How Shells Tell Native History

Join host Cheyenne Bearfoot on Sovereign Innovations as she uncovers the profound legacy of wampum beads in North American history. From sacred symbols to colonial currency, discover the intricate craftsmanship and enduring cultural significance behind these tiny treasures.
Renowned artist Lydia Wallace-Chavez provides insights into wampum, revealing the modern-day resonance of this ancient tradition. Explore the resilience of Indigenous culture, and witness the timeless allure of wampum in today's world.
Don't miss this captivating exploration of Indigenous innovation and heritage.
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[@nataliet8149]

Thank you for filling in some of those holes in the history. Wampum is so beautiful, I love being able to support my local MA and RI indigenous artisans by buying their jewlery.

[@Zephyr_Zeitgeist]

The bond and solidarity between Ireland and Native American tribes never fails to make me cry. The Chocktaw Nation sent what they could to Ireland to aid them during the potato 'famine' (it wasn't a true famine; imperialist England forced them to give them their wheat and beef, so when the potatoes were wiped out with blight, the Irish had nothing to eat. This didn't move England to let up on how much they took). And Ireland never forgot.

[@TheRunningLeopard]

Same here, it’s such beautiful solidarity and every time I can’t help but tear up.

[@Kenzalina_]

Irish here, we indeed never forget our native brothers and sisters. We returned the favor during the pandemic and paid it forward to the Hopi and Navajo nations. We still have a close relationship with the Choctaw people.

[@gurplepanda3656]

My grandma did amazing and beautiful beadwork. She didn't just do patterns but would also do full blown pictures. One of my favorites was the white buffalo that she did on the back of her biker vest.

[@RivLoveshine]

That sounds beautiful! If only you could reply with a picture! I love arts and crafts and I make battle jackets (jackets covered in patches and pins). Customized jackets are just so cool.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

I love Indigenous American beadwork. It’s so beautiful and intricate.

[@mascadadelpantion8018]

This is one of the most interesting videos i've seen in a long time

[@pbsvoices]

Awww, thanks! That means a lot! - Chey

[@paulackley2882]

Chi-Miigwech! Excellent video. You are so beautiful & talented. Chippewa of Northern Wisconsin.

[@brooklynnchick]

This beautiful history is priceless. I grew up in the Salish and Kootenai Nations in Montana. This was a fascinating look at someone else’s Ancestors and the histories that different Aunties tell. I appreciate the right of a Native voice to explain, accurately, the history and significance of this diplomatic and cultural tradition.

[@bensabelhaus7288]

I always knew there was a lot more to wampum than just as a currency. A lot of history has been lost because we were stripped of the language. Much like quipu, there is much the be relearned. Thank you for sharing this. I'd love to see the process of bead making from shells.

[@blueturtle06]

I am a Leech Lake band member of the Ojibwe in Minnesota. I remember many of my family members using a loom to make various beaded objects. This reminded me of them, thank you for this video.

[@bjdefilippo447]

Fascinating! The degree of skill required to create these pieces of art is impressive. I'm glad that this art has not been lost. Looking forward to learning more about these beads and their meaning.

[@pamelamccarthy2328]

Love Beads and Beadwork for my love of Indigenous Culture I have beaded over 50 years. Really appreciated hearing this history of the Shell Beads as Shells and stones have also been important to me, nice to know why now!! Thank you!

[@Rhyswithoutherspoon]

My mother-in-law does beadwork and beading as a hobby. She's so talented, and everything she makes is just beauty.

[@Beryllahawk]

What gorgeous art

[@valeryediamond7249]

I am obsessed. I was reviewing a mental log of all the tools my moms has to make beads with my tribe’s local shells . Thank you :)

[@ennanitsua]

Wonderful! Thank you and your team for such a great episode!

[@medusianAllure]

Please cover the history of lacrosse and its use in resolving/healing conflicts, and the Haudenosaunee's significant influence on the American constitution through the Great Law of Peace! It's also been a while since I last heard any updates on the Six Nations green power project and I'm hoping it's on schedule to be online by 2025. Last I checked (a year ago...) they'd received federal and provincial funding to create green electricity generators across stolen/former treaty lands and will projected to produce 25% of Ontario's energy supply.

[@Thaumh]

Speaking of shells, over here on the West Coast, they are rebuilding one of the old San Francisco Bay shore shell mounds in Emeryville, complete with a visitors' center and Ohlone/Chenowith Miwok history experts.

[@Pou1gie1]

@8:46 I would have liked more info on why the team wasn't invited to the World Lacrosse games. Also, it would have been nice to include how Lacrosse is actually an Native game -- many don't know this. So, it's even more offensive and odd that they wouldn't be in the games.

[@quen_anito]

Same... Pissed me off when I that part of the video came up. I don't follow sport much but still know that Lacrosse is still very much culturally significant to the east coast first nations people.

[@mekkio77]

From what I read the team was going to complete under their Tribe Nation name while the rules were you had to go under a recognized country name. And since the Tribe was in the US, the rules said that they had to play under the flag of the US. But the team said, "No. We want to play under our own name." So, Ireland stepped in and went, "Take our slot. You can play under your own name if you do." And the rest is history.

[@erikagehm2805]

​@mekkio77 Good grief. The US government claims to recognize Native American tribes as their own simi-independant nations. They should have been allowed to go as their own nation. I used claims for a VERY good reason.

[@mekkio77]

@@erikagehm2805 The organization that blocked the team wasn't American. It was Swiss. Take it up with them.

[@Silverizael]

@@mekkio77 Makes a lot of sense, actually, considering the large amounts of xenophobia and racism the Swiss has been exhibiting in the past few years.

[@octaviusv]

This is so fascinating! Thank you for sharing how wampum evolved over time. I'd love to hear the history of dentalium and magnesite, too, which (I think?) filled a similar role to wampum, but in the West.

[@bakababy6904]

this was such an interesting story and i really appreciate the new wave of indigenous folks getting to tell their stories instead of us getting it filtered through the same people who sought to repress native culture

[@cerosis]

This is fascinating. It didn't have a significance to me before but it does now and will in the future

[@pbsvoices]

Amazing, glad you enjoyed! - Chey

[@PogieJoe]

Incredible artists!

[@davidjones6661]

Thank you so much for making this! These histories that aren't taught, to those of us with colonizer heritage, are so beautiful and meaningful and deserve to be known by all,

[@EBThisThat]

I’m non-Native but am obsessed with Indian culture. I never knew any of this, I appreciate the wisdom and artistry of wampum pieces. Truly exquisite!

[@nichoudha]

That's such a unique cultural meaning.... I think I learned a lot from this video.

[@malloryknox1637]

The moccasins my grandma made me used to have these beads on them❤

[@StephPerla]

I had no idea. Thank you for sharing.

[@pbsvoices]

Thanks for watching! Did you have a favorite part? - Chey

[@StephPerla]

@@pbsvoices I had a lot of favorite parts... I liked learning the significance of the colors, the history of the how Wampum was co-opted by settlers and I really appreciated your openess when you shared that you learned a lot about this while doing this video. For me, I feel so much of my heritage isn't known to me so I just felt a deeper kinship with you when you shared you were learning too.

[@llauram3650]

this is really cool, this is such a great channel. lots of love from Ireland

[@laceisaverb]

Because of the popularity of Land Acknowledgements in a lot of Canadian public settings over the last decade or two, I have often heard about wampum belts and wampum belt covenants, as part of the Land Acknowledgement for my area of south central Ontario includes mention of the Dish With One Spoon wampum belt covenant made between the Anishinaabe and the Haudenosaunee. But this video really helped me understand more than I did before the truly special place these beads have in Indigenous culture. Thank you so much!

[@crackers0413]

I wish contemporary culture in the United States valued hand crafting more…simply having something to do could do wonders for uniting communities and providing economic sustainability

[@paulackley2882]

Chi-Miigwech! Excellent video. You are so beautiful & talented. Chippewa of Northern Wisconsin.

[@EmilyEverglot]

I did not know the history of these amazing beads! The idea of taking one's cultural ideals and thinking that they must apply to another cultural still happens today! This story not only shows the incredible history behind these beads but it also shows why it is so necessary to avoid ethnocentrism.

[@evamccray6500]

The most important aspect of Wampum is the connection to our Ancestors/Culture/Past. It awakens the memory.

[@Erin-S]

This was great, Chey!! Well done!! I'm Metis, so beadwork means a lot to us, but you did a great job explaining it here. I didn't know that wampum were made from shells. I did know that there are certain wampum belts that carry certain teachings, I'd love to learn more about that, but it's probably not culturally appropriate to be put on KZbin.

[@BlinkPopShift]

I love your videos! Could we go along with an artisan thru their whole process?

[@falcoskywolf]

While I would love to see this as well, I understand it if it's considered a closed practice- where they DON'T share it with outsiders in order to not have their techniques appropriated and sold as a commodity instead of kept as a cultural element FIRST that they can CHOOSE how to sell it.

[@pbsvoices]

Awesome question! Lydia has actually done some educational classes before about wampum bead making. - Chey

[@AndreaMorales1]

Brilliant, thank you for making this.

[@waitingforwonderland6036]

great video thank u for sharing

[@debbiesmith6293]

Enjoyed your video

[@ThinkForYourself2025]

This was a great video! Why don't I see this regular TV? It belongs there.

[@nomisunrider6472]

Doesn't surprise me that wampum started as something far more regional and specific before being generalized into a currency, but it's interesting to see it broken down and its evolution. Now I want to watch an entire documentary on the subject. Or read a book.

[@Volundur9567]

The beads of shells are super difficult to make. I've done bone, stone, teeth, wood, clay and other materials for pagan jewelry, but shell is such a finicky material. Always had mad respect for Indigenous and African beadwork.

[@ElizabethHurtado-py8ur]

Yes

[@ChiefRxcka]

Amazing content of the video aside, I just have to say: Indigenous peoples can have the absolute coolest names ever. My ancestors was named Waa-nibe, Kit Carson's wife, which means Singing Grass. So cool. I absolutely am fascinated, and adore, indigenous peoples' culture.

[@ikeekieeki]

amazing video, thanks

[@windlessoriginals1150]

Thank you

[@koitsenka]

i started working with beads as a child. my first trade was a necklace i made for some beads.

[@TheDan14]

too short! i want to see her whole bead making process too

[@TheSuzberry]

Is there someone in the Native American community doing experimental archaeology to determine how the original beads were made? That would be fascinating to watch.

[@jfu5222]

Interesting topic, I wonder if patterns cross over to the porcupine quillwork seen in the Ojibwa and other tribes further west.

[@pbsvoices]

that's incredible, there's potentially a crossover.

[@Heyreneesews]

I just, just learned about Ukrainian bead work. All their embroidery has a spiritual meaning. The bead designs are similar. My family did embroidery, not bead work. It’s good to pass on what you know from your people.

[@Mixed_Activist]

I make jewelry. I love shells.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

8:48 Classic Ireland being based as always

[@purplecouch4767]

🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚

[@lusolad]

Wampum: white beads from the whelk. Purple beads from quahog.

[@HabeasJ]

5:58 no one "forced" the trade of wampum with inland tribes. The inland tribes wanted the wampum because they didn't have access to similar materials in their area. While not exactly wampum, we can see a similar story told when Lewis and Clark came to the Columbia Basin where the natives rejected beads most eastern tribes liked in favor of cheap blue beads... "The natives are extravegantly fond of the most common cheap blue and white beads, of moderate size, or such that from 50 to 70 will weigh one penneyweight. The blue is usually prefered to the white. These beads constitute the principal circulating medium with all the indian tribes on this river. For these beads they will dispose of any article they possess." -Meriwether Lewis, January 9th 1806. . A quick search of the Columbia Basin will show you an abundance of reds, oranges, and browns in the landscape, but no blue outside of the sky. And blue being one of the hardest colors to find in anywhere nature (let alone the Columbia basin) means it was highly coveted. So bringing it back to wampum, since inland tribes wouldn't have access to anything with a similar color or pattern in their area, of course they wanted it. And there's no way for an inland tribe to get shells gathered on the coast without participating in mutual trade. When you look at the history of the fur trade (particularly the earlier portions) we see beneficial trade on both sides. The natives wanted things they couldn't easily make (kettles, fabrics, sewing supplies, axes, gun, and yes, beads) and the Europeans wanted furs. Of course when we look back on that history it may seem one sided, but at the time both parties benefited. . Also, purely from a logical standpoint we can figure no one was "forced" to trade their goods. If there truely was force involved (whether through threats or actions), why would the Europeans give them anything in exchange for their furs? Wouldn't they just take them?

[@Heothbremel]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@rooteddwellings]

We have a bead sash of “cooperation and friendship” from the Osage chief “bacon grind” this is when the Osage nation were very wealthy. My in-laws were banker held money in banks for the Osage which is wild cause they weren’t allowed to have full access to their money and had “guardians” which they were white and had to get permission to spend their money… located in Ralston. My wife and I are both tribal members but to Creek, and Acoma she could be Cherokee tribe member as well

[@ElizabethHurtado-py8ur]

📘

[@sodium_and_scales]

"You've probably read about this in your history books" Me, a non-american assuming they're talking about school: Well yes, but actually, no.

[@tiwantiwaabibiman2603]

Actually the "Dutch" mentioned were not Dutch. They were Germans. Dutch got attacked to that group of European colonizers from a misunderstanding/misinterpretation of a word in a phrase spoken in German. That misinterpretation stuck and Germans in that area were referred to as Dutch when they weren't/aren't...

[@tux_duh]

I mean this is obvious, the Pennsylvania Dutch are called Dutch but we know they're German. It's because German in German is Deutsch And also... With how much we confused native nations in the past, it should be forgiven to confuse a people who call themselves Deutsch with Dutch

[@hotakatsu7637]

@tux_duh Wasn’t very obvious to me. ^^;

[@Cobbmtngirl]

I have Wampanoag ancestry. I Wonder at the similarities with the two words…

[@PokhrajRoy.]

WS doesn’t stand for Wall Street, it stands for Wampum Stonks.

[@runawayuniverse]

Hella pretty? You from the Bay Area?

[@pbsvoices]

Yayyyy Areaaaaaa!!! (Lol yes) -Chey

[@rhondabailey4444]

Philamayaye

[@N_g_er]

Is this the same girl from h3h3?

[@johnmc8785]

Kinda like it's "Bead-coin" ? Young warriors were often asked to leave the council fire after talking for hours about "Bead-coin", "block-belt technology" and how it would revolutionize inter-tribal commerce.

[@Pathfinder2]

5:35 "making wampum became the first forced industry in America." Who was forcing? Were the Dutch/English holding the tribes captive and forcing them to make beads? Or did the Indigenous tribes recognize that the Dutch/English valued something and worked harder to supply the demand?

[@rebeccalara4982]

❤⭐❤⭐🪶🪶🪶⭐❤❤

[@lusolad]

Maybe chill out with the " colonizer" bs ( I think you may have some European ancestry yourself) Wampum, even during its use as a currency, was still being used in a traditional way. It was part of diplomatic function for example.

[@SerialAnkleBiter]

Well what else was she meant to say…’people who were colonizing’, ‘new arrivals who happened to be colonizing’

[@DontrelleRoosevelt]

Now the best thing to do, to be sure that 4% of the population that is still Native American doesn't continually dwindle further, is to abolish ALL reservations.

[@tux_duh]

Unfortunately as of 2020 it's now 2.09% Which is 6.79 million people and it's probably underestimated because of European Blood Quantum values which clash with actual indigenous values

[@kidmohair8151]

I was sort of hoping that you would have spelt your last name *Bare* -foot after the intro... o well...