The Indigenous People of Bay Ridge and Early Encouters with Europeans.
When looking at the history of a specific place or location, it is best to start from the very beginning. It is also important in Education to recognize the impact and contributions of Indigenous peoples in the area, and bring light to their presence. Much, if not all land in the United States was once occupied by Native American tribes before the arrival of the Europeans.
Much of New York States curriculum in the Social Studies content focuses on the roles of Native Populations in the history of the United States, as well as a special concetration on the tribes located in New York State. An example of this would be in the New York State 7th grade Social Studies curriculum that states
"7.6 WESTWARD EXPANSION: Driven by political and economic motives, the United States expanded its physical boundaries to the Pacific Ocean between 1800 and 1860. This settlement displaced Native Americans as the frontier was pushed westward. (Standards: 1, 3; Themes: ID, MOV, TCC, GEO)"
7.6c Westward expansion provided opportunities for some groups while harming others.
Students will examine the conditions faced on the Trail of Tears by the Cherokee and the effect that the removal had on their people and culture.
Students will examine examples of Native American resistance to western encroachment, including the Seminole Wars and Cherokee judicial efforts.
Students will examine the policies of New York State toward Native Americans at this time, and its efforts to take tribal lands, particularly those of the Oneidas, and exercise jurisdiction over those communities
By having curriculm that incorporates the lives, history, and significant roles that Native Ameicans played in the histroy of the United States, it highlights how their legacy needs to be honored. It is so important that when teaching local history, the stories of Native Americans are also incorporated.
It would be a good first step to check if the land was occupied by Native Americans. If so, try to find the name of the tribe, and if there is any documentation or artifacts from them. By teaching about Native Americans, it also helps students to understand that there were people living on the same spots they did, well before the arrival of Europeans. This is why when starting to look at the History of Bay Ridge, I started with the Nyack people that lived on this land.
The Native Americans who lived in the area of current day Bay Ridge were from the Lenape Tribe. The Lenape people called current day Bay Ridge "Nyack" as that meant "point of land" in their language. Due to the Lenape name for the land, many have taken to calling the natives in this area Nyacks. They lived off the land in a semi-permanent settlement. The people would fish in the Narrows and had large plantations where they would harvest various crops, such as maize. The natives lived in long houses that could hold several families. The dwellings were long and wide, but not too tall. In the center of the dwelling there would be a fire that would always be alive. At any given time, a native could be found cooking or boiling food with the fire. There were always utensils around, and a common fixture would be calabash, or a dried gourd that would be used as a bowl, or other various utensils. It was evident that the natives lived off of the natural world around them.
When talking about living off the land, it can seem abstract or foreign to students due to the continuation of stereotypes about Native Americans. A great focal point in this lesson would be that all people live off the land, across history! From the very first societies, to present day gardens, we all live off the land in some capacity. By making this connection, it can help bridge the past to the present. In this instance, maybe growing a class garden with plants that were vital to the Nyack such as corn or other edible plants to help further the way to use the land. Another great example of connecting the idea of natives living off the land would be to plan a field trip to local wildlife areas where students can experience the landscape and environment similar to what the natives experienced.
While we do have some idea of what the native lifestyle of the Nyack people might have been, much is still unknown. The Lenape people who resided in Nyack did not have a written language or written history of the area. Any of the information we have about them came from European sources. The information and description of the native houses comes from early European Jasper Danckaerts, who visited the Fort Hamilton section on Sept 30, 1669. It is important to note that there are some European biases when reading these descriptions of native lives, as the Europeans did not think of indigenous people as equals. Many Europeans thought that natives were 'primitive savages'. This led to many recollections or descriptions of Native Americans to be racist and somewhat falsified to help continue the narrative that they were savages. In having this understanding, it is important to notice, and try to detect when instances of racial bias might be when reading European descriptions of Native Americans.
The first European who the Lenape people encountered was Giovanni de Verrazzano in 1524. The Italian explorer was employed by the French King Francis I. Verrazzano was tasked with exploring the New World, and would sail into the future New York Harbor. In the description of the land, Verrazzano writes of the hills that looked rich in minerals, and the people that were in their small boats all across the river, according to How Bay Ridge Became Bay Ridge by Henry Stewart. There were some disputes if this actually occurred in the late 18th century, but historians seem to agree that Verrazzano's account was true. After Verrazzano's visit, more Europeans would come through the area and would soon start to further interact with the Native Americans.
Various European explorers would come to though the future New York harbor to look at the land or were in search of fur to trade. Sporadically, there would be a sailor who became marooned or stranded on the numerous sandbars that are located in the harbor. One of these sailors would be explorer Henry Hudson, who was trying to find a way to China for the Dutch East India Company. Hudson was stuck off the coast of Staten Island in September 1609. This led him and his men to encounter and actually meet the Native Americans. The natives assisted Hudson and his ship, and eventually Hudson met up with some European fur traders in what is now Manhattan. It is important to note that the different Europeans who came through the area had different reasons and motives. First, the Dutch were intrested in establishing colonies and setting up places for their people to set up their lives. There were French fur traders who were only intrested in trade. Spanish and Italian sailors would also pass through for the main purpose of exploring and figuring out a way to the East for additonal trading sources.
This image is Edward Moran’s “Sir Henry Hudson entering New York Bay, September 11, 1609, with Indian family watching on shore in foreground” (1898). Via Library of Congress.
While Europeans were making mere pit stops by Bay Ridge, the first European to purposefully go to the area would be Willem Adriaenszen Bennett and Jacques Bentyn. These two Dutch men bought land in the area of what is now New Utrecht. According to the book How Bay Ridge Became Bay Ridge by Henry Stewart, the sale of the land of present day New Utrecht was in
"...1645, perhaps, Cornelis van Werckhoven, acting on behalf of the Dutch West India Company, gave the Nyack six coats, six kettles, six axes, six chisels, six small looking-glasses, twelve knives and twelve combs for all the land from either Gowanus or the border of the Bennett-Bentyn plot to Coney Island ... Other accounts put the sale in 1652."
The sale was recorded in the local Dutch courthouse, and there were attempts at translations, but it was unsure if the natives truly understood the deal they had made. This is especially true as native tribes such as the Lenapi of which the Nyack came from did not have a concept of land owning. The Nyack's believed that land was communal and open to all. With this understanding of native beliefs, it does not seem likely that they fully understood the deal they made with the Dutch. It is also important to note that the Nyack people felt pressured to sell their land, as it was believed that the Europeans, especially the Dutch would punish them. A fear of constant battle and fighting, as well as already experiencing violence would increase their fear of Dutch punishment. As Europeans moved into the area and pushed the natives out, the natives were forced from the land they knew for generations. Some natives adapted to white society, and were able to live next to the Europeans. In living in white society, the natives built homes similar to the Dutch and continued to farm the small bit of land they owned. Sadly, most Nyack's were pushed out further to the edges of current day Brooklyn, and even into current day Staten Island.
As the Europeans encroached onto the Nyack land, over time the population completely disappeared. There are quite a few reasons this happened. Firstly, the natives were not used to the diseases that the Europeans brought with them. This led to many native populations being decimated by diseases such as smallpox, which the Europeans had already had some immunity towards. Another reason for the disappearance of the natives was due to their literal forced removal from the area. While the land might have been 'purchased' the deals were never quite equitable.
The Dutch did not want to take the blame for their disappearance, so they often shared a story of the neighboring Mohawk tribe slaughtering the Nyacks and Canarsee natives due to a tributary disagreement. There is little to no evidence of this actually occurring, and it was known that the Dutch were looking for an alternative explanation to the disappearance of the Native Americans. The Europeans also tried to explain the disappearance of the natives by stating that the natives had intermarried with slaves. The native race disappeared through the intermarriages and relationships with African slaves. Again, there is little evidence of this occurring to the point of an entire population disappearing. It is just another example of Eurocentric explanations of the disappearance of the native populations. The Dutch were particularly concerned with their reputation, and purposefully passed down stories and tales of what happened to the natives to try and hide the truth from history.
In the mid 1840s, excavations in Brooklyn proved that the Lenape people did live in this area of Brooklyn. There are even artifacts found from the Nyack location. In finding this proof, it helps to establish that the land and area of Bay Ridge was once occupied by Native Americans.
This part of the project highlights a significant topic for social studies classes. That would be the idea of bias. When looking at historical texts, biases are everywhere. It is important to address what a bias is, and how the descriptions of people in the past are no longer socially acceptable today. This is a great point to enact culturally responsive teaching practices, and explain to students why some descriptions were written in racist or damaging ways. Native history is so rich and significant, and it is a shame to only focus on their interactions with the European populations. A great activity for this topic would be to have students recreate the Lenape dwellings, or try to image what native life was like. For higher grades, the students could write journal entries from a Native perspective of what it must have been like for the Europeans to arrive. A main point for this topic in the classroom would be bias, and taking note of racial biases in historical writings. This lesson also focuses on understanding the importance of Natives in local history, which is an integral part of NYSED's curricula.
Information from this blog post was provided from the book How Bay Ridge Became Bay Ridge. Another helpful resource was the HeyRidge Native American Article .
Stewart, Henry. How Bay Ridge Became Bay Ridge. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, 2019.
http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/programs/curriculum-instruction/ss-framework-k-8a2.pdf
Comments
Post a Comment