians are very closely tied to wampum
Wampum is a traditional shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of Native Americans. It includes white shell beads hand-fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell and white and purple beads made from the quahog or Western Nort ...
. In the early 1600s, the first recorded European reference of Long Island Indians comes from Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
official Isaack de Rasieres. He described Long Island as, “three to four leagues broad, and it has several creeks and bays, where many savages dwell, who support themselves by planting maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
and making sewan (wampum) and who are called… Sinnecox (Shinnecock).”
The Long Island Indians are generally thought to be the largest producers of wampum in the colonial era with much of it being paid as tribute to larger or more powerful tribes. As wampum manufacturing grew during the 1600s, it became an official currency of the colonies until the early 18th century and it was the primary currency used in the fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...
of the time. The need for wampum was so great that the Shinnecock and other Long Island Indians were included in the 1664 free trade treaty of Fort Albany as a means to secure unrestricted wampum from the Indians.
The Shinnecock and neighboring Long Island tribes were keen to secure their access to the resource through treaties. In 1648, the Shinnecock, Montauk, Manhasset
Manhasset is a hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in D ...
and Corchaug
Metoac is an erroneous term used by some to group together the Munsee-speaking Lenape (west), Quiripi-speaking Unquachog (center) and Pequot-speaking Montaukett (east) American Indians on what is now Long Island in New York state. The term ...
tribes sold land which would become the Town of East Hampton, New York
The Town of East Hampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, at the eastern end of the South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town in the state of New York. At the time of the 2020 United States census, it had a total ...
. The treaty states, “(the tribes) reserve libertie to fish in all convenient places, for Shells to make wampum”.
Evidence of Shinnecock influence on the industry can still be seen today. A bull rake is a large clam harvesting tool created in the mid-1800s. It also goes by the name of a “Shinnecock rake”.
Notes
References
*Swanton, John R. ''The Indian Tribes of North America''. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 145. Washington DC.: Government Printing Office, 1952.
*Hodge, Frederick W. ''Handbook of North American Indians''. Washington, DC.: Government Printing Press, 1910.
Stone, Gaynell, ed. The Shinnecock Indians: A Culture History, 1983, Suffolk County Archaeological Association, Stony Brook, New York.
Strong, John A. The Algonquian Peoples of Long Island From Earliest Times to 1700. Empire State Press, 1997.
Strong, John A. Shinnecock and Montauk Whalemen, The Long Island Historical Journal, 2(1) 29-40.
External links
https://www.shinnecock-nsn.gov/ Official Website of the Shinnecock Indian Nation
"Shinnecock"
''Handbook of North American Indians'', on Access Genealogy
''The New York Times,'' 15 June 2010
{{authority control
*
Federally recognized tribes in the United States
Native American tribes in New York (state)
African–Native American relations
Algonquian ethnonyms
Algonquian peoples
Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands
East Hampton (town), New York
Southampton (town), New York