New film at Old State House highlights Cambridge’s ties to colonial ‘scalp bounties’

““Bounty,” the newly installed film at Boston’s Old State House, is only nine minutes long, but its powerful and disturbing message looms much larger for audiences. Whether tourists or locals, visitors to the Old State House usually expect to tour the 1713 building to glimpse the legislative history of Massachusetts, particularly the events and public debates surrounding the Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre and other aspects of Revolutionary history. Now part of Revolutionary Spaces, which also oversees the Old South Meeting House, the Old State House is sharing the history of brutal attacks on New England’s Indigenous peoples as part of Massachusetts colonial policy – a legacy that is surprising and unnerving to those used to a purely celebratory telling of the colony’s story.

The exhibit, housed in the Old State House’s council chamber, tells the story of so-called “scalp bounties” – one that has a direct connection to Cambridge as a whole and, in particular, to History Cambridge’s headquarters at 159 Brattle St. The adopted son of Sir William Phips, the first governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Spencer Phips entered politics in his own right in 1721 when elected to the provincial assembly. His family connections had set Phips up for political and economic prominence and, several years after his graduation from Harvard in 1703, he bought a large tract that encompassed much of what is now East Cambridge and settled there with his family.”

Continue reading at Cambridge Day.

Considering History: The Troubling Story of Scalp Bounties

“In 1755, Massachusetts Bay Colony’s Royal Lieutenant Governor issued a scalp bounty proclamation, offering substantial cash payments to any white colonists who brought in the scalps of indigenous men, women, and children. This was just one of approximately 70 scalp bounty proclamations issued in New England in the century before the American Revolution; U.S. governments issued at least another 50 throughout the new nation in subsequent decades. These planned genocides are a profoundly painful part of American history, but are often little remembered or discussed.

Earlier this month, I was invited by the folks at Revolutionary Spaces, the organization that manages both the Old State House and the Old South Meeting House historic sites on Boston’s Freedom Trail, to view the new short film Bounty. Created by Penobscot Wabanaki Native American filmmakers Dawn Neptune Adams, Maulian Dana, and Adam Mazo, with the support of the Upstander Project, this 8.5-minute film screens on a continuous loop in a second-floor room adjacent to the Old State House’s central attraction, a recreation of the Council Chamber where the Massachusetts Colony’s Royal Governors met with their Councils — and where they signed the scalp bounty proclamations that are the subject of this bracing and powerful film.”

Continue reading at the The Saturday Evening Post.

Insider Interview: Bounty with Upstander Project

“Revolutionary Spaces recently sat down with the Upstander Project team, including co-presidents Adam Mazo and Mishy Lesser, to discuss their film Bounty, which follows Penobscot families as they read a scalp bounty that was signed in the Old State House’s Council Chamber. Bounty is currently screening in the Old State House.

What is Bounty? Why is it set in the Old State House?

Adam Mazo: Bounty is a filmic testimony of the immeasurable resistance and survivance of Indigenous Peoples. The film is the cornerstone of a media ecosystem which includes a nine-minute documentary film, several educational videos, a four-lesson comprehensive Teacher’s Guide, digital timeline, and the Bounty Rewards Archive. In the film, Penobscot parents and children resist erasure and commemorate survival by reading and reacting to one of the dozens of government-issued bounty proclamations that motivated colonial settlers to hunt, scalp, and murder Indigenous people.”

Continue reading at Revolutionary Spaces.

It’s Our Time: ‘Bring Them Home / Aiskótáhkapiyaaya’ Comes to SIFF

“The iinnii (Blackfeet for buffalo) and Indigenous filmmakers are having a moment. 4th World Media Lab alumni Ivy and Ivan MacDonald (Blackfeet siblings and filmmakers) and Daniel Glick’s (Thunderheart Films) award-winning feature documentary, Bring Them Home / Aiskótáhkapiyaaya, will be playing at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) Cinema Uptown May 16 and 18, with the filmmakers, their families, and a new cohort of 4th World Indigenous filmmakers in attendance. Opening this feature is the short film Tahnaanooku’, written by Indigenous filmmaker Justin Deegan (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) Nation, Oglala, Hunkpapa) and co-produced by Seattle-based Tracy Rector. It is part of the second season of the Reciprocity Project, which includes Indigenous shorts from around the world that explore a return to land, languages, and reciprocal relationships.”

Continue reading at the South Seattle Emerald.

Bentonville Film Fest Sets ‘Out of My Mind’ as Opener, Unveils Competition Lineup

“Amber Sealey’s Out of My Mind will open the 10th annual Bentonville Film Festival, which aims to amplify female, nonbinary, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC and people with disabilities’ voices in entertainment. 

The 10th edition of the festival, which was founded and is chaired by Geena Davis, runs June 10-16 in Bentonville, Arkansas. The lineup of premieres — including narrative, documentary, short film and episodic selections — was announced Tuesday by the Bentonville Film Foundation, founding partner Walmart and presenting sponsor Coca-Cola. The Hollywood Reporter is a media sponsor of the event.”

Continue reading at The Hollywood Reporter.

Late American Indian activist shines in 'Dawnland,' 'Georgina'

“Along Golf Road in Lancaster County Central Park, near the covered bridge to the Kiwanis Park section, a boulder stands atop a high point between the Conestoga River and Mill Creek.

Bolted to the boulder is a bronze plaque, explaining County Park construction workers accidentally uncovered an Indian cemetery in the spring of 1979.

The workers paused while archaeologists excavated the site. They found 12 Conestoga-Susquehannock graves filled with bodies and artifacts dating to the early 18th century. According to the last sentence on the plaque, the remains were “returned to their original resting places.”

Continue reading at LancasterOnline.

Award-winning 'Dawnland' screens May 10

“The culminating event of the Waldo Reads Together program is a showing of the documentary "Dawnland" Wednesday, May 10, at 6 p.m. at Belfast Free Library, 106 High St. There will also be a post-viewing discussion led by WRT facilitators. This program is free and open to the public.

For most of the 20th century, government agents systematically forced Native American children from their homes and placed them with white families. As recently as the 1970s, one in four Native children nationwide were living in non-Native foster care, adoptive homes or boarding schools. Many children experienced devastating emotional and physical harm by adults who tried to erase their cultural identity.”

Read more at The Republican Journal.

Parents can help children learn to stand up to hate. Here’s how.

“‘The first time I got called the ‘n-word’ I was standing outside my sixth-grade classroom exchanging a book from the lockers,’ says Kimu Elolia. He wasn’t prepared for the weight of the word or how it would leave him feeling paralyzed and isolated for weeks but says he “didn’t have language to explain what I was experiencing.” Elolia, 29, is the creative producer for Sonic Union and now creates podcasts for children designed to foster empathy for the Black experience, which he says will incentivize them to stand up for one another.

Helping our children understand how and why to stand up for one another is becoming more and more important. According to a 2021 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, roughly 1 in 4 students between ages 12 and 18 who experienced bullying during the 2018-2019 school year were targeted because of their race, national origin, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation. In 2021, the FBI reported an 11.6 percent increase in hate crime incidents in the United States compared with the year before.

For tweens and teens actively exploring their identities, the spike in bias incidents is particularly significant. “Hate speech impacts the way you anticipate the world is going to see you and can begin to influence how you see yourself,” said psychologist Ryan DeLapp, director of the REACH (Racial, Ethnic and Cultural Health) Program at the Ross Center in New York City.”

Keep reading at The Washington Post.