BUSTH’s Event Explores History of Stockbridge-Munsee in the Berkshires
This article was written by Kiara Royer and was published on November 11, 2020 by The Williams Record. The full article is available here.
“If we are in charge of our own history, what happens is you get the truth,” said Director of Cultural Affairs for the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Heather Bruegl. “You get our story told from our perspective, and the story of the Stockbridge-Munsee people is one that I am even in awe of and I carry that blood through my veins.”
The history of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians is indeed nuanced, but more than 175 attendees listened as Bruegl, Assistant Professor of History Christine DeLucia, Williamstown community leader Lauren Stevens, and Williamstown Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity (DIRE) Committee member Andrew Art discussed the tribe’s new historic preservation office on Spring Street last Thursday in a 90-minute panel over Zoom and WilliNet.
The webinar, sponsored by Boston University School of Theology’s Faith and Ecological Justice Program and moderated by Boston University School of Theology student and Williamstown native Rachel Payne, also touched upon the cultural background of the Stockbridge-Munsee and how best to incorporate Indigeneous voices into local history as the community relocates its office back to its homeland in western Mass.
The Stockbridge-Munsee community originated in the Mahicannituck River Valley, also known as the Hudson River Valley, which incorporates present-day Williamstown and Berkshire County. “When the colonists came over [in the 17th and 18th centuries], we were of course moved several times,” Bruegl said. “One of the areas we were moved to was Stockbridge, Mass.” Protestant missionaries, particularly pastor John Sergeant, arrived in the region not only to create the village of Stockbridge but also to convert the Stockbridge-Munsee to Christianity.