The Native American Experience

As the Mayflower 400 website (www.mayflower400uk.org) explains: ‘this particular vessel and the people on board would have far and long-lasting consequences for their future and legacy… The history of Native American people is often charted from first contact with Europeans, beginning in 1492 with the arrival of Christopher Columbus, but there are aeons of history that stretch back centuries before that period.’ In fact, the history of the Wampanoag Tribe that inhabited the New England area stretches back around 12,000 years.

So how has philately treated the subject? From the previous pages we can see how the journey of the Pilgrims has been recalled on a variety of stamps, but for stamps celebrating Native American life and culture we have to turn to the stamps of the USA. According to an exhibition at the USA’s National Postal Museum, stamps depict many aspects of Native American life, including Leadership; Native American life, and Native American Arts and Traditions. Here we will profile the stamps that reflect leadership.

Profiles in leadership

Historic Native American leaders honoured on postage stamps, exemplify a wide range of reaction to the radical confrontations that would drastically affect the traditions and culture of their peoples. Some chose resistance and war; others chose a path of adaptation and accommodation to a new way of life. In all cases, these leaders of nations were elder representatives of huge extended families, and their commitment to future