Narragansett Reservation
Narragansett Indian Tribe Narragansett Pequot Wampanoag (Narragansett) | |
|---|---|
| Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island | |
 The Narragansett Indian Church in Charlestown, Rhode Island. | |
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| Coordinates: 41°24′N 71°36′W / 41.40°N 71.6°W Fatal error: The format of the coordinate could not be determined. Parsing failed. | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Rhode Island |
| County | Washington County |
| Incorporated | 1900 |
| Regained lands | 1978 |
| Federally recognized | 1983 |
| Headquarters | Charlestown |
| Government | |
| • Body | Tribal council |
| • Chief Sachem | Anthony Dean Stanton |
| • Tribal Secretary | Monica Stanton |
| Area | |
| • Total | 7.4 km2 (2.86 sq mi) |
| Population | |
| • Estimate (2024) | 3,000 |
| Demonym(s) | Narragansett |
| Time zone | UTC-05:00 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-04:00 (EDT) |
| ZIP Code | 02813 (Charlestown) |
| Area code(s) | 401 |
| Website | narragansettindiannation |
The Narragansett Indian Tribe (Narragansett: Narragansett Pequot Wampanoag), also commonly referred to as the Narragansett Reservation or the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, is an Algonquian Indian reservation in the United States. The tribe is not the only Indian tribe in the state of Rhode Island, with other tribes including the Shawomets, Nipmucs, Misquamicuts, and formerly Wampanoags.[1] However, it is the only Indian reservation in Rhode Island,[2] with multiple scattered exclaves in the Rhode Island town of Charlestown. The closest Indian reservations to the Narragansett Reservation are in the state of Connecticut, being the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation.[3]
Although similar in name, the Narragansett Indian Tribe and town of Narragansett, Rhode Island, are different, with the Narragansett Indian Tribe only having official land claims in Charlestown, Rhode Island. The Narragansett Reservation is only 1,831 acres, or 2.86 square miles, originally only 1,800 acres until expanding in 1991. The reservation contains an estimated 3,000 people, making up roughly an estimated 37% of the population of the town of Charlestown, Rhode Island. The official language in the Narragansett Reservation is English, with the Narragansett language having gone extinct between the 18th and 19th centuries; however, efforts have been made to revive the language.
Toponymy
The name of the Narragansett Reservation comes from the Narragansett people, which the name Narragansett directly means '(people) of the small point'. There have been many spellings of Narragansett, Roger Williams, founder of the City of Providence and came into closest contact with the Narragansett people, used a host of different spellings including "Nanhiggonsick", "Nanhigonset", "Nanihiggonsicks", "Nanhiggonsicks", "Narriganset", "Narrogonset", and "Nahigonsicks".[4] However, assistant governor Edward Winslow spelled it "Nanohigganset", while Rhode Island preacher Samuel Gorton preferred "Nanhyganset".[5]
History
Tribal lands pre-colonization
The Narragansett Indian Tribe prior to the European colonization of the Americas, controlled the majority of present mainland Rhode Island, bordered by the Mashantucket-Pequot tribe to the west, and the Nipmucs to the north. The tribe had first European contact in 1524 in Narragansett Bay, which between 1616 and 1619, European infectious diseases killed thousands of Algonquians in coastal areas south of Rhode Island; however, the Narragansetts were the most powerful tribe in the southern area of the region when the English colonists arrived in 1620, and they had not been affected by the epidemics.[6]
European settlement in the Narragansett territory did not begin until 1635; in 1636, Roger Williams acquired land from Narragansett sachems Canonicus and Miantonomi and established Providence Plantations.
Pequot War
During the Pequot War of 1637, the Narragansetts allied with the New England colonists. However, the brutality of the colonists in the Mystic massacre shocked the Narragansetts, who returned home in disgust.[7] After the Pequots were defeated, the colonists gave captives to their allies the Narragansetts and the Mohegans. When the Mohegans were on the verge of defeat when the colonists came and saved them, sending troops to defend the Mohegan fort at Shantok. The colonists then threatened to invade Narragansett territory, so Canonicus and his son Mixanno signed a peace treaty. The peace lasted for the next 30 years.
Statelessness
In the early 19th century, the tribe resisted repeated state efforts to declare that it was no longer an Indian tribe because its members were multiracial in ancestry; in which between 1880 to 1884, the state persisted in its efforts at "detribalization," causing the Narragansetts to lose control of much of their tribal lands during the state's late 19th-century detribalization, but the Narragansett People kept a group identity.
The Narragansett Indian Tribe would be officially incorporated in 1900. The tribal charter of the Narragansett Indian Tribe, Incorporated, was approved in December 1934, at a meeting of 200 Narragansett Indians, which in 1940, built a longhouse as a traditional place for gatherings and ceremonies.[8]
In January 1975, the Narragansett Tribe filed suit in federal court to regain 3,200 acres which the tribe claimed the state had illegally taken from them in 1880. The 1880 Act authorizing the state to negotiate with the tribe listed 324 Narragansetts approved by the Supreme Court as claimants to the land.[9]
20th and 21st centuries
It would not be until 1978 that the Narragansett Indian Tribe would regain 1,800 acres in exchange; the tribe agreed that the laws of Rhode Island would be in effect on those lands, except for hunting and fishing. The Narragansetts had not yet been federally recognized as a tribe and in 1979, the tribe applied for federal recognition, which it would not gain federal recognition as a tribe until 1983.
The state and tribe have disagreed on certain rights on the reservation. On July 14, 2003, Rhode Island state police raided a tribe-run smoke shop on the Charlestown reservation, the culmination of a dispute over the tribe's failure to pay state taxes on its sale of cigarettes,[10] only two years later in 2005, the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals declared the police action a violation of the tribe's sovereignty.
In a separate federal civil rights lawsuit, the tribe charged the police with the use of excessive force during the 2003 raid on the smoke shop. One Narragansett man suffered a broken leg in the confrontation. The case was being retried in the summer of 2008. Competing police experts testified on each side of the case.[11]
Government
The tribe is led by a chief sachem and an elected tribal council. The entire tribal population must approve major decisions.[12] An election for several officers, including a new assistant tribal secretary, was scheduled for April 5, 2025.[13]
The administration in March 2025 was:[14]
- Chief Sachem: Anthony Dean Stanton (Crawling Wolf)
Tribal council
- 1st Councilman: Cassius Spears Jr.
- 2nd Councilman: Mike Monroe Sr.
- Councilman: John Pompey
- Councilman: Lonny Brown, Sr.
- Councilwoman: Yvonne Lamphere
- Councilman: Keith Sampson
- Councilwoman: Heather Angel Mars-Martins
- Councilman: John Mahoney
- Councilman: Raymond Lamphere
- Tribal Secretary: Monica Stanton
- Assistant Tribal Secretary: Betty Johnson
- Tribal Treasurer: Mary S. Brown
- Assistant Tribal Treasurer: vacant
- Medicine Man: John Brown
- War Chief: John N. Thomas (Mosqua)
- Medicine Woman: Wenonah Harris
- Tribal Nurse: Alberta Wilcox
Narragansett sachems
| Name | Regency | Liaison | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tashtassuck | Unknown | Historically uncertain | Historically uncertain |
| Wessoum | Unknown | Descendant of Tashtassuck | Referenced by Uncas as an ancestor |
| Canonicus | 1600s–1636 | Grandson or son of Wessoum | First of two periods of sachemdom for this famous chief |
| Miantonomo | 1636–1643 | Nephew of Canonicus | |
| Canonicus | 1643–1644 | Uncle of Miantonomo | Second Sachemdom of the same Canonicus |
| Pessicus | 1644–1647 | Brother of Miantonomo | |
| Mriksah | 1647–1657 | Son of Canonicus | |
| Canonchet | 1657–1676 | Son of Miantonomo, great-cousin of Mriksah | |
| Ninigret | 1676–1682? | Sachem during King Philip's War | |
| Weunquesh | ?? | Daughter of Ninigret | |
| Ninigret II | ended 1722 | Son of Ninigret I, half-brother of his predecessor | Depicted in the oil painting on display at the RISD museum |
| Charles Augustus | began 1722 | Eldest son of Ninigret II | |
| George | ?? | Second son of Ninigret II | |
| Thomas | ended 1746 | Son of George | Known as "King Tom" |
| Esther | began 1770 | daughter of George | Known as "Queen Esther" |
Education
The Narragansett Reservation has no local educational facilities, relying off of the local Chariho Regional School District, however the tribe does have an Education Department to assist all Tribal members to become employable, productive, and self-sufficient, and collaborates with outside agencies.[15]
Law enforcement
The Narragansett Reservation has its own police department separate from the Charlestown Police Department.[16]
See also
- Historic Village of the Narragansetts in Charlestown
- Bureau of Indian Affairs
- Indian Burial Ground
- Classification of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas
- Narragansett, Rhode Island
- Detribalization
References
- ↑ Valk, Anne; Ewald, Holly (2017). "Turning toward Mashapaug: Using Oral History to Teach about Place and Community in Providence, Rhode Island". Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy. 27 (1): 9–28. doi:10.5325/trajincschped.27.1.0009. JSTOR 10.5325/trajincschped.27.1.0009. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ↑ "US Domestic Sovereign Nations: Land Areas of Federally-Recognized Tribes (BIA)". www.conservation.gov. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
- ↑ https://www.bia.gov/sites/default/files/dup/inline-files/idc1-028635.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ↑ See references given in S. Rider, The Lands of Rhode Island As they were Known to Caunounicus and Miantunnomu When Roger Williams Came in 1636, Providence, 1904, p. 200-201.
- ↑ See references given in S. Rider, The Lands of Rhode Island As they were Known to Caunounicus and Miantunnomu When Roger Williams Came in 1636, Providence, 1904, p. 200-201.
- ↑ Wright, Otis Olney, ed. (1917). History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917. Town of Swansea. p. 20. OCLC 1018149266. Retrieved 11 June 2018. Search this book on
- ↑ William Bradford, Of Plimoth Plantation, 1620-1647, ed. Samuel Eliot Morison (New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1966), p. 29; and John Underhill, Newes from America; or, A New and Experimentall Discoverie of New England: Containing, a True Relation of their War-like Proceedings these two yeares last past, with a figure of the Indian fort, or Palizado (London: I. D[awson] for Peter Cole, 1638), p. 84.
- ↑ https://www.bia.gov/sites/default/files/dup/assets/as-ia/ofa/petition/059_nargst_RI/059_pf.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ↑ https://www.rihs.org/mssinv/MSS369.htm [bare URL]
- ↑ Gavin Clarkson (2003-07-25). "Clarkson: Bull Connor would have been proud". Indian Country Today. Retrieved 2009-12-14.[dead link]
- ↑ "Police experts testify in smoke shop trial" Archived 2013-08-01 at the Wayback Machine, The Westerly Sun, 25 Jul 2008, accessed 3 Aug 2008
- ↑ Pritzker, 443
- ↑ "Notice of Election Reminder". Narragansett Indian Nation. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
- ↑ "Tribal Government". Narragansett Indian Nation. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
- ↑ "Education Department". Narrangansett Indian Tribe. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
- ↑ "Tribal Police Department". Narrangansett Indian Tribe. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
External links
Municipalities and communities of Washington County, Rhode Island, United States | ||
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