Persistence

Persistence. Machicomoco State Park. , The Powhatan world changed dramatically in the wake of European colonization. Virginia’s Native peoples have responded by innovating and enduring. Their memories of traditional customs and connections to ancestral places continue today. , , The first successful English colony in North America was Jamestown, located 14 miles west of here. English settlements eventually expanded to occupy all of Tsenacomacoh. Powhatan resistance to this gradual invasion, including coordinated revolts in 1622 and 1644, ultimately failed. In 1677, representatives from Powhatan tribes and Iroquoian tribes signed the Articles of Peace, also known as the Treaty of Middle Plantation, guaranteeing their homelands, and hunting and fishing rights. The treaty required the tribes to provide an annual tribute to Virginia’s governor. The Pamunkey and Mattaponi have continued this tradition into the modern era by offering Virginia’s governor a gift of a deer each year. By living up to the terms of the treaty, they have asserted their continued existence as autonomous Native communities, with their own leadership independent of the surrounding nation. During the early twentieth century, other Virginia tribes formally organized governments and built schools and churches, pushing back against official government policy to deny the existence of Native people in Virginia. After a long period of marginalization,both state and federal governments have begun to recognize Virginia’s tribes and tribal sovereignty. As a sovereign entity, a tribe can govern itself, strengthening their commitment to tribal autonomy today and into the future. Throughout this history of displacement, there has been a consistent return to ancestral lands to remember the deep past , evidence from the 1700s describes Virginia Native peoples marking this return through the creation of stone mounds. , , ☆ Accohannock . Accomac . Chesapeake . Warraskoyack . Quiyoughcohannock . Wayanock . Appamattuck . Powhatan , , ★ Chickahominy . Eastern Chickahominy . Mattaponi . Upper Mattaponi . Monacan . Patawomeck . Rappahannock . Nansemond . Nottoway . Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) . Pamunkey , , ☆ Paspahegh . Kecoughtan . Kiskiak . Menapucunt . Kupkipcock . Youghtanund . Werowocomoco . Piankatank . Opiscopank . Nandtaughtacund . Cuttatawomen . Pissaseck . Arrohateck . Moraughtacund . Wiccocomico . Sekakawon . Onawmanient , ☆ Historic tribes of the Virginia Piedmont region. , ★ Tribes recognized by the Federal government, Virginia government, or both.