by Chief Walt “Red Hawk” Brown (pictured) of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe
Southampton County, VA
The Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe will celebrate its 8th Annual Powwow and Gathering, the “Green Corn Dance,” on July 25th and 26th, 2009 at the Southampton County Fairgrounds in Courtland, Virginia. The Public is invited. Grounds will open at 10 AM, Grand Entry at 12:00 Noon. For more information visit the tribe’s website: http://www.cheroenhaka-nottoway.org or call 757-562-7760.
Beginning in 2004, the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe, Southampton County, Virginia has published a Tribal Journal depicting the local history of the Indian Tribe here in Southside Virginia particularly Southampton County.
The journals, a 72 page magazine, are published under the title name Waskehee (Was-ke-hee), which means “To See” in the Tribe’s Iroquoian Language (Dar-sun-ke), as recorded by Professor John Wood of the College of William and Mary on March 4th, 1820, and is copywritten with the Library of Congress.
Recently, Issues I through V were archived into the collections department of the Library of Virginia, stored in its Current Periodical Section. Mary Clark, Director, Acquisitions and Access Management for the Library of Virginia recently informed the tribe that they have established a subscription to the Journal and will expect to receive future issues as they are published. She noted that anyone wishing to read the journal (Waskehee) can request to see it through their online catalog or ask for assistance form a reference librarian. Ms. Clark also noted that as new issues accumulate, the Library will bind the issues to protect them and continue to make them available to the public.
Each issue of the Waskehee includes a new “source documented” article depicting the history of the tribe, written by me, under the title “Creator My Heart Speak” (Quaker-hun-te EE Sun-ke Was-we-kr). I am a firm believer that American Indian People (First Americans) must begin writing their own history in that historical writings were normally written, and colored, by the Colonials. A clear example of this is the derogatory name by which my people are remembered – NOTTOWAY, when according to documented facts, the true name of the Nottoway Indian is CHEROENHAKA (Che-ro-en-ha-ka) which means “People at the Fork of the Stream.”
According to a recent article that appeared in “Indian County Today,” many American Indian Nations are on a quest to correct the “Colonial” misrepresentation of Native Tribes by referring to them by a name other than their own, normally one which could be easily pronounced or associated with a river and/or land mass near where the tribe lodged. In many cases Colonials gave the name to an Indian Nation based on what they were called by an enemy tribe. Such was the case with the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) here in Southampton County Virginia.
According to Edward Bland, a merchant, who wrote in his dairy (1650), the Algonquian name Na-da-wa, which means snake, adder, enemy, to described my people here in Southampton County; hence, the name Na-da-wa eventually became Nottoway. Over the past eight years, by way of numerous colleges, historical societies, military installations, elementary schools, museums and libraries, I have given numerous ethno-historical American Indian lectures and taken part in television documentaries throughout Hampton Roads, Virginia, Washington DC, and North and South Carolina.
We are currently working on Issue VI of the Waskehee. This years theme for the Journal is “Walking In The Path Of Knowledge,” and it will highlight the written interaction between Thomas Jefferson and Peter S. DuPonceau, Esq. in July and August 1820 germane to the recorded language of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe to include our tribe’s vocabulary. A few Copies of Issue IV and V, of the Waskehee, are still available. For more information visit the tribe’s website: http://www.cheroenhaka-nottoway.org or call 757-562-7760.