PEQUOT MASSACRE & THANKSGIVING
2018 Digital Illustration
A Red, White & Blue tradition…
On June 5, 1637, During the Pequot War, an allied Puritan and Mohegan force under English Captain John Mason attacks a Pequot village in Connecticut, burning and slaughtering some 500 Native American women, men and children.
“An official proclamation of Thanksgiving was declared by the Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop in 1637 after the English settlers’ and their Native American allies victory against the Pequot tribe at the Battle of Mistick Fort (located today in Mystic, Connecticut). This battle resulted in a great loss of life (mostly a massacre of Native Americans) and signaled the beginning of the end of the Pequot War. Thanksgiving was declared in celebration of the settlers’ victory.”
FOR MORE INFO - (New Haven Museum)
For the Native American communities, what majority calls the Thanksgiving holiday is observed as the day of mourning.
EPIDEMIC
2018 Digital Illustration
From centuries of systemic oppression, poverty, trauma and marginalization, a lot of Native American communities have been hit hard with addiction epidemic. Substance abuse is highest in the Native American communities than it is in any other ethnic groups in US.