The Narragansett Dawn (1935-36)

The Narragansett Dawn was a monthly newspaper produced by members of the Narragansett tribe in Rhode Island from May 1935 through September 1936. The founders of the paper were Princess Red Wing and Ernest Hazard. They both also produced content for the paper, with Hazard often writing under the pseudonym Eagle Eye. The paper was sold for $0.25 an issue or $1.00 a year by subscription. Its cover bore the official seal of the Narragansett Tribe of Indians and the slogan “We Face East.” Through a total of seventeen issues, The Narragansett Dawn touched upon issues pertaining to the language, culture, religion, politics, and daily life of members of the Narragansett Tribe. While the exact scope of the paper’s readership is difficult to determine, letters published within it show that it attracted attention both within and without the Narragansett community.

According to an editorial written by Princess Red Wing, the name The Narragansett Dawn was chosen at a tribal meeting in December 1934 in order to signify “the awakening after so long and black a night of being civilized” (“Our Purpose”). This quote begins to suggest the quietly subversive nature of the paper. The general tone of many of the articles is a sort of defiant and proud resistance to the dominant narratives about Indians in American culture at this time. Native people were often portrayed as savages who needed to be civilized by the stronger hand of white people, to be forcibly taught about Jesus, Shakespeare, and white bread in order to become worthwhile members of society. In response to this depiction of their people, Indians like the founders of the Narragansett Dawn worked to create an image of their communities as close-knit and tradition-based. Moreover, looking to the future, George D. Jordan insisted that, “to preserve the best that was and now is in this culture shall be the primary function of this organization” (“The American Indian”). The Narragansett Dawn was both a way for Red Wing and Hazard to do this in the present and a platform through which they could call upon other Native people and allies to do so in the future.

History

This sort of resistance to the hegemony of white American culture is perhaps explained by a consideration of the history of the Narragansett tribe. The Narragansett tribe was a prominent nation of Native people in Rhode Island and other parts of New England before the arrival of European settlers in the 1600’s. Their cultural values and way of life led them to resist the influence of English settlers in very “passive” ways. Unlike the Pequot nation, who challenged the English in direct combat, the Narragansett people rebelled against the English by going to other tribes and keeping them from signing treaties with the English (Boissevain). They also teamed up with the Dutch to resist the English in 1653.

Because of these trends in their history, the Narragansett nation become intermingled with many different bloodlines. For instance, Princess Red Wing, one of the founders of The Narragansett Dawn, was actually only half Narragansett; her mother was Wampanoag (Poon). Partially because of the ubiquity of this blood mingling, the Narragansett tribe was particularly susceptible to the trend of detribalization in the late 1800s. The General Allottment Act, passed in 1887, distributed land previously held by the tribe to settlers and forced many Narragansett people to leave Rhode Island. In addition, the state of Rhode Island claimed that the blood of the members of the Narragansett tribe was not pure enough for them to ever become federally recognized (Geake).

In 1934, just before the launch of the Narragansett Dawn, the United States federal government issued the Indian Reorganization Act, which allowed tribes to make claims to land and govern themselves. Since this seemed to reverse some of the effects of the General Allottment Act, the Narragansett Tribe began to believe that they could regain a sense of their own communal identity. Political activists from the Narragansett community spoke out in hopes of reawakening the spirit of their people, who had been so long oppressed and diminished. One such activist was Princess Red Wing, who held tribal events out of her home and initiated the publication of The Narragansett Dawn. In the editorials she wrote for the paper, she invoked the Narragansett people’s pride in response to governmental claims regarding their ancestry and purity. The Narragansett Dawn was therefore a manifestation of a mounting sense of community among the Narragansett people in the 1930’s, as well as a sort of throwback to the passive resistance the tribe championed in its earlier days.

Structure

The Narragansett Dawn was broken into multiple sections, which varied from issue to issue. There were many that were consistent, though. One such section was the Narragansett Tongue, which contained lessons on common vocabulary, such as the names of animals, plants, and types of buildings, in the Narragansett language. A total of thirteen lessons were produced. Another section was Genealogy, which traced the lineage, both paternal and maternal, of significant figures in the Narragansett community. The paper also contained a section that was first named Greetings From Friends and later changed to the Narragansett Mailbox. It was similar to a "letter to the editor" section and contained letters written to the newspaper by its readers, both Indian and non-Indian. The letters mostly served to praise the paper or the tribe, or to express solidarity with its aim of stirring up a sense of community among the Narragansett.

The paper also featured identity sections, which described Narragansett items and values that displayed their cultural identity. They appear with varying titles pertaining to the topic, such as "Narragansett Fires" and "Pipe of Peace." There was also a section called Milestones that contained small bits of news, such as the announcement of births, deaths, weddings, and notable visits, that occurred in and around the Narragansett reservation in Rhode Island. There was also a news section called Sunrise News that was written for each issue by the Keeper of Records, a woman named Marion W. Brown. This section contained information on small, notable things that had taken place in the Narragansett community in each respective month. The paper also printed short articles on history, offering a Narragansett perspective on historical events such as the first Thanksgiving and King Phillip’s War.

There was also a decent amount of origin Indian poetry published in The Narragansett Dawn. These poems were usually quite short and often dealt with themes related to Narragansett culture and values, religion, and nature. An excerpt from one poem: "All that eye and heart could own / Rich domains to roam at will / When the morning sun went down / See him on his eastern hill” (“The Indian”). This poem, written by a poet called Flying Squirrel, presents an image of pre-colonial Narragansett life as idyllic and profoundly in touch with the natural world. Yet it also laments that this lifestyle is no longer possible after the past three hundred years of history: “Oh his Golden Age hath vanished / Like the moonlight from the hill” (“The Indian”). It therefore presents a less optimistic tone than much of the rest of The Narragansett Dawn, which is focused on the idea of reestablishing a sense of Narragansett identity and preserving the culture for posterity.

Works Cited

"The American Indian." The Narragansett Dawn. Feb 1936. Retrieved 22 April 2013.

Boissevain, Ethel. "Narragansett Survival: A Study of Group Persistence Through Adapted Traits". Ethnohistory 6 (4): 347. Retrieved 15 April 2013.

Geake, Robert A. (2011). A History of the Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island: Keepers of the Bay. Charleston, SC: The History Press. pp. 126–128.

"The Indian". The Narragansett Dawn. Aug 1936. Retrieved 5 April 2013.

"Our Purpose". The Narragansett Dawn. Sept. 1936. Retrieved 5 April 2013.

Poon, Chris (12 Jul 2003). "Princess Red Wing: Preserver of Native American Traditions". Providence Journal.

Redwing, Princess and Ernest Hazard. “The Narragansett Dawn". URI Digital Commons. Retrieved 2 April 2013.