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By: NAICOB
8 min read
The North American Indian Center of Boston (NAICOB) and the Massachusett Tribe of Ponkapoag are excited for their Second Annual Veterans Powwow on May 5 at Prowse Farm in Canton, Massachusetts. With support from the Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center, we’ll have a day long experience of culture and ceremony.
Our head dancers are Kabl Wilkerson (Citizen Potawatomi Nation) and Autaquay Peters (Mashpee Wampanoag). Our host drum is Red Hawk Singers, led by Cheenulka Peters who is the grandson of long time NAICOB member and leader, Shirley Mills. Our invited drum is the Pomham Singers.
NAICOB, Massachusetts’s oldest urban Indigenous center, has been in existence since 1969, formally as the Boston Indian Council on Washington Street in Dorchester. The center has been entrusted with the privilege of supporting intergovernmental relations between the Commonwealth and the tribes whose historic territories are held within so-called Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Tribe at Ponkapoag is one of the tribes of first contact when the English settlers arrived in 1620. With their traditional territory stretching across much of the Greater Boston area, it is with gratitude that we are able to work in partnership with the tribe and host this powwow together. Learn more about them at http://massachusetttribe.org/.
The Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center is a long time supporter of Native Veterans and was a proud partner of last year’s powwow. Their goal is to continue to support American Indian/Alaskan Native veterans in life after service such as health care, cultural support and more.
Admission for the event is $5 an adult, $3 for children and free for NAICOB members, Ponkapoag tribal members and Veterans with ID.
—The North American Indian Center of Boston (NAICOB)
Originally published in-print in Boston Compass Newspaper #169 May 2024
Check out all the art and columns of May’s Boston Compass at www.issuu.com/bostoncccompass