The Phip’s Proclamation hung on the walls of Penobscot Nation tribal offices as proof of genocide and survival. My first reaction was of the “Holy S$#!” variety followed by, well, of course this happened and of course I never learned about it in my dominant culture schooling. In our filming of Dawnland hearing more about the proclamation in presentations by Wabanaki REACH I witnessed I was far from alone in my ignorance, shock, and horror at this declaration of genocide in pen and ink. Co-director Ben Pender-Cudlip and I wanted to incorporate this story of how the English hunted and scalped Penobscot people for money into the film. In part because the litany of horrors perpetrated against Wabanaki people by invaders is so extensive, and in part due to the question of how and whether to tell this story visually, the Phips Proclamation didn’t end up in the film.

8 years later I believe perhaps this was how it was supposed to be. In screenings and Upstander Project teacher workshops featuring First Light and Dawnland, we would teach about the Phip’s proclamation and teachers in Maine and beyond were often horrified. We would ask people to raise their hands if they knew of the proclamation. Typically one or two hands would go up belonging to Wabanaki people and those who had attended REACH workshops. Our own learning journey is apparent to me now in Lesson 12 of the Dawnland Teacher’s Guide, which shares the tip of the iceberg of this history. This journey is what led us to the idea of making Bounty. The story feels too important and too essential to the history of this land and the myriad crises we face today. The hunting and terrorizing of Wabanaki people can be linked directly to why we still see so much disregard for Native people by those from the dominant culture. This is why we believe the Bounty Teacher’s Guide should be required reading for teachers in the Dawnland so that all of us understand this history. As Wabanaki and other Indigenous Peoples know, European invaders scalped and terrorized Native people to take their land and that was just one tool they employed repeatedly to perpetrate genocide.

My colleague Mishy Lesser, while digging deeper, noticed the document was signed in the “Council-Chamber” in Boston’s Old State House. She discovered that there was no mention of this history in the building visited annually by thousands of Freedom Trail tourists who learn of American revolutionaries fighting for their freedom.

Ben had the idea of asking Penobscot families to read the hideous proclamation for a film as a declaration that, “we are still here.” Our experience with Dawnland taught us that we needed to ask Penobscot families if they thought this was even a good idea and whether they would participate and make the film together as collaborators. Maulian Bryant, Dawn Neptune Adams, and Tim Shay and Shiwa Noh and their children Carmella Bear, Layla Bear, Kaden Neptune Adams, and Charlie Shay said yes and I am forever grateful. Mishy said, what about filming in the Old State House? And the rest is history…. Or at least we hope that it will be after being erased from the history books for centuries.

- Bounty Co-Director Adam Mazo