Gladys Tantaquidgeon
|
Dr. Gladys Tantaquidgeon |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Gladys Iola Tantaquidgeon June 15, 1899 Mohegan Hill, Uncasville, Connecticut, USA |
| Died |
November 1, 2005 (aged 106) Mohegan Hill, Uncasville, Connecticut USA |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania, School of Anthropology |
| Occupation | Native American anthropologist, medicine woman, social worker, author |
| Employer | Bureau of Indian Affairs, Federal Indian Arts and Crafts Board |
| Known for | Preserving customary Mohegan spirituality, Native ceremonies and art forms |
Dr. Gladys Iola Tantaquidgeon (June 15, 1899–November 1, 2005) was a Mohegan medicine woman, anthropologist, author, tribal council member, and elder. Beginning in 1934, she worked with the Bureau of Indian Affairs for more than a decade. She published several books about Native American traditional medicine and healing with plants. In 1994, she was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame.
Gladys Tantaquidgeon, was the third of seven children born to Mohegan parents, John and Harriet Fielding Tantaquidgeon, on Mohegan Hill in Quinnetucket (Uncasville, in New London County, CT). She was a 10th-generation descendant of the Mohegan chief Uncas, who was prominent in the colonial era. The Mohegan were among tribes who spoke one of the many Algonquian languages.
In childhood, Gladys learned traditional practices, beliefs, and lore from nanus, respected elder women. By age five, the tribal nanus had chosen her to be schooled in the traditions that comprise Mohegan culture. One of her mentors was the Mohegan traditionalist Fidelia Fielding (1827–1908). From Fielding, she learned the ways of the makiawisug who guard the healing plants.
Another mentor was her maternal aunt, Nanu Emma Fielding Baker (1828-1916), who was posthumously elected in 1992 as the Mohegan Tribal Medicine Woman and was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame for her work in education and preservation. Gladys started studying with her aunt in 1904, specializing in traditional herbal medicine. In her youth, Gladys had only occasional non-Indian education and never attended high school.
In 1919, at the age of 20, Tantaquidgeon attended the University of Pennsylvania to study anthropology. The scholar Frank Speck had met her as a child while he worked with her nanu Fidelia Fielding. When she was old enough, he invited her to study with him at Penn; he arranged work for her support, housing with foreign students, and classes and fieldwork to broaden her understanding of Native American cultures. She later did field work related to the Lenape and other eastern Algonquian tribes. She expanded her knowledge of traditional pharmacopeia by researching herbal medicine practices among many related East Coast tribes.
...
Wikipedia