To address the issues raised by the Cost of Forgetting video on the Once As It Was map, I've requested a meeting with the Commander of Bolling Airforce Base to discuss markers for the Anacostan history of the site.
Check the comments for this entry to see the reply that was sent in mid June!
Check the comments for this entry to see the reply that was sent in mid June!
May 15, 2019
533 4th St. SE
Washington, DC
20003-4222
Captain Jose L. Rodriguez, Commanding
Officer
Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling
20 MacDill Blvd SW
Washington, DC 20032
Dear Captain Rodriquez,
As you may know, the documented history
of the land which Bolling now covers began in 1608 when Captain John
Smith identified it as the tribal land of the Chief of the
Nacotchtank/Anacostan Natives (see link below to article with the
detailed references and telling of the Anacostan story). The remains
of over 100 Natives that were found on the Base in 1937, when it was
being expanded, are also a significant part of that history (T.
D. Stewart & W. R. Wedel, 1937).
Unfortunately, there does not seem to
be any acknowledgement of this Native American history on the Base
(see The Cost of Forgetting video, link below).
I would like to meet with you or your
representative and the base historian to discuss what might be done
to acknowledge these important parts of the history of Bolling.
Best wishes,
Armand Lione, Ph.D., Director
DC Native History Project
Washington, DC
202.487.7092
Links:
“Why
Did the Anacostan Indians Choose to Live on Capitol Hill?”
T.
D. Stewart and W. R. Wedel, "The Finding of Two Ossuaries on the
Site of the Indian Village of
Nacotchtanke
(Anacostia)." Journal of the Washington Academy of
Sciences 27, no. 5
(1937): 213-19.
See
also:
