Film & Conversation: Land Trust Winter 2024 Speaker Series Kicks Off

BRANFORD, CT — The Branford Land Trust Winter 2024 Speaker Series kicks off this month with a film screening and conversation Jan. 20 at the Blackstone Memorial Library.

The free and open to the public special showing of the film 'We Still Live Here - Âs Nutayuneân,' includes a conversation led by guest Clan Mother Shoran Waupatukuay Piper, of the Golden Hill Paugussetts, a Connecticut state-recognized tribe.

We Still Live Here tells the amazing story of the return of the Wampanoag language, a language that was silenced for more than a century.

"Celebrated every Thanksgiving as the Indians who saved the Pilgrims from starvation, and then largely forgotten, the Wampanoag Tribes of Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard are now saying loud and clear, and in their Native tongue, 'As Nutayuneân, We Still Live Here,'" a news release from the Trust reads.

The Wampanoag’s ancestors ensured the survival of the English settlers known as the Pilgrims, and lived to regret it. Now a cultural revival is taking place. Spurred on by their celebrated linguist, Jessie Little Doe Baird, winner of a MacArthur “genius” award, the Wampanoag are bringing their language home.

Like many Native American stories, this one begins with a vision. Years ago, Jessie began having recurring dreams: familiar-looking people from another time speaking in an incomprehensible language. These visions sent her on an odyssey that would uncover hundreds of documents written in Wampanoag, lead her to a Masters in Linguistics at MIT, and result in an unprecedented feat of language reclamation by her people. Jessie’s daughter Mae is the first Native speaker of Wampanoag in a century.

The Branford Land Trust Winter 2024 Speaker Series is made possible by a grant from the Branford Community Foundation and Guilford Savings Bank.

Upcoming presentations include:

Feb. 22 —“Discovering Moths: Nighttime Jewels in Your Own Backyard,” with John Himmelman;

March 21 - Coastal & Marine Ecosystems with Dr. Sarah Crosby

April 18 - “What Do You Do with Your Banana Peels in Branford?,” with Malaine Trecoske & Erica O’Brien

May 13 - Branford Land Trust Annual Meeting.

For the Jan. 20 film presentation, the Trust notes it will "follow the Library’s mask policy at the time of the event."

About the Branford Land Trust

The Branford Land Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, accredited by the Land
Trust Alliance, established in 1967 to protect Branford’s open space and natural
resources. Run by volunteers and supported by member families and businesses, the Land
Trust maintains more than 30 miles of hiking trails, and manages and protects over 1,000
acres in more than 130 parcels and holds conservation easements on another 400 acres in
Branford. For more information, visit www.branfordlandtrust.org.