In recognition of Native American Heritage Month in November, MassLive asked readers to identify people who are leaders from the Indigenous community throughout the state, working to make a difference in their own area of interest, be it politics, education, business or the arts.
MassLive will publish profiles of these leaders through November. These are people our readers have identified as inspirational, who may be doing good acts for their communities. They are being recognized for their accomplishments, leadership and commitment to inspire change.
Bonney Hartley, an employee and member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation. Photo courtesy Bonney HartleyBonney Hartley
Bonney Hartley
Age: 41
Community: Williamstown/The Berkshires
Her story: Bonney Hartley honors her Western Massachusetts ancestors in the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation in the most visceral sense: she focuses on their repatriation from museums through managing the Nation’s historic preservation extension office, which also protects burial and cultural sites from proposed development projects.
“I had visited our homelands before with family and felt a pull to address our erasure in the area from that visit. I was also motivated by experiencing the closeness of ancestors all around us in the homelands,” Hartley said.
Hartley explained in the 1700s, her Mohican Tribe lived in a formed Stockbridge missionary town and because of this history, she gained modern representation in several area projects outside of research, writing claims and negotiating to bring home ancestors bodies’ and their cultural items.
These include a Mohican History walking tour on Main Street, which led to the Stockbridge Main Street District’s official listing with new Mohican representation in the National Register of Historic Places, and a 2020 partnership with Williams College.
“The work matters to our people today and to our ancestors by providing care and restoring dignity, and protecting our ancestral places so that we have them to return to and they are more widely understood and appreciated,” she said.
Hartley’s association with the college has led to their office’s base in Williamstown and a newfound hope, as she said the Tribe has “benefited tremendously from the students and other resources,” and added she finds “a lot of joy” working with the students “and seeing their interest and commitment to the work.”
“It makes me feel that it matters to humanity and I feel optimistic about the future of those stepping into museums and related fields,” she said of the students.
In her words: “My advice is to realize the emotional toll of the work: working through spreadsheets of ancestral remains or burial items, for example, can really lay bare the extent of the disrespect and past thefts (such as through grave robbing by scientists) that our people have gone through since colonization. The pain from that is real and staggering to encounter the extent of the harm. Finding ways to honor that reality and take care are important.”
We’re always open to hear about more inspiring people. If you’d like to suggest someone else who should be recognized, please fill out this form.
