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Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel, Medicine Woman and Tribal Historian
Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel is the Tribal Historian for the Mohegan Tribe. Her great-aunt, Medicine Woman Dr. Gladys Tantaquidgeon, trained her in Tribal oral tradition, traditional lifeways and spiritual beliefs.
After receiving a B.S.F.S. in history/diplomacy from Georgetown University and an M.A. in history from the University of Connecticut, she traveled throughout New England as a storyteller for the Tribe. In 1992, she won the first annual Non-Fiction Award of the Native Writer’s Circle of the Americas, for her manuscript The Lasting of the Mohegans (Mohegan: Little People Publications, 1995).
Shortly after that, Zobel became the first American Indian appointed by Governor Weicker to the Connecticut Historical Commission. In 1996, she received the first annual Chief Little Hatchet Award, granted for contributions to the success and survival of the Mohegan people.
Zobel has written several books, including Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon (University of Arizona Press, 2000) and a traditional Mohegan children’s story co-authored with Joseph Bruchac, entitled Makiawisug: The Gift of the Little People (Mohegan: Little People Publications, 1997). Zobel’s most recent book is Oracles: A Novel, a futuristic novel in which the fictional Yantuck Indians must find a way to preserve the natural environment that survives on their reservation.
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Bruce "Two Dogs" Bozsum, Pipe Carrier and
Tribal
Council Chairman
Bruce "Two Dogs" Bozsum is the grandson of Joseph D. Gray, Sr., whose grandmother was Mary Tracy Fielding Story. Bozsum is an appointed ceremonial pipe carrier, a long honored Mohegan tradition and a self-taught, indigenous flutist. He served as Manager of cultural and community programs for the Tribe and now serves as the Chairman of the Tribal Council.
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