The Wellesley College Land Acknowledgement makes a commitment to "strengthen our understanding of the history and contemporary lives of Indigenous peoples and to steward this land." Pamela Ellis (Hassanamisco Nipmuc) and Waban Wequish (Mashpee Wampanoag) are also Natick Nipmucs who are decolonizing the history of Natick: their Nipmuc homelands and the site of a 17th century intertribal mission community. Their Indigenous narratives encourage us to acknowledge, understand and apply Indigenous stewardship principles in caring for the landscape we share. Please join in taking the next steps beyond the land acknowledgement. 

Pamela Ellis is an enrolled member of the Nipmuc Tribe. A graduate of Dartmouth College, she holds a JD and Certificate in Federal Indian Law from the Arizona State University College of Law where she was designated a Yates Fellow. She is retired from the practice of law in Massachusetts and was previously admitted to practice before the Mohegan Indian Nation. Ellis has served as a tribal council member to the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Indian Council, the Nipmuc Nation Tribal Council, and the Natick Nipmuc Indian Council where she also served as Tribal Historian and Genealogist. From 1992 to 2015, she served as an organizer for the Deer Island Memorial and Sacred Paddle, an annual event which commemorates the removal and internment of Nipmuc and other Native peoples from South Natick in October 1675 during the resistance known as King Philip’s War. A traditional singer and dancer, she is a founder of and performer with The Nettukkuskq Singers, a group of southern New England Native women dedicated to the rematriation and reclamation of women’s drumming and singing traditions. Ellis currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Native Land Conservancy in Mashpee, MA, the first Native-run land conservation group east of the Mississippi; and the Clearing Brook, LLC, an intertribal land rematriation, food sovereignty, and Indigenous agriculture project. She currently works as the Principal/Owner of Chágwas Cultural Resource Consulting, LLC.  She is the 2022-2023 Distinguished Artists and Scholar in Residence at Bunker Hill Community College in sponsorship with the Mary L. Fifield Art Gallery. 

Waban Webquish (Marcus Hendricks) of Wampanoag Shells is an indigenous professional with a background in anthropology and archaeology. He provides education on the history and traditions of his cultural heritage through guided walks and seminars. He also creates and offers handmade Wampum jewelry, traditional indigenous items, and culturally sustainable foods. You can see a demonstration Waban gave on episode two of PBS’s Native America. In addition, Waban was a founding member of the Native Land Conservancy in Mashpee, MA and is currently on the Board of Directors for Clearing Brook, LLC. He has worked with Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Historical Preservation Department as a cultural resource monitor and did national volunteer work with the Tribal Civilian Community Corps, an indigenous branch of Americorps. In the Spring of 2020, Waban began working on the Too’noopahs (Turtle) Wetu Project in collaboration with Yarmouth Historical Society in Yarmouth, MA. He designed and built a two-fire traditional winter dwelling called a wetu that provides space for local tribal members to educate on their ancestral history and cultural traditions which they still practice today. Learn more by visiting WampanoagShells.com.