Photo Credits: Jo Elliott ’28
By Jo Elliott ’28
Staff Writer
Indigenous Heritage Month was celebrated through the sponsorship of several offices and programs at Mount Holyoke College last month, with several events featuring guest speaker Larry Spotted Crow Mann. The first event, “The Living Presence of Nipmuc People,” was held virtually on Nov. 14 from 7-8:30 p.m., inviting all community members to view online. A second event, an interfaith lunch, was held in person on Nov. 21 from 12-1:30 p.m.
The first event was sponsored by both the Miller Worley Center for the Environment and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The Miller Worley Center for the Environment focuses on creating a more environmentally sustainable and equitable world through education on campus and in the community. The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion promotes DEI events and strives to maintain a campus free of discrimination.
The second event, titled “Indigenous Spiritualities: An Interfaith Lunch with Larry Spotted Crow Mann,” was sponsored by the Office of Community and Belonging. Their mission is to bring people together by, among other things, hosting events that foster community and belonging. These events include ones focused on social justice, liberatory consciousness, faith and identity development.
Both events featured the guest speaker Larry Spotted Crow Mann, a member of the Nipmuc tribe. Among his many talents, Spotted Crow Mann is an Indigenous artist with a career that spans over several decades. He has been a voice for social change for the Nipmuc people through his work in education, music and literature. His stories and music pieces incorporate the history and modern presence of Indigenous people.
Some of Spotted Crow Mann’s written work includes “The Adventures of Kehleau,” “Drumming and Dreaming” and “The Mourning Road to Thanksgiving.” All of these books revolve around educating children and teens alike about Indigenous American cultures and traditions. Through Spotted Crow Mann’s use of illustrations and IndigenousAmerican legends and stories, he showcases information about his tribe and many others.
Spotted Crow Mann’s tribe, the Nimpuc, have tribal homelands in parts of Massachusetts, northern Rhode Island and northern Connecticut. While there are still descendants and members of the nation today, the tribe has not been federally recognized as a historical Native tribe. Though the community still stands strong in hopes of appealing this decision, the future of their appeal is uncertain.
For the duration of both events, Spotted Crow Mann spoke about issues regarding his tribe and others, especially highlighting the impact of colonialism. He showcased how Indigenous American people were treated and what conditions they had to endure during periods of colonization. He tells stories regarding this topic to promote truth about history directly from Indigenous people.
Many people who attended were grateful for the event. “These events provide a place for people from all different backgrounds to come together and share their experiences, which I find is really valuable and helps connect not only me but many of my peers together,” Fatuma Mire ’27 said.
Some students reflected on how the College could better promote events such as this one, and how it could better spread the word about future events to the community. Mia Gonzales Jackson ’26 said it could be a matter of making sure students know about events, and when they attend, of ensuring they are coming to an event for the right reasons.
“I know that food often brings students to events, but I also know that many events on campus happen at the same time,” Jackson said. “Awareness of events is also a factor; not everyone reads all their emails, so flyering and word of mouth are good ways to reach more people, along with repetition amongst various emails sent out to the student body.”
Given that events like these are important to DEI work on campus, Jackson also reflected on personal experiences with representation on campus. “I know that I have a space for my religious beliefs in particular, but whether I am ‘represented’ is up to interpretation, especially because some of my values differ from others even within my identity groups,” Jackson said. “As for all of my intersecting identities, I can generally find spaces to honor different parts of myself, including religion, disability identity, multi-racial identity and academic interests.”
“At the end of the day, though, only I can express what it is to hold all of these identities simultaneously … it is up to me to represent my whole self,” Jackson said.
In relation to how Mount Holyoke could proceed further in its DEI work when running more identity and belief based events, Cypress Burnett ’25 said, “I feel well-represented in almost all aspects of my identity. I do think Mount Holyoke could do better at BIPOC representation, though. And also trans/genderqueer representation.”
Quill Nishi-Leonard ’27 contributed fact-checking.