Column: Preacher aided Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe sovereignty

Monday, July 16, 2012  

"Native American converts to Christianity in New England were called "praying Indians" by colonial missionaries, as far back as the late 1600s.

By the 1800s, Mashpee was known as one of about a dozen "praying Indian plantations" in the commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Much ink has been spilled debating whether or not these "praying Indians" were actually "sell-outs" who had adopted the "white man's religion," and thus helped English settlers hoodwink the aborigines out of their land, independence and identity.

But one of the strongest arguments against the idea that Mashpee Wampanoag tribal leaders had not simply sold-out to The Man is the fascinating story of Blind Joe Amos."

Get the Story:
Sean Gonsalves: Blind Joe and the 'praying Indians' (The Cape Cod Times 7/15)