Gladys Tantaquidgeon Explained

Gladys Tantaquidgeon
Honorific Prefix:Dr.
Birth Name:Gladys Iola Tantaquidgeon
Alma Mater:University of Pennsylvania,
School of Anthropology
Birth Date:June 15, 1899
Birth Place:Mohegan Hill, Uncasville, Connecticut, USA
Death Place:Mohegan Hill, Uncasville, Connecticut USA
Employer:Bureau of Indian Affairs, Federal Indian Arts and Crafts Board
Known For:Preserving customary Mohegan spirituality, Native ceremonies and art forms
Occupation:Native American anthropologist, medicine woman, social worker, author

Gladys Iola Tantaquidgeon (June 15, 1899 – November 1, 2005) was a Mohegan medicine woman,[1] anthropologist, author, tribal council member, and elder based in Connecticut.[2]

As a young girl, she was selected by women elders for training in traditional pharmacology and culture. She studied anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania with Frank Speck. Beginning in 1934, Tantaquidgeon worked with the Bureau of Indian Affairs for more than a decade, including several years among western Native American tribes. Together with her father and brother, in 1931 she founded the Tantaquidgeon Indian Museum, the oldest to be owned and operated by Native Americans.

She published several books about Native American traditional medicine and healing with plants. For years she preserved vital records and correspondence of tribal members; these proved integral to the Mohegan case for federal recognition, which the Mohegan received in 1994. That year, Tantaquidgeon was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame.

Biography

Gladys Tantaquidgeon[3] was the third of seven children born to Mohegan parents, John and Harriet Fielding Tantaquidgeon.[4] They lived on Mohegan Hill in Quinnetucket (Uncasville, in New London County, Connecticut). She was a 10th-generation descendant of the Mohegan chief Uncas, who was prominent in the colonial era. Culturally, the Mohegan tribe is Algonquian; linguistically, they speak one of the many Algonquian languages. In childhood, Gladys learned traditional practices, beliefs, and lore from nanus, respected women elders. By age five, the tribal nanus chose her to be schooled in the traditions of Mohegan culture. One of her mentors was the Mohegan traditionalist Fidelia Fielding (1827 - 1908). From Fielding, she learned the ways of the makiawisug who guard the healing plants.[5] Another mentor was her maternal aunt, Nanu Emma Fielding Baker (1828-1916). In 1992 Baker was posthumously elected by the tribe as the Mohegan Tribal Medicine Woman and was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame for her work in education and preservation. Gladys started studying with her aunt in 1904, specializing in traditional herbal medicine, and attending classes in local schools.[6]

In 1919, at the age of 20, Tantaquidgeon attended the University of Pennsylvania to study anthropology.[7] Penn anthropologist Frank Speck met Gladys as a child while he was working with her nanu Fidelia Fielding. When Gladys was old enough, Speck invited her to study with him at Penn; he arranged housing for her with foreign students at his home in Swarthmore, enrolled her in classes, and enlisted her as a fieldwork assistant to broaden her understanding of Native American cultures.[8] Tantaquidgeon later did field work related to the Lenape and other eastern Algonquian tribes. She expanded her knowledge of traditional pharmacopeia by researching herbal medicine practices among many related East Coast tribes.

From 1934 to 1947, at the time of the Indian Reorganization Act and the Indian New Deal under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Tantaquidgeon started work with the US Bureau of Indian Affairs. She was hired in 1934 under the Wheeler-Howard Act to administer social service benefits for Indians. At first she was assigned to the Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota.[9]

In 1938 Tantaquidgeon transferred to the Indian Arts and Crafts Board to serve as a "Native Arts Specialist". Working in the Dakotas, Montana, and Wyoming, she helped indigenous artisans preserve traditional skills and arts. In addition, she helped them form cooperatives and other institutions for the sale and management of their arts. She developed ways for tribes to revive their cultural practices. According to the Mohegan Tribal Historian Melissa Fawcett, while working for the federal Indian Arts and Crafts Board, Tantaquidgeon also helped preserve customs that had been prohibited in the 19th century, such as the Ghost Dance and the Sun Dance. Part of Tantaquidgeon's job was to encourage the restoration of these and other previously prohibited traditional practices.[9]

In 1931, Tantaquidgeon worked with her brother Harry, a former chief, and father John to found the Tantaquidgeon Indian Museum. It is the oldest such museum to be owned and operated by Native Americans. After concluding her government service in 1947, Tantaquidgeon returned to Mohegan Hill, Uncasville. She worked full-time at the museum for the next 50 years, until 1998.[10]

As a librarian in the Niantic Women's Prison in the late 1940s, Tantaquidgeon helped minority women. During the 1970s and 1980s, she also served on the Mohegan Tribal Council, encouraging the preservation and revival of tribal customs and language. Tantaguidgeon also served as the special guardian of Mohegan Hill during the 20th century.[11]

Tantaquidgeon published several books in her lifetime about traditional herbal medicine. Her best-known work, A Study of Delaware Indian Medicine Practices and Folk Beliefs (1942), was reprinted in 1972, 1995, and 2000 as Folk Medicine of the Delaware and Related Algonkian Indians. In 1992 she was elected as the Tribal Medicine Woman of the Mohegan. She preserved numerous records and tribal correspondence in boxes under her bed. These proved critical as documentation to aid the tribe's case for federal recognition. The tribe proved community continuity and was acknowledged as a federally recognized tribe in 1994, as part of a settlement linked to their claim for the lands that make up the present-day Mohegan reservation.[6]

Dr. Gladys Tantaquidgeon was the great-aunt of Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel, an author and the current Mohegan Medicine Woman.

Legacy, awards and honors

Notes

Footnotes
References

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Gladys Tantaquidgeon. The Mohegan Tribe. November 1, 2005. 2008-02-24. 2015-01-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20150126115056/http://www.mohegan.nsn.us/Heritage/gt_makiawisug.aspx. dead.
  2. http://www.cwhf.org/inductees/education-preservation/gladys-tantaquidgeon/ "Gladys Tantaquidgeon"
  3. "Running Against Time - Medicine Woman Preserves Mohegan Culture". School of Anthropology; Alumni Newsletter. University of Pennsylvania. Summer 2001.
  4. Gladys Tantaquidgeon - Obituary". Hartford Courant. November 5, 2005. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  5. "Fidelia Fielding, 1827-1908," Mohegan Tribe Official Website, 2004 (retrieved 13 July 2010)
  6. "Running Against Time - Medicine Woman Preserves Mohegan Culture." Alumni Newsletter, Summer 2001, University of Pennsylvania."
  7. http://connecticuthistory.org/gladys-tantaquidgeon-preserves-the-states-native-past/ Medicine Woman Gladys Tantaquidgeon and Mohegan Cultural Renewal
  8. Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel (2018) “Forward.” In Savage Kin: Indigenous Informants and American Anthropologists, by Margaret M. Bruchac, pp. ix-xiii. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. Also see Margaret M. Bruchac (2018) “Indian Stories: Gladys Tantaquidgeon and Frank Speck.” In Savage Kin: Indigenous Informants and American Anthropologists, pp. 140-175. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
  9. Melissa Jayne Fawcett (2000) Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon. Tucson: Universityof Arizona Press.
  10. Melissa Jayne Fawcett (1984). “The Role of Gladys Tantaquidgeon.” In Papers of the Fifteenth Algonquian Conference, edited by William Cowan, pp. 135–45. Ottawa, Ontario: Carleton University.
  11. 13 Dec 2000 . New on the Book Shelf: Medicine Trail; The Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon . Indian Country Today . ProQuest.
  12. News: Groark. Virginia. Mohegan medicine woman honored for life's work. 25 November 2012. The Day. March 1, 1996.
  13. News: Bixby. Lyn. A Great Dose of Life. 18 March 2013. Hartford Courant. June 16, 1999. 2016-03-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303224359/http://articles.courant.com/1999-06-16/news/9906160256_1_gladys-tantaquidgeon-day-related-algonkian-indians-tantaquidgeon-museum. dead.
  14. Gejdenson, Hon. Sam. " Marking the 100th Birthday of Gladys Tantaquidgeon" Congressional Record  Volume 145, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 23, 1999); Congressional Record Online, Government Printing Office; P. E1365