'Merely the first step': Plaque in honor of indigenous people unveiled at Dartmouth High

DARTMOUTH — Officials from Dartmouth Public Schools and others gathered in the lobby of Dartmouth High School on Friday morning to unveil a plaque, featuring the Dartmouth Indian logo, that will remain there in honor of Native Americans and to signify a new era — one of closer town-tribal relations and a higher level of indigenous education.

"This is our first real step towards enhancing the work ... around educating people about our indigenous people of the community and all of the contributions they have made to," Dartmouth Public Schools Superintendent said Dr. Bonny Gifford, who noted the district's new curriculum directors would soon be developing enhancements to Native American education in schools' curricula.

The ideas for the plaque and revamped focus on indigenous education resulted from the past several years of public debate around the appropriateness of the Dartmouth logo and name.

The plaque reads: "Following the undefeated 1973 season, Mr. Clyde Andrews, member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), DHS Class '74 and Dartmouth Hall of Famer, redesigned the Indian image to more accurately reflect and honor the Eastern Woodlands Indians of the region. An iteration of the image remains in use today and continues to pay homage to the Wampanoag. The symbol is an icon of respect, honor and strength—key characteristics exemplified by Dartmouth students. THe Dartmouth Indian symbol is a key tenet of our Dartmouth Pride."

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New committee now up and running

Among Friday's speakers was Dartmouth Select Board Chairman David Tatelbaum, who announced the public body that town and school officials had been in talks of creating to deal with matters around town/school-tribal relations is now officially established.

"The committee is called the Indigenous People History and Culture Committee," he said before reading the group's mission statement out loud: "The committee is charged with viewing the culture, history and diversity suffered by indigenous people as the result of European conquest of the Americas, but in a manner that prioritizes education, reconciliation, appropriate advocacy aligned with the town's values of diversity, inclusion and positive community relations among all peoples."

"It's a real mouthful but we felt that it was necessary," said Tatelbaum, who noted being a Dartmouth High alum and football player. "I took a look at our yearbook cover ... and I was disgraced by it because it was so insulting, and once in a while in life you get a second chance and I can say that our committee is going to take advantage of the second chance."

For supporters, Friday was a triumph

"This image of pride, honor, respect and dignity has stuck with the school and its programs for many, many years, and I'm glad it's staying as it is," said Andrews, who, along with School Committee Chairman John Nunes, unveiled the plaque Friday. "It's an honor, and it's humbling...."

Town resident Sean Carney, a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and vocal advocate for keeping the logo throughout the debates surrounding its use, called the plaque "a deliberate nod to the rich history of the indigenous men and women who came before us."

"In reaffirming the logo, the town of Dartmouth has uniquely positioned itself to set an example for other school systems, businesses, enterprises, on how to respectfully and tastefully utilize American Indian symbolism," Carney said. "This is merely the first step amongst many to bring the American Indian back into contemporary conversation."

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"Although it (the Dartmouth logo) started, of course, as an athletic symbol, we are now expanding it to show that it's really about the pride of the community and the indigenous people," Gifford told The Standard-Times, noting that the plaques were designed by town residents Chris Pereira, a former School Committee member and DHS class of 1998 alum; and Jacob Ventura, a DHS alum and member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag, with feedback from school staff and officials. Gifford also said plans were in the works to install smaller tributes to indigenous peoples at the elementary schools.

Pereira, in his speech, said the occasion had been "a long time coming."

"Here in Dartmouth I think we did this right. We came together as a community, gave the community a voice," he said, referencing the non-binding referendum question included on the town election ballot on April 5 asking residents to opine on the Dartmouth Indian logo, resulting in 81% of voters expressing support for keeping it.

"In a time when everybody seems so divided, this really united people," Pereira told The Standard-Times following the unveiling. "To get 80% of people to agree with anything now is tough, but this, to me, was just common sense and it was the right thing to do."

That evening, a second, similar plaque was unveiled at Dartmouth Memorial Football Stadium during the football game between Dartmouth and Old Rochester Regional.

Notes from the artist: Indian logo creator recounts its history

According to Andrews, the origins of the current Dartmouth Indian logo designed by him while a student and football player at DHS in 1974 had grown fuzzy in the public consciousness, that is until its use became a hotly debated topic in recent years.

"They've been using it not knowing I did it until it was looked up, then that's when people started getting a hold of me three years ago to ask me if I still had anything left from it," he said, noting his original drawing and any draftwork around it was now gone.

Andrews said the circumstances surrounding the logo redesign request were Dartmouth High's outstanding 1974 football season, and the bittersweet caveat it came with. 

"This was done because we didn't get to go to the first Super Bowl. We didn't have enough points in order to make it, but we had an undefeated season, the whole bit," Andrews told The Standard-Times. "But people thought, hey these guys did so well, they deserve something."

The remedy, it was decided, would be to have green golf tournament-style jackets made for the Dartmouth High football team members, with some help from Dartmouth resident Joel Anapol, co-owner of textile company Cliftex, according to Andrews. But Andrews said the school wanted the jackets to feature an updated version of the existing logo at the time.

"It was done on a piece of paper about this big," Andrews said of his drawing of the logo, gesturing to suggest a box-shape with about a hand's length width and height. "I did it in pencil first, then pen and ink so it could be given to Cliftex and the embroiderers there."

Swiping back and forth in his phone between photos of his design and the one he replaced, Andrews pointed out the differences between the two. "From my logo to that one, you see the shape of the head is changed, the stripe under the eye, the feather placement," he said, noting that in addition to attending his regular classes at Dartmouth High, he was also a student at the Swain School of Design in New Bedford — at the time located at what is now the Kennedy-Donovan Center on County Street — with plans on becoming a professional artist.

Andrews said references for his version came from the tribal imagery he grew up accustomed to seeing. "Being a Wampanoag Indian, we already had an image the tribe used and we also have the Narragansetts around here and everyone else, so I've been to many powwows since I was a child and you see everybody's flags and images," he said. "So I made sort of an incorporation of all of it and made it look more natural."

As far his artistic ambitions after high school, Andrews says he attended college for art but ultimately was pulled in other directions career-wise. "I went to Framingham State for art, then I ended up leaving my junior year and working for UPS," he said, outlining later career moves like getting into commercial fishing and working at the Bristol County House of Corrections in Dartmouth, where he was a correctional officer for 20 years. "Working at the jail is when I started drawing again. ... I retired in 2011, but then I was in transportation and you can't draw while you drive."

While Andrews says his artistic skills still come in handy in the work he does now when drafting kitchen and bathroom design ideas, he hasn't really drawn for drawing's sake "in a good 15 years."

"I kind of wish I kept it going, though," he said. "I do miss the art."

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Plaque in honor of indigenous people unveiled at Dartmouth High School