The Mashpee Indians: Tribe on Trial (The Iroquois and Their Neighbors) - Softcover

Campisi, Jack

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0815625952 ISBN 13: 9780815625957

Publisher: Syracuse University Press, 1993

Synopsis

This is a reconstruction of the trial where the Mashpee Indians claimed ownership of the area of Cape Cod that they have occupied for 350 years. Their claim was rejected as they were judged not to be a true tribe, having not survived as an ethnic identity.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

In 1977, the Mashpee Indians, who had lived in the same area of Cape Cod for 350 years, sued in federal court to recover land that had been taken from them in contravention of a 1790 federal statute. The town of Mashpee and its landowners challenged the Indians' status as a tribe, and the case hinged on this issue. Anthropologist Campisi served as expert witness for the Mashpees in a losing cause. Here he gives an insider's account of the proceedings, noting that what is a fact in anthropology is not necessarily an admissible fact in law. He argues that judge and jury alike were confused, if not prejudiced. Campisi offers a detailed history of the Mashpees from first contact with Europeans to the present, making a strong case for tribal status. The book will appeal to readers interested in local history, law and/or Native American issues. Illustrations.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Campisi presents an engrossing and well-written account of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe's struggle for federal recognition. He discusses at great length the failure of the American judicial system to recognize and recompense a group of native people whose land was taken away not only in the far reaches of America's past, but also as recently as 1970. Zeroing in on the details of the trial, the Mashpee Tribe v. New Seabury, et al., Campisi follows the injustices facing a group of people who are not recognized as a tribe by the federal government and who cannot settle any land claims until they are. Then, he returns to the past to explain the steps that led to the group's nontribal status. This is an essential purchase for all research libraries and Native American collections. (Illustrations and index not seen.)-- Patricia Clark, Los Angeles P.L.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Syracuse University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0815625952
• ISBN 13: 9780815625957
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 188