Virginia Indians Today

The sun climbs the tall, white pines and pierces through my hair. Beads of sweat start to roll down from the back of my neck to the small of my back. The moistened leather clings to my skin. My face glistens and I wait.

It never fails, each summer - no matter what plans I have or where I am - I am pulled to the dance circle of the powwow. Most of my family lives on the Pamunkey reservation, in King William, Va., just 20 minutes from my house. Every summer all of the eight sovereign tribes in Virginia participate in powwows which are two to three day events of traditional and updated dance and music.

I hear the drum and feel it pulsate through the cold Earth to my feet. My moccasins, wet from the morning rain, move me to the dance circle. The drum stops. Everyone is silent, but I barely noticed the crowd on the other side of the ring to begin with.

A prayer is said and it echoes in the distance. The drummers start to sing and I feel the beat resonate through my bones. We start to move and I lift my fan of turkey feathers towards the sun, but it never quite shields me from the blazing fire above.

The drums begin to fade and the dance comes to a close. I slowly move out of the dance circle and towards one of the many tents to rest under its shade. I find my cousin Joyce selling her precious black pottery. She is one of the two women left that know the secret to the dwindling tradition, one that I am in the process of learning.

Tourist, teachers and children stop by the tent to browse her selection of jewelry, pottery and hairpieces. They come with little money and discerning questions. Most of them have never seen a “real Indian,” and often times that is the first question asked.

Others feel as though they are performing a civic duty buying things from the “poor Indians.”

Everything the Pamunkey people make is from the Earth. The clay fired to make pottery is dug out from the banks of the Pamunkey River and is cultivated by hand. All of the beads we use are from natural shells and the buckskin we wear is smoked tanned.

Selling traditional forms of art and practicality at powwows is not a cry for help but is instead an attempt to educate others on the fact that even though we live in the 21st century, we still have many traditions and customs that we keep.

Despite what many people think, members of the tribes are active citizens, hold respectable jobs and live in a house with running water. We do not and never have lived in tipis.

The Pamunkey tribe was the most prominent among Powhatan’s Confederacy.

We were hunters and gatherers and lived off the wildlife from the woods and river. We were not violent people but actually peacekeepers and moderators for other tribes. Even today, we are the only tribe to uphold a treaty signed with the government as a sovereign nation.

The fact is: we are still here. The many attempts to destroy our culture and make tribes of Virginia, as well as across the United States, assimilate were never fully accomplished. The history of the United States taught in public schools still leaves out the majority of the history of Native Americans. It is still accepted that Christopher Columbus discovered America and Pocahontas saved John Smith’s life.

The question still remains – can you really discover a giant land mass that has been inhabited by people for thousands of years?

The course to understanding and acceptance is still a struggle. People are ignorant of Native American culture because they were not taught much, if anything, about it. Most are slow to change their ways of thinking, but you cannot sit idly and expect something to be done.