Chapter 2: Legacy for a People and a Nation: The Foxwood Casino and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum





The following activities accompany the Legacy for a People and a Nation on "The Foxwoods Casino and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum" in Chapter 2. Refer to page 57 of Norton, A People and a Nation, Sixth Edition for the complete text of this Legacy. There are three parts to this web page: Questions to Consider, Investigation, and Further Exploration.



Questions to Consider
1. History is filled with identified groups of individuals who receive "special treatment." How has "special treatment" by the U.S. government and society altered the lives of the Pequot Indians and other Native Americans?

2. What do you know about the Pequot War and the Pequot Indians? Is your education from the victor/colonialist's perspective? What are we learning from the archeological digs? How will this revise our understanding of the history of the Pequot Indians?

3. To the extent that some people oppose Native American casinos, what is the source(s) of their opposition? Race? Special Treatment? Gambling?

4. English Puritans tended to think of Pequot Indians as "godless savages." What images did people have of Native Americans during the colonial period? What are popular images of Native Americans today?


Investigation
Visit the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center web site and read the history that would not exist without the profits of the Pequot Indian casinos. Follow the efforts of Sasco Creek Productions and Wiltonwood Productions to produce a documentary on the Pequot War. What do they see as their primary objective? (Be sure to read the links for the project description.) Read the report, "Casino Profits Help Pequot Indian Tribe Reclaim Its History," by a New York Times writer on the scholarly reactions to the archaeological significance of findings funded by Pequot Indian casino profits.

After examing these three sites, write a brief essay answering the following question: If you were a member of the Pequot Indians, how would you respond to criticisms that this tribe no longer exists and that those claiming to be Pequot Indians are simply opportunists?





Further Exploration
Read an eight-part series on "New Life for a Forgotten People" run in the Hartford Courant. Be sure to read the parts entitled "Tribal Voices" which offer interviews with current Pequot Indians.