We live in an area known for its history, but you can't tell the story of Virginia or North Carolina without honoring the first people to live here.
Over the past month, exhibitions on both sides of the water in Hampton Roads have featured works both by Native Americans and those inspired by their stories.
For the first half of November — Native American Heritage Month — visitors to the Virginia Beach Art Center in the city's ViBe District were met with an eye-catching display of more than 2,500 "feathers" hanging from the ceiling.
“These were all made by individuals around the United States, all ages," said Maggie Kerrigan, a resident artist at VB Art Center and the mind behind the colorful, handmade feathers of paper, which also came from a handful of other countries. “We’re not trying to tell someone else’s story. We’re just trying to bring people to the story."
In this case, it's the story of the United States' Native American boarding schools.
Inspired after reading a historical fiction called "This Tender Land," Kerrigan decided to look more into an initiative that sought to strip Native American children of their language and culture.
“It was my first experience, exposure to boarding schools at all. I had no idea this was part of history in the United States," she said.
From the early 19th century through the 1960s, the U.S. operated and supported hundreds of boarding schools, including in Virginia and North Carolina, one of which was located at what's now Hampton University.
In a process of forced assimilation, historians have found countless cases of physical, sexual and emotional abuse within these schools. Many of the children attending them were never seen or heard from again.
Earlier this year, a report by the U.S. Department of the Interior found 500 deaths at the schools, but that was just an initial analysis, the report stated, with the number likely to grow as investigations continue.
The feathers honor the dead, Kerrigan says, as part of a larger installation at the VB Art Center called "Aware," which also featured works by local Native Americans.
“Hopefully this whole exhibit is going to help people realize there is a thriving community in our midst right now," said Kerrigan.
One local community is the Nansemond Indian Nation.
Originally from Southampton County, artist Desmond Ellsworth is Nansemond through is mother's side. His ancestors once lived along the Nansemond River in what's now Suffolk and other areas of Hampton Roads.
A software engineer in Richmond by day, Ellsworth says his real trade is basket weaving — a skill he learned six years ago at Norfolk State University in an attempt to connect with his past.
“Some people sent me some resources to learn from and after that I just kept practicing and practicing," he told News 3.
Ellsworth says the style of baskets he weaves were made by tribes throughout the southeastern United States. Now, he's helping bring them back into the mainstream; his works are on display in museums in Richmond and at the site of the first English colony.
Jamestown Settlement's new "Reign and Rebellion" exhibition features Ellsworth's Nansemond Story Basket.
“As native people, we have to educate people on us," said Ellsworth. "To this day, I get people saying, ‘I didn’t know native people existed in Virginia’ or ‘oh my gosh, you don’t look native.’ And by them looking at my baskets and learning, they read about it.”
And, in turn, learn about a culture that, despite centuries of attempts to destroy, is alive and celebrated long after Native American Heritage Month comes to a close.
