"Colonization and the Wampanoag Story" with historian & author Linda Coombs

The Friends of the Thomas Crane Public Library invite current members and the public to join them at their Annual Meeting. The meeting will begin at 6:30 PM, followed by special guest speaker Linda Coombs, author and historian from the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah on Martha’s Vineyard, at 7 PM. Most recently, she’s published Colonization and the Wampanoag Story, a children's book about the discovery of America as told from the perspective of the New England Indigenous Nations.

The Friends of TCPL are a nonprofit volunteer group dedicated to raising funds and awareness for the library. Find out more and learn how to donate here.

Linda Coombs

Linda Coombs (Aquinnah Wampanoag) began her museum career in an internship at the Boston Children’s Museum, and later working there in the Native American Program. She and her colleague Paulla Dove Jennings (Narragansett) wrote children’s books for a museum series highlighting aspects of southern New England tribal cultures. Coombs also worked for 30 years in the Wampanoag Indigenous Program (WIP) of Plimoth Plantation, including 15 years as WIP’s Associate Director; and 9 years at the Aquinnah Cultural Center. Presently she does independent museum consulting and cultural presentations.

Colonization and the Wampanoag Story

Until now, you’ve only heard one side of the story: the “discovery” of America told by Christopher Columbus, the Pilgrims, and the Colonists. Here’s the true story of America from the Indigenous perspective.

When you think about the beginning of the American story, what comes to mind? Three ships in 1492, or perhaps buckled hats and shoes stepping off of the Mayflower, ready to start a new country. But the truth is, Christopher Columbus, the Pilgrims, and the Colonists didn’t arrive to a vast, empty land ready to be developed. They arrived to find people and communities living in harmony with the land they had inhabited for thousands of years, and they quickly disrupted everything they saw.

From its “discovery” by Europeans to the first Thanksgiving, the story of America’s earliest days has been carefully misrepresented. Told from the perspective of the New England Indigenous Nations that these outsiders found when they arrived, this is the true story of how America as we know it today began.

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