Word: wampanoag
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Dates: during 1976-1976
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...selectmen, we read with interest your article concerning the town of Mashpee [Nov. 15] and the suit brought by the Wampanoag tribal council...
...When Wampanoag Chief Massasoit celebrated Thanksgiving in 1621 as a guest of the Plymouth Colony pilgrims, his tribe occupied an area that ran from Cape Cod north almost to Boston. Within 50 years, land-greedy colonists had forced the Indians into a corner of their territory, some 20,000 acres in an area known as Mashpee on the southwestern shore of Cape Cod. After another two centuries, the state of Massachusetts decided to turn the reservation into a township, and the Indians naively sold off their land, bit by bit. Today 500 Wampanoag are still living in Mashpee (total...
...that "any title to Indian land obtained without federal approval is null and void." Tureen's theory is that this act invalidates many subsequent land sales throughout New England. In Mashpee, specifically, a class-action filed in August demands the return of virtually the entire town to the Wampanoag. The suit, however, would allow householders to stay as long as they paid "fair rental value," which could amount to more than $2 million annually. Though the suit could drag on for years, the town was stunned to learn in September that the leading Boston bond counsel, Ropes & Gray, refused...
Governor Michael Dukakis has already signed legislation to rescue Mashpee for the time being by guaranteeing the town's credit, but the Wampanoag case is only the latest battle in a new Indian uprising against the white man-fought this time in the courts. It started in Maine, where Attorney Tureen, now 32, arrived from St. Louis with an interest in Indian legal problems. In 1971, with Tureen's help, the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes set out to sue the state, claiming title to 12.5 million acres-two-thirds of Maine. The estimated value of the property, which...