Penobscots don’t want ancestors’ scalping to be whitewashed

By DAVID SHARP
Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Most Americans know about atrocities endured by Native Americans after the arrival of European settlers — wars, disease, stolen land. Members of the Penobscot Nation in Maine want to ensure that history doesn’t whitewash one of the ugliest parts — government-sanctioned scalping by colonists. At the heart of their short film “Bounty” is a 1755 scalping proclamation that encouraged the killings of Penobscots in what’s now Maine. It was one of more than 70 bounty proclamations targeting Indigenous people in New England. The film was released in November during National Native American Heritage Month.