Of History and Irony

Every American child knows the tale of the first Thanksgiving, where the Pilgrims thanked the Indians who helped them survive their first winter. But those Indians — the Wampanoag — are a strangely invisible part of the story. Where did they go? What was their fate? The title of Lakeville resident Anne Makepeace’s new documentary, “Âs Nutayuneân—We Still Live Here”, says it all: They didn’t go away, even if their presence right here in New England has been unacknowledged for centuries. But their native language did vanish, until the efforts of one extraordinary Wampanoag woman, Jessie Littledoe Baird, helped to bring it back, restoring with it a way of life. “We Still Live Here” tells the story of this stupendous act of spiritual and cultural recovery.FB: What drew you to this subject?AM: While I was working on another project, I got to know Jessie. She really blew me away — her passion and charisma. Her story has the shape of classic Jungian narrative. Something inspires you, you go down into this underworld and come back with something to transform your world. I wanted to tell a positive story of Native American people making something happen and reclaiming their own culture.FB: There are many ironies in the film. Talk about some of them.AM: The biggest is that the “Rosetta stone” that allowed them to recreate the language was the King James Bible, the very first published in the Western Hemisphere, in Wampanoag. That was done to get them to give up their traditional beliefs — not only accepting the Christian god, but wearing Western clothes, living in town, going to church, raising their children a certain way. The point was to make them give up their entire culture. And the fact that Jessie grew up never hearing the language but being surrounded by it [in all kinds of place names, on signs, etc.] is an amazing contradiction.FB: What were the challenges of doing a film that is so much about words?AM: The use of animation, which I’d never used before, was one way that I dealt with it. For example, we show a word disappearing from a page and then coming back; that really hits home with audiences. The animator, Ruth Lingford, really got it.FB: What do you hope people will get out of this movie?AM: I hope when non-Native [American] audiences watch it, they will realize that Native cultures are still here with us. For Native communities, where we are looking to tour the film, we want to show a beacon and a model for those looking to restore their language. It is really about reclaiming your pride of identity, your culture, and your heritage. “Âs Nutayuneân — We Still Live Here” will be at The Moviehouse in Millerton, NY, this Sunday, March 13, at 11:30 a.m. Linda Coombs, an Aquinnah (Gay Head) Wampanoag Indian and former head of the Indigenous Program at Plimoth Plantation, will accompany Anne Makepeace for a Q&A following the film. The event is free and open to the public.