"Our prayers have been answered! We're most grateful to the commitment of the Tribal Council to this specific project and for helping the Hernandez' family dream become a reality," exclaimed Doug Stoehr, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Southeastern Connecticut.
That joyous sentiment was evident when The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation recently announced their sponsorship of a home in Ledyard in partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Southeastern Connecticut. The home, at 69 Flintlock Road which will belong to Guerrina Hernandez and her son, was the fourth and only one without a sponsor being built in what is being called the "first habitat community". The non-profit organization works with local, low-income families in need to help them obtain simple, decent, and affordable homes.
Ledyard Mayor Susan Mendenhall said the Mashantucket Pequots are "a tremendous help to our town because they're "neighbors helping neighbors" to make this happen." (More)
'Massacre at Mystic' to air on the History Channel
The first episode of the History Channels exciting new documentary series, 10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America, entitled "Massacre at Mystic," will premier on Sunday, April 9 at 10 p.m.
The beginning of the film's synopsis sets the stage for this historic and tragic day.
"On May 26, 1637, the long simmering culture clash between English settlers and the powerful and expansionist Pequot Indians in the Connecticut River Valley boiled over as the settlers brutally attacked a Pequot encampment, leaving hundreds of men, women and children dead. it was the first time Europeans engaged in the wholesale slaughter of a native group. It would not be the last."
Oscar and Emmy winner James Moll (The Last Days, Survivors of the Holocaust) used extensive, carefully researched enactments and interviews with experts and surviving Pequots to tell the story of this genocidal attack at the hands of Christian settlers.
"The Massacre at Mystic was intended to send a warning to all native groups, and it worked," said Moll. "From this point forward, the base of power shifted from the native people to European settlers. It was a day that forever changed the land that would become America." (More)
2006
Framed against the sky, the lone tree on a knoll represents
Mashantucket, the "much-wooded land" where the Pequots hunted and
kept alive their identity as an independent people. Displayed on the
knoll is the sign of Robin Cassasinnamon, the Pequot’s first leader
following the 1637 massacre at Mystic Fort. The fox stands as a
reminder that the Pequots are known as "the fox people."
Pequot basketweave pattern.
A gift from the Winged Ones, feathers
carry prayers to the Great Spirit.