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Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation

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The Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation[1] is a state-recognized tribe and nonprofit organization, called AHA "Abenaki Helping Abenaki", whose headquarters and land are based in Vermont.[4][5][6][7][8] They are often referred to as the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe or simply, Nulhegan.[9]

Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation[1]
Named afterNulhegan River, Cowasuck people, Abenaki people
Typearts, culture, and humanities nonprofit; museum; charity[2]
EIN 84-1704125[2]
PurposeA50: Museums[2]
Location
Membership
1,400
Official language
English, New England French[3]
President[2]
Don Stevens[2]
SubsidiariesAHA "Abenaki Helping Abenaki"[2]
Websiteabenakitribe.org

The Nulhegan Band has approximately 1,400 members, most of whom reside in the Northeast Kingdom region of Vermont.[10]

Vermont recognized the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation in 2011.[11] The Nulhegan are one of four state-recognized tribes in Vermont. They participate at the state level in many ways, including in the Vermont Commission of Native American Affairs.[12]

They are not federally recognized as a Native American tribe.[13] Vermont has no federally recognized tribes.[14]

Etymology

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The Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation draws its name the Nulhegan River, a tributary to the Connecticut River and Nulhegan Basin near Brighton, Vermont.[15] Its name means "the place of log traps."[15] The band is also named for the Cowasuck people and Abenaki people, one of the tribes that inhabited a large portion of eastern Vermont and western New Hampshire.[16]

Leadership

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The Nulhegan Abenaki government is made up of a Chief (Sogomo), who is nominated by the councils and decided by election. The current chief of the Nulhegan is Chief Don Stevens.[17]

The legislative branch includes an elected Tribal Council of 11 members, all from within the tribe.[citation needed] The judicial branch is represented by an Elders Council of seven.[citation needed] Among the members of the Elder Council is Joseph Bruchac.[citation needed] The government manages the tribe's land, activities, and gatherings and interacts with the state of Vermont in official matters.

Nonprofit organizations

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The Nulhegan Band founded a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization called AHA "Abenaki Helping Abenaki" in 2006.[18] In 2019, the Tides Foundation provided it with a grant of $50,000.[2]

Lucy Neel, based in Barton and Derby Line, Vermont, is the organization's registered agent.[18] The current officers are:

  • Chief Donald Stevens, president
  • Nicole St. Ogle, treasurer
  • Lucy Cannon-Neel, secretary.[19]

Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Nation Inc. was incorporated as a domestic nonprofit corporation on December 9, 2022, based out of Derby Line, Vermont. Lucy Neel is the organization's registered agent as well.[20]

Land

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In 2012, the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe acquired some of the first tribal-owned and controlled land in Vermont for nearly 200 years. The 65 acres located in Barton, VT, where the tribal headquarters are, "will be an economic, educational and cultural resource for the tribe, which worked with the Vermont Land Trust and the Sierra Club to acquire the forestland."[21]

History

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The unreliability of family stories, or misinterpreted records from this era, also resulted in non-Abenaki believing they have Abenaki heritage when they do not.[22]

20th-century eugenics survey effects

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The Abenaki, along with French Canadians and other victims deemed "undesirable" were subject to eugenics practices occurring in Vermont during the 1920s and 1930s. [23] Due to this, some Abenaki families hid their heritage. Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan said, "My grandmother was listed in the eugenics survey, which caused her to deny her heritage, and she wasn't able to be proud of that."[24]

The Abenaki who chose to remain in the United States did not fare as well as their Canadian counterparts. Tribal connections were lost as those Abenaki who were tolerated by the Anglo population were assimilated into colonial society. What familial groups remained were often eradicated, in the early 20th century, through forced sterilization and pregnancy termination policies in Vermont.[25] Official records list 253 recorded cases of sterilization, but some estimate there were over 3,400 cases of sterilization of Abenaki having been performed, many of which involved termination of an unborn fetus. No documentation of informed consent for these procedures was found.[26][27] At the time, many of the children who were sterilized were not even aware of what the physicians had done to them. This was performed under the auspices of the Brandon School of the Feeble-Minded, and the Vermont Reform School. It was documented in the 1911 "Preliminary Report of the Committee of the Eugenic Section of the American Breeder's Association to Study and to Report on the Best Practical Means for Cutting Off the Defective Germ-Plasm in the Human Population."[28][29]

In 2021, the State of Vermont and the University of Vermont both formally apologized and recognized its role in the eugenics surveys in a formal resolution.[30]

Federal recognition attempts of neighboring tribes

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During this time, many groups consisting of small families said they were now returning to their Abenaki heritage after having denied it for the first half of the 20th century. Other claimants to Abenaki heritage also emerged, including those who had never before claimed Abenaki ancestry. This included the Nulhegan, who began as a nonprofit organization. This caused tension between the European Americans claiming Abenaki status and the extant Abenaki First Nations in Canada, such as the Odanak First Nation who see the Vermont Abenaki as illegitimate due to their lack of Abenaki ancestry, and their lack of cultural continuity from any historic tribe.[31][32]

On November 15, 1980, the first record of a repatriation and reburial of Abenaki remains took place in Vermont after a set of Abenaki remains were discovered at the Putney Historical Society in Putney, Vermont. Blackie Lampman and Richard Phillips asked Beverly Bolding to facilitate the repatriation.[33]

In the final determination of the 2005 petition for federal recognition by a related state-recognized tribe, the St. Francis/Sokoki Band Abenakis of Vermont, the BIA states: "The details of this claimed process of living 'underground,' however, are not explained by the petitioner. Some of the available documentation indicates that some of the group's ancestors moved from various locations in Quebec, Canada, to the United States over the course of the 19th century, but the available evidence does not demonstrate that the petitioner or its claimed ancestors descended from the St. Francis Indians of Quebec, another Indian group in Canada, a Missisquoi Abenaki entity in Vermont, or any other Western Abenaki group or Indian entity from New England in existence before or after 1800. The available evidence indicates that no external observers from 1800 to 1975 described the petitioner or its claimed ancestors, or any group of Indians, as an Indian entity or a distinct Indian community in northwestern Vermont," referring to groups such as the Nulhegan and Ko'asek.[34]

In 2019, the leadership of the Odanak Abenaki Band Council, the governing body of the Odanak band of the Abenaki First Nation, denounced any groups claiming to be Abenaki in the United States.[35] The legitimacy of groups such as the Nulhegan Band have been questioned due to claims that the root ancestors they claim were Abenaki were actually Europeans. Other root ancestors, though Native, have been claimed to not be Abenaki.[36][37]

State-recognition

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The State of Vermont designated the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation as a state-recognized tribe[14] through Vermont Statutes Title 1, Section 854 in 2011.[1] The other three state-recognized tribes in Vermont are the Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe, Elnu Abenaki Tribe, and the Koasek Abenaki Tribe.[14] In 2006, The Vermont Legislature recognized the Abenaki as a "Minority Population" within the State of Vermont under Statute 853. This entitled the Abenaki protections as a disadvantaged race of people. However, since there were no recognized Abenaki Indian Tribes in Vermont, there were "legally" no Abenaki people under the law.[38] On March 16, 2008, the Vermont Indigenous Alliance is formed by Elnu Abenaki Tribe, Koasek Abenaki Tribe, Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe with the purpose of unifying the tribes and pursuing official state-recognition from Vermont. Finally, on April 22, 2011, the Nulhegan was officially recognized by the State of Vermont as an Abenaki Indian Tribe.[39]

In 2013, Wabanaagig TV from the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network in Canada produces the movie, The Vermont Abenaki: A struggle for recognition, which documents the struggle for Vermont State recognition and culminates with the celebration of state recognition.[40]

From August 19 to 22, 2015, the annual Wabanaki Confederacy Conference was held in Shelburne, Vermont. This was the first and only time the Wabanaki Confederacy was hosted in Vermont.[41]

Controversy

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In 2019, the leadership of the Odanak Abenaki Band Council, the governing body of the Odanak band of the Abenaki First Nation, denounced any groups claiming to be Abenaki in the United States.[35] The legitimacy of groups such as the Nulhegan Band have been questioned due to claims that the root ancestors they claim were Abenaki were actually Europeans. Other root ancestors, though Native, have been claimed to not be Abenaki.[36][37]

Heritage

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The Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation identify as being Abenaki and Cowasuck.

Current professor at the University of Ottawa and former St. Mary's University associate professor Darryl Leroux's genealogical and historical research found that the members of this and the other three state-recognized tribes in Vermont were primarily French descendants who have used long-ago ancestry in New France to shift into an 'Abenaki' identity.[42]

In 2002, the State of Vermont reported that the Abenaki people had migrated north to Quebec by the end of the 18th century.[43]

Activities

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The Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe host multiple gatherings every year, including drumming events and an annual pow wow. The first is at the Winter Solstice in late December. The second is the annual Snow Snake Games held at the end of February or early March. The last and biggest gathering is the annual Nulheganaki gathering held every year at the end of August or beginning of September.[44][45][46]

Vermont, unofficially in 2016 and officially in 2020, celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day. The state did not want to celebrate Christopher Columbus, due to his role in the genocide of Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Celebrations of Indigenous heritage and culture are now held across the state. The Nulhegan Abenaki host "Indigenous People's Day Rock".[47][48]

In 2020, Nulhegan Band launched the Abenaki Trails Project, which provides educational material about Abenaki historic sites beginning in West Hopkinton, New Hampshire.[49]

The Nulhegan Band has spoken with Middlebury College regarding the college's land acknowledgment, which highlights the Western Abenaki.[50] In State v. Elliott, a 1992) the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that all aboriginal title in Vermont was extinguished "by the increasing weight of history."[51]

State and federal laws

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The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department granted members of state-recognized Vermont tribes a free permanent fishing license, or if the applicant qualifies for a hunting license, a free permanent combination hunting and fishing license.[52]

Vermont H.556, "An act relating to exempting property owned by Vermont-recognized Native American tribes from property tax," passed on April 20, 2022.[53]

As a state-recognized tribe, the Nulhegan Abenaki may legal obtain eagle feathers and other animals parts of endangered animal species for usage but not sale.[54]

Notable people

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c "Vt. Stat. tit. 1 § 854". CaseLaw. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Aha Abenaki Helping Abenaki". Cause IQ. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (B16001): Vermont, 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". U.S. Census Bureau American FactFinder. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  4. ^ "NULHEGAN BAND OF THE COOSUK-ABENAKI PEOPLE INC". Vermont Secretary of State. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  5. ^ "NULHEGAN BAND OF THE COOSUK-ABENAKI PEOPLE INC. 2004". Vermont Secretary of State. State of Vermont. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  6. ^ "NULHEGAN BAND OF THE COOSUK-ABENAKI PEOPLE INC. 2006". Vermont Secretary of State. State of Vermont. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  7. ^ "2012 Vermont Statutes Title 01 General Provisions Chapter 23 NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN PEOPLE § 854 Recognition of Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation". JUSTIA US Law. State of Vermont. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  8. ^ "No. 107. An act relating to state recognition of Native American Indian tribes in Vermont" (PDF). Vermont General Assembly. 14 May 2010. p. 13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  9. ^ Miller, Hinda; Illuzzi, Vincent; Carris, William H.; Lyons, Virginia "Ginny" (2011–2012). "An Act Relating to Recognition of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation as a Native American Indian Tribe". Vermont General Assembly. Archived from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  10. ^ Flowers, John (August 2, 2017). "Chief Don Stevens keeps Abenaki legacy alive, wants to ensure tribal customs and culture endure". Addison County Independent. Retrieved 14 January 2020. The Nulhegan, who number around 1,400; a slightly lesser number of the [St. Francis] Missisquoi, based in Franklin County; the Elnu, centered in the Jamaica/Putney area; and the Koasek, located in Haverhill, N.H./Newbury, Vt., area. Stevens said the Elnu and Koasek tribes count around 150 members each.
  11. ^ "Vermont Statutes". JUSTIA US Law. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  12. ^ "State Recognized Tribes". Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  13. ^ "Indian Entities Recognized by and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs". Indian Affairs Bureau. Federal Register. 27 January 2022. pp. 7554–58. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  14. ^ a b c "Federal and State Recognized Tribes". National Conference of State Legislatures. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  15. ^ a b "River names that tickle the tongue". Connecticut River Conservancy. June 4, 2015.
  16. ^ Piotrowski, Thaddeus, ed. (2015). The Indian Heritage of New Hampshire and Northern New England. McFarland, Incorporated. pp. 7, 10. ISBN 9781476614083.
  17. ^ Reed, Elodie; Littlefield, David (March 10, 2023). "Amid legitimacy dispute, Odanak Abenaki chief invites Vt. state-recognized tribes to visit". Vermont Public.
  18. ^ a b "AHA "Abenaki Helping Abenaki" Inc". OpenCorporates. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  19. ^ "AHA "Abenaki Helping Abenaki" Inc". Vermont Secretary of State. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  20. ^ "Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation Inc". Corporations Division. Vermont Secretary of State. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  21. ^ "Nulhegan Abenaki Attain First Tribal Community Forest With OSI Grant". Open Space Institute.
  22. ^ "Navigating Partnerships with Indigenous People in a Time of Ethnic Fraud Panic". dawnlandvoices.org. 29 December 2020. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  23. ^ "Vermont Eugenics".
  24. ^ "Eugenics at UVM: Why Abenaki leaders feel the apology wasn't enough". 16 May 2021.
  25. ^ Gallagher, Nancy (1999). Breeding Better Vermonters: The Eugenics Project in the Green Mountain State. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England. pp. 80–82.
  26. ^ "Chapter 4 the Rise and Fall of Eugenics".
  27. ^ Gallagher, Nancy L. (1999). Breeding Better Vermonters: The Eugenics Project in the Green Mountain State. ISBN 9780874519525.
  28. ^ "Vermont Eugenics". Uvm.edu. 1931-03-31. Archived from the original on 2012-11-01. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
  29. ^ Henrik Palmgren. "The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics". Redicecreations.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-15. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
  30. ^ "J.R.H.2 (Act R-114)". Vermont General Assembly. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  31. ^ Elodie Reed; Mitch Wertlieb; Karen Anderson. "Odanak First Nation denounces Vt. state-recognized Abenaki tribes as 'Pretendian'". Vermont Public. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  32. ^ "Dénonciation de Groupes Autoproclamés Actifs Sur le Ndakina". 25 November 2019.
  33. ^ Vermont Archaeological Society. An Overview of Abenaki and Indigenous Peoples, Burial/Site Protection, Repatriation, and Customs of Respect, Looting, and Site Destruction in the Abenaki Homeland, and Relations between Archeology, Ethnohistory, and Traditional Knowledge. The Journal of Vermont Archaeology, Volume 12, 2011.
  34. ^ "Proposed Finding Against Federal Acknowledgment of the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenakis of Vermont". Federal Register. Indian Affairs Bureau. November 17, 2005. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  35. ^ a b Rancourt, Joanie (November 25, 2019). "DÉNONCIATION DE GROUPES AUTOPROCLAMÉS ACTIFS SUR LE NDAKINA".
  36. ^ a b Laroux, Darryl (2019). Distorted Descent – White Claims to Indigenous Identity (First ed.). University of Manitoba Press. p. 218. ISBN 978-0-88755-846-7.
  37. ^ a b Eidinger, Andrea (9 June 2019). "Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe (Abenaki Tribe at Nulhegan-Memphremagog)". Raceshifting. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  38. ^ Vermont Statutes. Justia US Law. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/01/023/00853
  39. ^ "Vt. Stat. tit. 1 § 854". CaseText. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  40. ^ "The Vermont Abenaki: A Struggle for Recognition". Town Meeting TV. 27 September 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  41. ^ Burbank, April. "Abenaki host historic gathering in Shelburne". Burlington Free Press. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  42. ^ Darryl Leroux, Distorted Descent, page 246.
  43. ^ Dillon, John (20 March 2002). "State Says Abenaki Do Not Have "Continuous Presence"". Vermont Public Radio. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  44. ^ Sari, Kymela (Feb 26, 2018). "Abenakis Gather for Traditional Snow Snake Game in West Barnet". Seven Days. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  45. ^ "7th Annual Nulhegan Abenaki Heritage Gathering". Vermont Digger. Vermont Journalism Trust. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  46. ^ Trombly, Justin (Jan 12, 2020). "Abenaki partner with Sterling College to cultivate long-lost crops". Vermont Digger. Vermont Journalism Trust. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  47. ^ "Second annual Indigenous Peoples' Day celebrates Abenaki culture". 10 October 2021.
  48. ^ Katie Mettler (2019-04-20). "Vermont passes bill abolishing Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples' Day". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
  49. ^ O'Sullivan, Tim (August 13, 2020). "Abenaki Trails project proposed to start with new historical marker in Hopkinton". Concord Monitor. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  50. ^ "Middlebury Land Acknowledgment". Middlebury College. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  51. ^ "Stave v. Elliott". Justia US Law. Vermont Supreme Court. Retrieved 4 July 2022. The legal standard does not require that extinguishment spring full blown from a single telling event. Extinguishment may be established by the increasing weight of history.
  52. ^ "Abenaki win back free fishing and hunting rights".
  53. ^ "H.556". Vermont General Assembly. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  54. ^ Stokes, Dashanne. "The Eagle Feather Law and State-Recognized Tribes". Indian Country Today. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  55. ^ Senier, Siobhan (2014). Dawnland voices: an anthology of indigenous writing from New England. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803256798. OCLC 884725772.
  56. ^ Briere, Shenandoah (January 27, 2023). "Getting to know: Joseph Bruchac, Saratoga Springs first poet laureate". The Daily Gazette. Retrieved 9 July 2023.

References

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