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VOICE ONE:
Native American tribes in the United States have treaties withthe government. These treaties establish special rights forAmerica’s remaining Indians as nations within a nation. I’m FaithLapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. We visit oneof these, the Penobscot Nation, this week on the VOA Special Englishprogram THIS IS AMERICA.
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VOICE ONE:
The Penobscot Nation has three-thousand members. Most live in thestate of Maine, in the far northeastern corner of the United States.
Five-hundred of them live on Indian Island, in the middle of thePenobscot River. Homes stand on the edge of thick forests of manykinds of trees. Indian Island is not far from the Great North Woods.
As you drive across the bridge to the island, one of the firstbuildings you notice is small and brown. In front stands thecolorful statue of an Indian. This building is the Penobscot NationMuseum.
Tribal historian James Neptune welcomes visitors inside. Hedirects the museum. As you step through the door, you feel as thoughyou have entered the past. A world of traditional culture surroundsyou.
VOICE TWO:
Among the items on display are baskets of all sizes. Thesecontainers are made from brown ash trees and sweet grass.
A narrow wooden boat hangs from a wall. Penobscot Indians madethis canoe in the late eighteen-hundreds. They used the outer partof birch trees.
As you continue, you pass exhibits of walking sticks andceremonial war clubs. There are also snow sticks. People use theseto play a game in the snow. Tribal artists have carved beautifuldesigns into the objects in the exhibits.
You see Penobscot drums and jewelry — necklaces, bracelets,earrings and rings. And there are the moccasins that Penobscotswore. These shoes are made of animal skin and trimmed with beads.
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VOICE ONE:
James Neptune, the tribal historian, says a film will start soon.But it is hard to stop looking around. The objects in the museumdescribe a way of life that began thousands of year before Europeanexplorers arrived.
Much of the Penobscot homelandonce extended north to what is now Canada. In earlier spring times,the Indians followed the river to the Atlantic coast. They caughtsalmon and other fish. And they caught shellfish. When fall came,they hunted elk, moose, deer and smaller animals along the river.
VOICE TWO:
Over the years, life changed. Dams went up along the PenobscotRiver. Several dams now separate the Indians from the coast.Manufacturing began. Some animals and fish disappeared from alongthe river.
In August, the United States Environmental Protection Agency madea decision that affects the Penobscot Nation. The case involves anunusual number of cancers among people on Indian Island. The tribesays it believes a paper company let dioxin, a poison waste, settleinto the river.
But the agency decided there is not enough pollution to order acleanup. At last report the Penobscot Indians were considering anappeal.
VOICE ONE:
Many of the Indians work in low-paying industries. Others do nothave any job. So the Penobscot Nation is trying to develop newindustries. Government agencies have provided almostone-hundred-seventy-thousand dollars toward this goal. Some of thismoney will enable the Indians to explore, for example, thepossibility of making and selling canoes.
In the past, tribal people made the boats themselves. But theystopped many years ago. It required too much time and effort. It waseasier to buy the canoes in a store.
James Neptune estimates that to build one canoe by hand takesfour-hundred hours. This does not include the time spent gatheringmaterials from trees. Still, the Penobscots hope other people willwant canoes handcrafted in the Indian tradition.
VOICE TWO:
Selling canoes is not the only hope. This November, voters inMaine will decide if Indian tribes can operate casino gambling inthe state. A casino would be built outside tribal land.
Many Indian tribes across America have become wealthy byoperating games of chance. So this is an important issue for thePenobscot Nation.
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VOICE ONE:
Penobscot Indians are American citizens. They must obey some ofthe laws of the state of Maine. But they also make rules forthemselves. A tribal group governs the reservation and provideslocal services. A sagama (SAH gah MAH), or chief, heads thiscouncil.
The Penobscot live on their own land. This land is in the samearea where their ancestors lived. In the late seventeen-hundreds,Penobscot Indians helped General George Washington win the War ofIndependence from Britain. After that, the Penobscot were permittedto stay in Maine. In nineteen-eighty, an agreement with thegovernment let the Indians buy back more of their homeland.
VOICE TWO:
Many Indians lost most of their original land when the newcomerssettled America. The United States government made hundreds ofagreements but often violated them. Many tribes were forced intoareas where they could not meet their own needs. Thousands of peopledied of starvation and disease.
In the sixteen-hundreds, other Indians invaded Penobscotterritory in what is now Maine. After that, many Penobscot died ofdisease. A tribal history says it was probably smallpox brought bysettlers from Europe. The Penobscot Indians also fought long warswith another tribe, the Mohawk Indians.
VOICE ONE
In sixteen-seventy-five, Indians in Maine began to fight againstEnglish settlers. These Indians supported French settlers. Othertribes allied with the English. France and England both wanted toclaim North America.
The Penobscot Indians joined two other Indian tribes in analliance. This was called the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Englishallied with the Iroquois Indian Confederacy.
The conflict between the English and the French, and the Indianson both sides, lasted almost one-hundred years. By theseventeen-sixties, the English had won. They gained a large amountof American land. The French and the Wabanaki Confereracy made peacewith the English.
Then, in seventeen-seventy-five, the American Revolution began.At that time, the Penobscot were still hostile to the English. Theking of England governed the thirteen American colonies. The Indianshelped the colonies defeat the English and become the United Statesof America.
VOICE TWO:
Maine did not become a separate state until eighteen-twenty.Before then, the Penobscot and other Indians made treaties withMassachusetts. These agreements dealt mainly with land, goods andservices that Massachusetts was to provide. But the Indians saidMassachusetts violated the treaties.
In time, the Penobscot and other Maine Indians joined together tobring a court case. They claimed almost two-thirds of the territoryof Maine.
On October tenth, nineteen-eighty, President Jimmy Carter signeda measure. It gave the Indians more than eighty-one-million dollars.In exchange, the Indians ended their demand for two-thirds of Maine.They used much of the money to buy back some of their ancestrallands.
VOICE ONE:
Members of the Penobscot Nation have not forgotten where theycome from. Only a few still speak the Penobscot language. Butchildren can now study the language at Indian Island ElementarySchool.
Traditional ceremonies also take place on the island. Visitorscome to see members play drums, dance and tell stories. We leave younow with a story told by the people of this small nation within anation.
VOICE TWO:
Long ago, a group of people lived along a stream of water. Then ahuge frog arrived and drank most of the water in the stream. Thepeople began to suffer. But after awhile, a hero with great powermade himself into a giant. This man pulled up a big pine tree andstruck the frog with it.
The frog exploded. The water inside the frog fell into the holecreated by the pine tree. It became a river. This river had a placewhere its waters ran over big white rocks. The people who livedthere took their name from that place.
The Penobscot are that people.
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VOICE ONE:
Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by CatyWeaver. You can learn more from the Penobscot Web site:penobscotnation dot o-r-g. I’m Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another reportabout life in the United States on the VOA Special English program,THIS IS AMERICA.