Transcription:
In
1957 Queen Elizabeth II attended the Jamestown Festival, celebrating the 350th
anniversary of the founding of England’s first permanent colony in the New
World. In 2007, she returned for the 400th anniversary. During both
visits, the Queen met members of Virginia’s Rappahannock Tribe, led in 1957 by
Chief Captain Nelson, and in 2007 by his daughter, Chief Anne Richardson. The
Rappahannocks were among the Native peoples living in Virginia when the first English
colonists arrived in 1607.
This
story uncovers what happened to the Rappahannock people between those visits by
the Queen.
My
thesis, “Recovering Lost Voices: The Rappahannock Tribe and the Jamestown
Festival of 1957,” draws from traditional archives, as well as oral histories I
have conducted with Rappahannock tribal members. These sources reveal the
Rappahannock people brought cultural knowledge and authenticity to the 1957
Festival, helping design and staff a living history exhibit called Chief
Powhatan’s Lodge. I argue the Rappahannock people were inspired by their role in
the Festival to continue their centuries-long fight for cultural preservation.
Chief Powhatan’s Lodge became an affirmative declaration of community.
This
fight was not easy. In 1957 Virginia did not classify the Rappahannocks as
Indians. The state considered them “colored,” thereby subjecting them to “Jim
Crow” segregation laws. Reenergized by the 1957 Festival, the Rappahannock
people accelerated efforts to preserve their identity. They held powwows, bought
land, and built a cultural center. They demanded legal recognition from their
state and country.
By the time the Queen returned in 2007, the Commonwealth
of Virginia had officially recognized the Rappahannock Tribe as one of the
state’s original Native peoples. Eleven years later, in 2018, the Rappahannocks
were finally recognized by the United States of America. “Recovering Lost
Voices” highlights the words of Rappahannock people to argue the cultural
knowledge Chief Nelson brought to Jamestown in 1957 inspired his people to
demand the recognition they enjoy today.
