(1/3) Sunday marks 218 years since an Indigenous, multi-racial girl whose name was once known emancipated herself from the control of the overseers in Dudley, MA, including John Healy and Lemuel Corbin, the “Guardians of Dudley Indians.” She was pregnant at the time of her self-emancipation.
May 9, 2025 20:33(2/3) The “guardianship” system was a colonial system of oversight with roots in the 17th and 18th centuries that, while supposedly protecting Native communities from land loss, instead turned into mechanisms of control and monitoring mobility. This advertisement reflects that attempted control.
(3/3) The Dudley Indians mentioned are today recognized by the state of Massachusetts as the Dudley Band of Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck Indians, who in 1807 lived on a praying town turned reservation. Source: America’s Historical Newspapers. Massachusetts Spy, June 17, 1807.
