Highlights from the January Film Series: Afro-Indigenous Relationships to Land

In January, the BLT hosted a series of short films at the Blackstone Memorial Library that highlighted Native American bonds to land, including nations in the northeast like the Narragansett, Penobscot, and Shinnecock. The films will be followed by a discussion led by our guest Clan Mother Shoran Waupatukuay Piper, author of the book Red Road: Traditional Voices of Afro-Indigenous America.

The Golden Hill Paugussetts are a Connecticut state-recognized tribe. Granted reservation land since the 17th century, their land base was whittled away until today they retain a quarter-acre reservation in Trumbull — the smallest reservation in the country.

About 50 people joined us live and via Zoom for the event, which featured the following films:

Return — chronic disease and restoration of traditional foodways (Oglala Sioux; South Dakota)
Place Matters — mental health consequences of dispossession and termination of federal recognition (Klamath; Oregon)
Ma’s House — restoring a family house for community (Shinnecock; Long Island, NY)
Remothering the Land — food sovereignty (Ohlone; California)
Homeland — activism against toxic water pollution (Penobscot; Maine)
Mashapaug Pond — erasure in open spaces (Narragansett; Rhode Island)
In the Land of My Ancestors — the importance of land for ceremony (Ohlone; California)