The elegant, gold dome of the Massachusetts State House does not just crown a legislative building but a museum-like collection of state history and art.
Lining the State House’s walls are portraits of Massachusetts’ former governors, dating as far back as the 17th century. There are hundreds of pieces of art throughout the building.
But one group deeply intertwined with Massachusetts’ history is largely absent from the building. The State House features just one work depicting Indigenous peoples: a 1903 oil painting on the wall of Memorial Hall titled “John Eliot Preaching to the Indians.”
“That’s the mural that shows Native Americans were being preached to in order to learn Christianity because that’s what the English settlers thought they needed, which was not the case,” said Mary Rinehart, director of State House tours.
Both that painting and the only other trace of Indigenous peoples in the State House — various iterations of the Massachusetts state seal — are considered offensive and a source of contention for the state’s Indigenous population, who say the omissions represent a lack of awareness about Indigenous peoples’ role in state history. The state has recently taken steps to overhaul the state seal, but Indigenous groups want more to be done.
“Massachusetts doesn’t really think of itself as having much of an Indigenous population,” said Mahtowin Munro, co-leader of the United American Indians of New England. “We’re here, and our voices have largely been sidelined.”
Memorializing history
Monuments, plaques and artifacts scattered throughout the State House honor historically significant groups — Civil War Army nurses, fallen soldiers, Black military regiments. Inside the Massachusetts House of Representatives chamber, surnames of important figures in state history span the vault.
Five murals depicting colonial history span the walls underneath the title, “Milestones on the road to freedom of Massachusetts.” The series features paintings of the Puritans’ arrival in 1630, John Hancock’s argument for the Bill of Rights and the repentance of a disgraced Salem Witch Trials judge.
Absent from the room where Massachusetts’ 160 representatives convene to discuss legislation is any mention of Indigenous history or any mention of the impact of English colonization on local tribes.
Today, “colonizer history” is far better memorialized in Massachusetts than Indigenous history, said Jean-Luc Pierite, president of the North American Indian Center of Boston.
“When you look at it, and you’re familiar with all the stories, all the imagery, then you can know how to decode all of these things,” said Jean-Luc Pierite, president of the North American Indian Center of Boston. “It really impacts the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
Pierite said there is already a “lack of trust with public institutions from Indigenous peoples” — a sentiment he said is exacerbated by the lack of representation in the State House.
“The fact that Indigenous peoples are absent, except for the seal itself, that’s something that we’re really trying to tackle,” Pierite said.
A new state seal?
The near-300-year-old Massachusetts state seal, an emblem of an Indigenous figure and its accompanying motto, appears on state paraphernalia from official documents to law enforcement vehicles to the State House’s stained-glass windows.
Adopted in 1780 and made official in 1885, the state seal — displayed all around the building — features a Native American figure holding a bow in his right hand and an arrow in his left pointing downward to indicate peace. Above the figure is a sword, pointing downward. The sword is modeled after one owned by Myles Standish, a military officer of the Plymouth colony notorious to local tribes for his attacks on Indigenous peoples.
Circling the Indigenous figure on the seal is Massachusetts’ state motto: “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty” — a testament to peace Munro described as “a real problem” given the violent history toward Indigenous peoples.
The state created a commission in January 2022 to revise the seal and motto. The commission disbanded in November, concluding the seal and motto do not represent those ideals and should be redesigned. The commission advocated establishment of another commission to determine a new seal and motto.
But six months after the final report, Munro said, state officials have not displayed enough movement to implement any of the ideas for a new design.
“The recommendations have been made,” said Melissa Ferretti, chairwoman of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe and a member of the now-defunct seal and motto commission. “And I guess now it’s just waiting to see what’s next. I mean, I don’t know, either.”
Legislative efforts
A coalition of community organizations and Native American activists is supporting a cluster of legislative proposals to honor Indigenous Peoples Day, protect Native American heritage, remove racist mascots, educate Indigenous youth and implement Native history curriculum in public schools.
But part of the challenge of passing such legislation is the fact that non-Indigenous people misunderstand Indigenous peoples’ history, which is largely misrepresented in Massachusetts, Munro said.
“We’re here, and our voices have largely been sidelined.”-Mahtowin Munro, co-leader of the United American Indians of New England
State Rep. Christine Barber of the 34th Middlesex District, lead sponsor on the Indigenous Peoples Day bill, said the myths that built Massachusetts, like Columbus Day, are founded on a notion of erasing Indigenous people. The bill to establish Indigenous Peoples Day and the rest of the legislative agenda will hopefully restore Native Americans to the story of the nation, she said.
“I’m hoping that brings more acknowledgement on that day,” Barber said. “Not just to have a day, but to have more understanding about the history of the culture, but also people who are here now and living in our communities.”
For Massachusetts to better serve Indigenous needs, Pierite said, open communication is crucial. He said educating government officials, from city councilors to state legislators to governors, to create “an institutionalized memory” of centuries of Indigenous history will ensure legislative progress and more equitable representation.
“There’s such deep, rich history, especially when we start to kind of wrap our heads around what has been the relationship between Massachusetts the Commonwealth and the Indigenous tribes,” Pierite said. “There is an educational labor that needs to happen.”
This story is part of a collaborative effort between GBH News and a journalism class at Boston University taught by professor Brooke Williams.
