The Stolen Relations project largely relies upon historical records and archival documents that were written by European and American colonizers. These records often were written in ways that framed Native peoples’ identities and served the purposes of enslavers. Native identities, family connections, tribal affiliations, and original names were often erased. And yet, these are often the only documentation we have about some enslaved Indigenous people.

A significant goal of the Stolen Relations project is to use these documents to restore connections and elevate the humanity of individuals mentioned. In doing so, the project attempts to balance the great value of restoring enslaved Indigenous people to the historical record, on the one hand and, on the other, the risk of perpetuating colonialist ideologies through the presentation of these often troubling materials.

There are two major components to our decolonization efforts: first, alongside the original documents in the database we include contextual information about the documents and the language used within them (see below). We attend specifically to erasures and dehumanization that are inherent in many of the terms used by colonial authors. Second, we center the concerns and needs of the Indigenous community, past and present. As part of our efforts to accomplish this, we work directly with representatives from thirteen Native nations in New England in order to make this archive as useful as possible for the Indigenous community.

Our work here is not perfect, and we welcome feedback. We see this project as living and ongoing, one that responds to the present moment. We are excited to be part of a movement towards decolonizing archival documents for Indigenous communities.

 

Decolonizing the Search Filters

The terms used in archival documents often contain terms, phrases, and biases that reduce, minimize, or alter Native identities and views of the world. As part of our commitment to decolonize and recontextualize these sources, these decolonizing statements appear beneath the search filters in the “Explore” page, to help better interpret and understand the headings and terms given in the primary sources. These statements are an effort to Indigenize the archive by disrupting and revising the colonial perspectives that largely inform the original archival materials. The Stolen Relations project incorporates Indigenous voices in a variety of ways throughout the project and, in so doing, hopes to create a greater sense of wholeness to the individuals in the archival documents that would otherwise be described only by colonial perspectives.

Name

European colonizers often assigned European names to Indigenous peoples (or garbled their Native names). When possible, we have used or restored the Indigenous names of people mentioned. In many instances, enslavers simply did not give a name at all in order to facilitate erasure and ensure complete conquest.

Gender

We recognize that the archive largely does not recognize that gender is fluid nor does it acknowledge two-spirited people. European colonizers often ignored the non-binary gender identities of some Native people.

Tribal Nation

Archival documents often used terms that diminished the nationhood and sovereignty of Indigenous peoples (such as “tribe”). In many cases, however, the tribal/national affiliation of enslaved Native people was completely erased.

We recognize that ‘tribe’ is often used in the colonial documents and diminishes the nationhood of Indigenous groups. We assert the nation-to-nation relationship that tribal nations have. In many cases, the tribal/national status of enslaved Indigenous peoples was completely erased.

Racial Descriptor

Racial terms in colonial documents are highly subjective and often served the purposes of colonial powers. This included, at times, minimizing or erasing Indigeneity in order to make individuals more enslavable. We recognize that labels are not sufficient in describing Indigeneity and that simply listing “Indian” can erase Indigeneity without a specific tribe, nation, etc.

Location

Colonial documents often impose European names for geographic features, thereby erasing Native names for places and rivers.We have tried to list the Indigenous names for the lands listed in the archival documents on our project website. These locations are what is recorded and, understanding that written records are often kept by colonizers, many enslaved people will be located and grouped with their enslavers. There are also a small number of people from the database who do not appear on the map because of missing location data. We will continue to update the map and data to rectify these issues.