WP: With Trip to England, Virginia Tribes Seek a Place in U.S. History

[DeepModem Mom]

With Trip to England, Va. Tribes Seek a Place in U.S. History
By Brigid Schulte
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 13, 2006; Page B01


Members of Virginia's eight tribes at the event include, from left, Jacob Fortune-Deuber, 15, and Judy Fortune of the Rappahannock tribe; Wayne Adkins, assistant chief of the Chickahominy tribe; and Morgan Faulkner and Ben Adams of the Upper Mattaponis. (By Lois Raimondo -- The Washington Post)

In the history books, there is the story of Pocahontas, the lovely Indian maiden who became a Christian, married an Englishman in Virginia and sailed away with him to England. Beyond that, there is little mention of the Virginia Indians who greeted the first settlers.

It is as if an entire Indian nation that had lived here for thousands of years had simply vanished.

And so it was with a measure of astonishment to some onlookers that the chiefs of Virginia's eight remaining tribes and many of their members gathered yesterday at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington in a "departure ceremony" to bless their trip to England -- the first major delegation to make the trip since that day, centuries ago, when Pocahontas sailed.

Virginia's Native Americans are still here, though in greatly diminished numbers than the 40 tribes that were around in 1607 when settlers established the first permanent English colony at Jamestown. And if awareness of the Virginia Indians is all that comes of this historic trip to England as part of Jamestown's 400th anniversary festivities, to Stephen Adkins, chief of the Chickahominy tribe, the trip will have been a success....

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The idea for the trip, as well as its funding, came from the British foundation involved in the Jamestown anniversary planning....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/12/AR2006071201788.html