This story was originally published by the Nashville Banner. Sign up for their newsletter at nashvillebanner.com/newsletters.
The Tennessee Indigenous Women’s Circle held its first event this month, the day before the Iroquois New Year, bringing community members together to share cultural histories and get to know each other during a midwinter social. The group is a newly formed nonprofit that organizers Sharon Smith and Anne Pouliot hope will become the glue for the Native American community and other residents in Middle Tennessee.
Smith, who identifies as Black and Indigenous (Saponi and Mohawk), moved here from New York to live with her daughter three years ago, and found it hard to find community in Nashville. After she met Pouliot, who identifies as Mohawk, the two began to work together with the help of their friends and family to start the women’s circle.
In Cleveland, Ohio, where Pouliot attended college, and other places, there are more established Indigenous communities. While there are many tribes native to Tennessee, like the Cherokee, Shawnee, Chickasaw and Muscogee, there are no reservations in the state. On top of that, Tennessee doesn’t recognize its Indigenous people, which means there are no state services provided for Tennessee’s Indigenous community. Because of this, there is tension between those who are federally recognized and those who aren’t. That was part of the impetus for these women to form the women’s circle.
“Indigenous people are community-oriented. If we bring people together and start acting like a community to one another, those certain cultural protocols are already understood,” Pouliot said. “It becomes critical that people know each other and can support each other, and Tennessee doesn’t have the best track record of providing places for people to do that.”