Gladys Tantaquidgeon
Gladys Tantaquidgeon (1899-2005)
Gladys Tantaquidgeon was a Mohegan Medicine Woman who dedicated her life to the preservation of Native American beliefs, customs, and traditions across the United States. Born in Uncasville in 1899, and a direct descendant of the famous 17th-century Mohegan Sachem, Uncas, Tantaquidgeon studied anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. Shortly afterward she helped found the Tantaquidgeon Indian Museum in Uncasville. Her national efforts led to a term working with the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs which resulted in revitalized promotions of Native American artwork and centuries-old customs previously banned by the federal government. She went on to play a vital role in the Mohegan Tribe being granted federal recognition in 1994.
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Websites
Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame. “Gladys Tantaquidgeon,” 2012. Link.
The Mohegan Tribe. “Gladys Tantaquidgeon,” 2012. Link.
Places
The Mohegan Tribe. “Tantaquidgeon Museum,” 2012. Link.
Books
Shuldiner, David Philip, Thomas R. Beardsley, and Connecticut Humanities Council. Connecticut Speaks for Itself: Firsthand Accounts of Life in the Nutmeg State from Colonial Times to the Present Day. Middletown, CT: Connecticut Humanities Council, 1996.
Tantaquidgeon, Gladys, Gladys Tantaquidgeon, and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Folk Medicine of the Delaware and Related Algonkian Indians. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1972.
Zobel, Melissa Tantaquidgeon. Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 2000.
