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Emma Baker (1828-1916)
A major force in celebrating and preserving Tribal culture in the
late 1800s, Emma Baker is credited with revitalizing the Green
Corn Festival, or Wigwam. She
incorporated it into the goals of the Church Ladies’ Sewing
Society in 1860, just before the break-up of the reservation.
The festival helped galvanize Tribal solidarity during a time of
fragmentation. It was Emma who recorded the desecration of
the Norwich Royal Mohegan Burial Ground. She led the Church
Ladies Sewing Society in their matriarchal role considering new
chiefs and discussing land claims. She also chaired the Tribal
Council and represented the Tribe before the Connecticut legislature.
She gained and passed on a knowledge of traditional herbal
medicine.
Gladys Tantaquidgeon (1899-2005)
Trained by her three “grandmothers” in traditional herbal lore,
Gladys is credited with preserving much of Mohegan history and
culture as a living part of Tribal life and heritage. Her long life
spanned the last days of those who lived traditionally to federal
recognition and the Tribe’s revival. She passed on a rich oral
history from previous medicine women who spoke the Mohegan
language and had heard the stories of another time. From the
century’s early chiefs and elders she learned of a culture that
was nearly extinguished. Her understanding was deepened from
her studies in ethnobotany and anthropology at the University
of Pennsylvania under Dr. Frank Speck, a noted anthropologist
who studied Indian culture. She herself studied other tribes and
learned of the many connections and differences among them.
In 1931, she co-founded Tantaquidgeon Museum along with
her brother, Harold and father, John. In the 1930s she served
as a community worker for the Bureau of Indian Affairs among
western tribes and lived for years among the Lakota Sioux,
helping them deal with unbearable poverty and cultural
oppression. During the 1940s she worked as a specialist for the
Indian Arts and Crafts Board. When she returned to her own tribe
in 1947, she spent the next years expanding her knowledge of
Mohegan history and culture. All of this helped the Tribe prove
its inherent sovereignty and unbroken heritage and gain federal
recognition in 1994.
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Mortar & Pestle
Corn, dried and pounded into a fine meal called yokeag, provides both spiritual and physical sustenance.
Learn more »
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