Governor Healey Signs Executive Order Granting State Recognition to Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe

In recognition of Native American Heritage Month, Governor also visited Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and unveiled Native American art exhibition in State House
For immediate release:
11/19/2024
Governor Maura Healey and Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll
In recognition of Native American Heritage Month, Governor also visited Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and unveiled Native American art exhibition in State House
Boston — During Native American Heritage Month, Governor Maura Healey today issued an Executive Order granting state recognition to the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe. The Tribe of about 200 members, headquartered in Plymouth, has been a distinct, cohesive and autonomous tribal community existing in Massachusetts for centuries. Since the 17th century and before, the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe has continuously inhabited lands within the borders of what is now Massachusetts, with ancestral homelands stretching from the Plymouth area to the upper reaches of Cape Cod. This Executive Order will allow the Tribe to establish government-to-government relationship with the state.

“During Native American Heritage Month, and always, we celebrate the vibrant and enduring traditions, knowledge and strength of indigenous communities. The Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe has been living in and contributing to our Massachusetts communities since long before the Mayflower’s arrival,” said Governor Maura Healey. “Our administration deeply appreciates our strong ties with the indigenous tribes across our state, and this Executive Order gives Herring Pond Wampanoag the recognition they deserve.”

“All of our communities are stronger when we work together. This Executive Order ensures that the state will maintain a working partnership with the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, as we do with other tribes,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “Our administration is proud of our partnerships with the Native American community, and we’re excited to continuing to lift of the traditions and contributions of indigenous tribes throughout the state.”

“As Chairwoman of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, I am deeply moved and extend our heartfelt gratitude to Governor Maura Healey for her steadfast support and commitment to the Wampanoag Nation and to all Indigenous Tribes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” said Chairwoman Melissa (Harding) Ferretti. “This recognition not only reaffirms our rightful place in the history of this country, highlighting our integral role in its creation it acknowledges the profound contributions of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe and honors the legacy of our ancestors who came before us”

“Governor Healey and her administration continue to show up for the Wampanoag Nation in significant ways. We’re thrilled for our cousins in the Herring Pond Tribe that the Commonwealth has officially recognized their ancestors’ perseverance in remaining on ancestral lands,” said Chairman Brian Weeden. “The benefits of a government-to-government relationship will extend to future generations of tribal citizens and the Herring Pond Tribe’s ability to sustain a healthy relationship with the land and the water.”

Today, Governor Healey, Environmental Justice and Equity Undersecretary María Belén Power and DCR Indigenous People’s Partnership Coordinator Leah Hopkins also visited the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe to tour their reservation, including the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Museum, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Museum, and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Community and Government Center.

This month, the Governor is also displaying an art installment showcasing the work of Native American artists in the reception area of her office in the State House. This is part of her ongoing display of art by diverse artists in partnership with the Mass Cultural Council, including Black Tie by Robert T. Freeman and At the Tremont Street Car Barns by Allan Rohan Crite, which are on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, and temporary exhibitions celebrating Black History, Climate Month, Pride Month, the Cape & Islands and Hispanic Heritage Month.

The Healey-Driscoll Administration has a strong relationship with Massachusetts’ indigenous tribes and has prioritized programs to support their economic wellbeing. The Commission on Indian Affairs, housed under the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, assists Native American in Massachusetts with their relationship with state and local government agencies and advises the state in matters pertaining to Native Americans. The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA), through its Office of Environmental Justice and Equity (OEJE) and the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program, has worked hand-in-hand to ensure Tribal and Indigenous communities’ voices are heard at decision-making tables, and state and federal funds are directed to them. EEA recently initiated a new grant program that offers financial assistance to Massachusetts tribal governments and partnering conservation organizations to acquire land to support restoration of tribal relationships to their ancestral land.Town of Mashpee has been working in partnership with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe on a project to increase water quality in Santuit Pond through the MVP program. The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) also hired its first-ever Indigenous People’s Partnership Coordinator, Leah Hopkins, who is responsible for maintaining meaningful relationships and improving the understanding and collaboration between the state’s conservation agency and Indigenous communities across Massachusetts.

The artists with work on display in the Governor’s Office include:

About Anthony Melting Tallow:

Anthony Melting Tallow, Bo’taan’niis, [Flying Chief], Visual Artist, Public Speaker, writer and Indigenous social justice advocate. He is an enrolled full-blood member of the Siksika First Nation of the Blackfoot Confederacy, Treaty #7 Territory, present-day Southern Alberta, Canada. His current work with images sourced and researched from the historical record create a sensitive reinterpretation of traditional indigenous life ways and social context in the modern context of contemporary art, with aspiration for indigenous healing in our movement toward cultural resurgence. The works represented are created and painted digitally by hand and printed in extremely low editions of five total, in-house. These museum quality archival materials and earth sensitive works are produced without introducing micro pigments into the water stream or waste byproducts through traditional use of oils, solvents, micro plastics, emulsions. He is a resident of Chicopee, Massachusetts and His work, Pop Art Sitting Bull and Chief Deep Sky, are on display in the Governor’s Reception.

About Robert Peters:

Robert Peters is a Mashpee Wampanoag artist, poet and author, muralist and screenwriter whose work reflects on the historical contemporary experiences of indigenous peoples in the Northeast. His art is all about heritage and personal history as his paintings often depict traditional Wampanoag elements, the intersection of nature and spirituality. His work has been featured in various exhibitions and publications. His father was a prominent figure in their tribe’s efforts to reclaim land and declare their sovereignty. His work, Three Sisters, is in display in the Governor’s Reception.

About Erin Genia:

Erin Genia, a citizen of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, is a multidisciplinary artist, educator and cultural organizer, whose practice merges cultural imperatives, pure expression and material exploration with the conceptual. Genia seeks to create a powerful presence of Indigeneity in the arts, sciences, and public realm to invoke an evolution of thought and practice within societal instruments that is aligned with the cycles of the natural world and the potential of humanity. Erin graduated from the Art, Culture and Technology program at MIT, and teaches at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts. Her work has been seen by national and international audiences, including the US Pavilion – Venice Biennale, and on the International Space Station. Erin served as artist-in-residence for the city of Boston and currently serves as an artist-in-residence with GreenRoots in Chelsea, for the large-scale climate mitigation initiative, the Island End River Project. His work, Mni Omni/ Whirlpool, is in display in the Governor’s Reception.