[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 23, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1365-E1366]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MARKING THE 100TH BIRTHDAY OF GLADYS TANTAQUIDGEON
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HON. SAM GEJDENSON
of connecticut
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, June 23, 1999
Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join every member of the
Mohegan Tribe and countless residents across southeastern Connecticut
in wishing a very happy 100th birthday to Gladys Tantaquidgeon. Gladys
is an extraordinary figure in the history of the Mohegan Tribe and
something of an institution in our area of Connecticut.
Gladys was born June 15, 1899 and has lived in southeastern
Connecticut for the past fifty years. She is an accomplished author,
anthropologist and historian. She is widely recognized for her work
researching and chronicling herbal medicines used by Native American
tribes up and down the east coast of the United States. She is most
well known in our area for helping to found, and maintaining for so
many years, the Tantaquidgeon Museum--the oldest Indian-run museum in
America today. Along with her father and brother, Gladys founded the
museum in 1931. Over more than six decades, Gladys--often single-
handedly--maintained and expanded the museum. Thanks to her hard work
and dedication, thousands upon thousands of school children have
learned about Native American and Mohegan history. I have attached an
article about Gladys from the New London Day which I request be
included following my remarks.
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of residents across eastern Connecticut I want
to thank Gladys Tantaquidgeon for a century of dedication to Native
Americans across our country.
[From the New London Day, June 16, 1999]
Celebrating a Life Lived for Her People
(By Karen Kaplan)
Gladys Tantaquidgeon, one of Indian Country's most
venerated members, a keeper of Mohegan tribal culture,
longtime Mohegan Tribal Medicine Woman and a noted writer,
curator and herbalist, celebrated her 100th birthday Tuesday
with a gala party that gathered hundreds of friends,
relatives, tribal members and dignitaries.
A crowd packed the tent set up late Tuesday morning on the
grounds of Shantok, Village of Uncas, the former Fort Shantok
State Park that is now part of the tribe's reservation.
Tantaquidgeon, wearing a powder blue suit and seated to the
left of the podium at the front of the tent with her sister,
Ruth, received gifts on a blanket set in front of her.
Visitors said they were delighted to see Tantaquidgeon, as
there had been a question of whether she would be well enough
to attend.
Because of her frailty Tantaquidgeon came to the party for
only an hour, and tribal officials did not permit visitors to
get close. Tantaquidgeon is perhaps best known as curator of
the Tantaquidgeon Indian Museum, the oldest Indian-operated
museum in the country.
The Mohegan Tribal Council, led by tribal Chairman Roland
J. Harris; the Mohegan Council of Elders, led by Carleton
Eichelberg; and Chief G'Tinemong, Ralph Sturges, greeted
Tantaquidgeon and guests upon their arrival and wished the
guest of honor a happy birthday.
``These girls have been around a long time,'' said Sturges
of the Tantaquidgeon sisters. ``They're very, very close to
the tribe and they helped me. . . . Gladys is a very
steadfast friend of mine. Happy birthday, and we'll catch up
to you someday, Gladdy.''
Led by M.C. Bethany Seidel, daughter of Tribal Vice
Chairwoman Jayne Fawcett and sister of Tribal Historian
Melissa Fawcett, everyone in the tent next read ``Strawberry
Moon,'' an original poem written in honor of the centenarian.
Sidney J. Holbrook, Gov. John G. Rowland's co-chief of staff,
read a proclamation from Rowland that declared Tuesday to be
Gladys Tantaquidgeon Day in the state, prompting a huge roar
and lengthy applause from the crowd. ``This is a great day
for a great lady and a great people,'' he said.
Kenneth Reels, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council chairman,
greeted Tantaquidgeon and wished her a happy birthday before
a brief talk.
``Thank you for all you've done for our people, thank you
for preserving the heritage of the Pequot people (and)keeping
our ways alive,'' he said, presenting her with an eagle
feather. ``The eagle climbs the highest, and also represents
balance, integrity and honor. We give this feather to you
because that's what you represent to us.''
The Mashantuckets also gave Tantaquidgeon a large maroon-
and-cream quilt embroidered with the tribe's familiar fox-
and-tree logo and different scenes from the Mashantucket
Pequot reservation.
James A. Cunha Jr., tribal chief of the Paucatuck Eastern
Pequots, greeted Tantaquidgeon and said he remembers his
grandfather telling stories about her when he was young.
Officials from other tribes also spoke, including the
Narragansetts of Rhode Island; the Schaghticokes of central
Connecticut; the Mashapee of Cape Cod and a representative
from the Connecticut Indian Council.
Outside the ceremony, Harris said Tantaquidgeon exerted a
tremendous, positive influence on him as he was growing up.
``If I learned anything, she taught me never to give up,''
he said. ``You always do what's right . . . The (Mohegan
Tribal) nation is truly where it is because of her.''
Jayne Fawcett, who lived with her aunts Gladys and Ruth
while growing up during World War II, said she could not
overestimate the role her aunt Gladys played in her life.
Fawcett said Tantaquidgeon was a pioneer for women's rights
and accomplishments long before they became a political
issue.
Fawcett pointed out that Tantaquidgeon was the first
American Indian to work for the federal Bureau of Indian
Affairs, and also was the curator of the federal Museum of
Natural History and ran the federal Indian Arts and Crafts
Board.
``She was responsible for working with Indian people and
helping them to bring back (their) traditions,'' Fawcett
said.
``She was one of the ones who refused to ride in the back
of the bus,'' Fawcett said. ``She appeared on national radio
in the '30s, and her book on natural herbal remedies has
become a standard. She fought to preserve traditional
ceremonies and to preserve our old stories and the meaning of
our ancient symbols. These are some of the things I think she
will be remembered for.
``This was being done at a time when women simply didn't do
these things. Women didn't go to college, and they didn't
strike out on their own, let alone minority women,'' Fawcett
added. ``The encouragement she's given to so many tribal
members, to seek higher education, myself included, has
helped strengthen us as a nation. Certainly she has served as
a strong role model in that respect.''
Fawcett said Tantaquidgeon's dedication to the Mohegan
tribe and its culture and history was so complete that she
never married.
``Everything was focused on preserving and teaching--not
only Mohegans and (other) Indians but non-Indians as well--
about Mohegans,'' Fawcett said. ``All of us felt for awhile
that we might have been on the brink of extinction, and this
made her work even more important.''
Tantaquidgeon, whose accomplishments were recognized last
year in a book, ``Remarkable Women of the 20th Century: 100
Portraits of Achievement,'' played a major role in the
Mohegans' successful bid for federal recognition, a status
that made it possible for them to build a casino. Letters and
documents she stored in Tupperware containers under her bed
have been credited as important pieces of history that helped
the tribe obtain federal recognition.
After working with the BIA and the Indian Crafts Board in
the 1930s and '40s, she returned home in 1948 to help her
family run the museum. She wrote a book, ``Folk Medicine of
the Delaware and Related Algonkian Indians,'' and has
received numerous awards, including honorary doctorates from
Yale University and the University of Connecticut.
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