Julianne Jennings: Narragansett scholar Ella Sekatau passes on

Dr. Ella served as Ethno-Historian and Medicine Woman to the Narragansett Tribe. She was instrumental in her tribe's quest for federal recognition, and in 1983 the descendants of tribal members identified in an 1880 treaty gained federal recognition as the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island and re-established sovereignty (Archaeological evidence and the oral history of the Narragansett People establish their existence in that region more than 30,000 years ago); she consulted and sat on many committees and boards, such as the Cultural Heritage Committee of United South and Eastern tribes, also known as USET; Rhode Island Ocean SAMP Cultural and Historical Resources Chapter and others too numerous to mention. Dr. Sekatau was one of the first American Indian interpreters to partner with the Heffenreffer Museum of Anthropology (Brown University) in their education program, and was also a key figure for the Wampanoag Indigenous program (WIP) at Plimoth Plantation. As a writer she penned numerous essays, including her Duke University published work, “The Right to a Name: The Narragansett People and Rhode Island Officials in the Revolutionary Era,” co-authored with Ruth Wallis Herndon. It was this writing, along with her mentoring that helped me pen my master’s thesis, “The Politics of Indian Identity” for graduation. I will be forever grateful.

As tribal linguist, Sekatau is credited with the retention of the original Narragansett Language (an extinct Eastern Algonquian language , that is now heroically being revised by American Indian scholars and others). And, it was Sekatau’s Narragansett language translation of the words “new town” — Wuskenau — that helped the Town of Westerly in naming its new town beach Wuskenau Beach in 2007. Her excellent orations given in the language will be missed during the tribe’s annual August Meeting, which include ceremonies, traditional gatherings, presentations, and cultural representations.

Sekatau will be remembered as a teacher of culture, language, and for her traditional arts and crafts, as she was listed in the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts, artist roster, for her exceptional finger weaving and quill embroidery.