Press Release, Branford Land Trust

Join the Branford Land Trust on Saturday, Jan. 20 from 2 - 4 p.m. at the Blackstone Memorial Library for a special showing of “We Still Live Here - Âs Nutayuneân,” and a conversation led by our guest Clan Mother Shoran Waupatukuay Piper, of the Golden Hill Paugussetts, a Connecticut state-recognized tribe. “We Still Live Here” tells the amazing story of the return of the Wampanoag language, a language that was silenced for more than a century.

Celebrated every Thanksgiving as the Indians who saved the Pilgrims from starvation, and then largely forgotten, the Wampanoag Tribes of Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard are now saying loud and clear, and in their Native tongue, “As Nutayuneân,” We Still Live Here.

The Wampanoag’s ancestors ensured the survival of the English settlers known as the Pilgrims, and lived to regret it. Now a cultural revival is taking place. Spurred on by their celebrated linguist, Jessie Little Doe Baird, winner of a MacArthur “genius” award, the Wampanoag are bringing their language home.

Like many Native American stories, this one begins with a vision. Years ago, Jessie began having recurring dreams: familiar-looking people from another time speaking in an incomprehensible language. These visions sent her on an odyssey that would uncover hundreds of documents written in Wampanoag, lead her to a Masters in Linguistics at MIT, and result in an unprecedented feat of language reclamation by her people. Jessie’s daughter Mae is the first Native speaker of Wampanoag in a century.

The Branford Land Trust Winter 2024 Speaker Series is made possible by a grant from the Branford Community Foundation and Guilford Savings Bank. Save the date for these additional presentations: Feb. 22 - “Discovering Moths: Nighttime Jewels in Your Own Backyard,” with John Himmelman; March 21 - coastal & marine ecosystems with Dr. Sarah Crosby; April 18 - “What Do You Do with Your Banana Peels in Branford?,” with Malaine Trecoske & Erica O’Brien; and May 13 - Branford Land Trust Annual Meeting.