Wampanoag history book at the center of Texas controversy

The book was moved to the fiction section after an unknown individual challenged it.

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Linda Coomb's "Colonization and the Wampanoag Story," shown here at Bunch of Grapes Bookstore in Vineyard Haven. —Eunki Seonwoo

An author and historian from the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), Linda Coombs, has been at the center of an effort in Texas to discredit her work about America from an indigenous perspective.

In September, a citizen’s review committee directed Coombs’ 2023 book, “Colonization and the Wampanoag Story,” to be moved from the juvenile nonfiction section of the Montgomery County Memorial Library system to the fiction section, prompting an outcry from advocates against book censoring and indigenous citizens. 

But in a win for Coombs and her book, on Tuesday the Montgomery County Commissioners Court ordered “Colonization and the Wampanoag Story” to be restored to the juvenile nonfiction section.

The decision comes as many Southern states have been facing criticism for restricting some books pushed by conservative advocates as inappropriate for children. According to the American Library Association, attempts to censor access to books steadily increased nationwide this past decade. 

“The fact that this happened is not anything new,” Coombs told The Times. While she was “shocked and disappointed” her book was targeted, she was not surprised, because of how many times indigenous history has been “altered, twisted, or reclassified” in the U.S. over the years. “In this instance, it was about my book that I wrote, but I’ve seen this type of cover-up … so much in the past,” she said. 

Still, Coombs noted the “positive step” of the reversal, and that people were evidently “tired of this type of stuff happening.” 

“Colonization and the Wampanoag Story” details America’s beginnings from the perspective of New England indigenous nations. It is a part of Penguin Random House’s “Race to the Truth” series, which consists of American history books for adolescents by authors from the communities each topic is about. 

Alarm bells rang out earlier this month after Montgomery County resident and Texas bookstore owner Teresa Kenney, through a public information request, found that Coombs’ book was “challenged” on Sept. 10 for unspecified reasons. Following the challenge, she found that the county’s citizens review committee directed the book be moved from the juvenile nonfiction section to the fiction section by Oct. 17. 

During a county commissioners’ meeting on Oct. 8, Kenney brought her concerns to the county commissioners court, where she speculated on why the book had been challenged. “I can only assume it is because it is a telling of indigenous people that they do not approve of,” Kenney told commissioners.

Kenney’s information request stemmed from what she called a “complete lack of oversight and transparency” of the county’s policy on challenging library materials, which was approved in March. 

The Texas Tribune reported that the policy’s author, Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough, defended the policy as a way to prevent children from accessing inappropriate books. Meanwhile, critics argued the policy excluded librarians from the review process, and would be used to target books with LGBTQ characters.

The relabeling of Coombs’ book sparked an outcry. 

In a joint letter to the commissioners, Penguin Random House, alongside various advocacy groups including PEN America, American Indians in Children’s Literature, and the Texas Freedom to Read Project, called the decision to label the book as fictitious a “naked ploy to censor history our children learn.”

And multiple Montgomery County residents stepped forward during the Oct. 22 commissioners court meeting to protest the mislabeling of the book. The commissioners court also decided to form a committee to review its library materials reconsideration policy. 

Fellow Wampanoag citizens have also chimed in.

“Honestly, it baffles me when people doubt these stories are true,” Paula Peters, an author and member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, told The Times. “The history of the atrocities committed against my ancestors was documented by the colonizers unapologetically.”

Meanwhile, Coombs is applauding the recent county commission decision. “I think that was the appropriate thing to do,” Coombs told the Times. “The book is not fiction, and everything in there is documented.” 

22 COMMENTS

  1. It’s an outrage when conservative politics in Texas deny the factual history of indigenous people like the Wampanoags. It’s an equally egregious outrage when liberal politics on college campuses across the country deny the factual history of indigenous people like Jews in Israel. Truth is never inappropriate, even when certain people don’t like the truth.

    • Jackie– I didn’t see liberals denying the factual history of Jews in Israel.
      What does that even mean ? Maybe I missed something– could you post a few
      actual quotes from some “liberal politics ” who are denying the factual history
      of Jews in Israel ? What did they say ? Did someone say Jews were never in
      what is now known as Israel ? Come on Jackie– If you are going to bring
      up the plight of Jews in Israel in a conversation about conservative book “banning”
      in Texas– you should have something more to say that the usual “liberal bashing”
      claptrap.
      I have seen a few comments here from conservatives claiming the Palestinians
      are an “invented people”. Not a problem to deny the factual history of indigenous
      people like Palestinians in the middle east I guess ? Nothing egregious about that
      I guess — who doesn’t like the truth ? Sorry — Palestinians have been there as long
      as Jews have, even if you don’t like it.
      You can make a case for liberals in Massachusetts denying the factual
      history of Jewish persecution over thousands of years when they declare
      that the Diary of Anne Frank is fiction.
      And thank you Linda Coombs for your historically accurate book.

      • Keller, for the last time, Palestinians are largely of Bedouin descent, as well as Egyptian, Jordanian and a mix of Arabs. Many Arabs live peaceably in Israel now and have for a very long time. In 1948, when Israel was formed and Arab leaders rejected all offers of having their own state next to Jews, Gaza was part of Egypt and the West Bank was Jordan. Those are the Palestinian people today. One month after Israel became a legitimate state, it was attacked by Arab neighbors. In the 1967 war when Israel was attacked, for a change, guess who won that war? Israel. Egypt and Jordan lost, and Gaza and West Bank came under Israel’s control. Tht’s what happens when people start wars and lose them. Don’t you or other liberals ever wonder why no one will take in Gazans, even temporarily under these grave circumstances for civilians trapped there by Hamas’ evil?

        Ignorance of the history of people calling themselves Palestinians is exactly what Hamas wants you promote. They are lies, Keller. Antisemtic lies.

        I don’t have to do your homework for you. You can look up Catherine Scott, David Mintz, and even Susanna Sturgis’s comments in this forum and the former two, in their letters to the editor, from months ago to read some of the distortions of history of the Middle East they spouted, and these are from people who are intelligent but have a hatred that helps them distort a reality that blames Jews all over for supporting the FACT that the area we call Israel was from day one indigenous to the Hebrews, well before the Muslim religion was invented.

    • Jackie — Liberals are not denying the history of the Jews. Every story
      does not have to be about Jew hating liberals. This is about a specific
      book being re classified as fiction. The story is real.
      You are speculating. If a citizens review committee in Massachusetts were to
      direct the libraries to put “The diary of Anne Frank” in the fiction section,
      I would be right there with you in your criticism and would be
      justifiably outraged,as anyone should be.
      Thank you for at least acknowledging the disrespect to the author of
      this book and the history of the indigenous people it is about .

      • “Liberals are not denying the history of the Jews.” -Keller

        Yes, they are. We’ve got two denials already right here in this thread, and I haven’t read everything yet. It’s foolish to deny reality.

        If you cannot see the connection of how genocides are committed, I can’t help you. You’d have to know what an actual genocide is, not the lies of genocide and war crimes being falsely thrown around these days against an ancient people who want self-determination and to exist peacefully on their own land, just as the Indians wanted— except colonizers had a different idea.

        You’ve objected before when I see beyond something you have determined is limited, even when you bring red hats and “maggots” into most conversations. Yes, guilty as charged. As are you for caring about what you’d like us to believe you care about. I see the bigger picture, though, see how connected are the peoples on earth who’ve been decimated by colonizers and invaders who dehumanize human beings who stand in the way of their greed and hate for otherness. Seeing this article as limited to “one book” is rather simple-minded if you can’t grasp any deeper meaning to the tragic story of American Indians. It takes more than one book and what happened to his particular story, but we can all agree we are glad to know the outcome.

        • Jackie– so now I guess I hate native Americans ?
          But you mention 2 “denials of the history of Jews in this thread ”
          I don’t see them. Of course I am a stupid liberal, so I need some
          help. Could you actually put in quotes the 2 denials about the
          history of Jews ? oct 28 7:18 — I only see one –“Jews did not colonize Palestine”
          not that anybody said they did, but since someone decided to
          interject that lie into the conversation — I’ll call it the lie that it is. What’s the other one Jackie ?
          You are the first on this thread to mention “genocide”.
          So let me ask–
          Did the conquistadors ever think they were committing genocide
          as they massacred millions of native Americans ? Would
          they have admitted it if they even knew they word?
          How about the Nazi’s ? Did they ever admit to genocide ?
          Netanyahu flattens the infrastructure and the residential housing
          of Gaza, admits to a policy of starving innocent civilians into
          some sort of submission that is not possible, kills nearly
          50,000 innocent civilians , destroys virtually
          all the schools, medical facilities and international aid agency
          infrastructure for a population of over 2 million people.
          Is that your bar, jackie ? You have to admit it in order for it to be genocide?
          Yes, I compare the brown shirts and the stormtrooper
          boots to Maga MAGGOTS and the Netanyahu administration.
          Again. I will state that this is not the will of the Israeli people.
          The horrors being perpetrated against the “invented people”
          of Gaza is blood on the hands of the administration and not
          on the hands of peace loving Israelis.

    • Maria, always nice to see a new person deciding to comment, especially on a topic so close to my heart. However, your opinion is flawed because it is so historically incorrect. In fact, the opposite is true. Israel has always been the ancient homeland to Jews, just as Indians are indigenous to Martha’s Vineyard and all of America. To see who the colonizers are in the Middle East and Africa, simply look at a map of the 22 Muslim countries and the one Jewish country. The homeland to Jews is in the same geographical area, speaks the same ancient Hebrew language, and practices the same religion as it always has for the last thousands of years– despite being expelled by differing conquering colonizers over the centuries– Jews were there well before a name-change to Palestine was invented by conquering Romans. The people newly adopting the name “Palestinian” today are not indigenous to Israel. In fact they come from many different Arab peoples like Egyptian, Bedouin, Jordanian, etc.

      While you’re at it, look at how many countries in the world speak English in places where, unlike Israel and Hebrew, that was not the native language. Jews are not the colonizers.

      A lie repeated a million times, even if told by a majority of people, is still a lie. Sorry, but historical fact supported by archeology supersedes false propaganda deriving from thin air.

    • Ms. Lopez. Jews did not colonize Palestine. There is no Palestine. Jews were given Israel in 1948 as part of the Balfour Declaration. Jews had been living there for a few thousand years. So called Palestinians come from everywhere and are an invented people. Please read history. Respectfully you are simply repeating false history from liberals and other uneducated people.

  2. As I read this, I am watching President Biden formally apologize to the all Native American Nations for the harm and the epigenetic trauma abusive boarding “schools” by colonizers, and demanding the truth be told to all Americans about the 150 years of abuse – including the current estimate that 974+ children who died in them. He also views this apology demonstrates strength, not weakness. I doubt the Montgomery citizen’s review board will rise to that level of strength and maturity and publicly and formally apologize to Ms.Coombs and the Wampanoag tribes.

  3. First, thank you Ms. Coombs for writing
    this book and defending your work.
    Thank you MV Times for publishing
    this story.
    Second, we must take a stand.
    “The history of the atrocities committed
    against my ancestors was documented
    by the colonizers unapologetically.”
    Trump is unapologetic about assaulting
    women. White supremacy organizations
    in the US are thriving. The Supreme Court
    is making judgments in king Trump’s favor
    so he can rule supreme with no constraints.
    In regard to January 6th, conservatives
    are quick to claim “first amendment rights.”
    In regard to books and history, conservatives
    claim “states rights.”
    Can we really have it both ways?
    I’m calling on the conservatives who read
    this column to try to correct injustices
    in the world. No more racism or book
    censorship, please.
    Stand up against Mike Huckabee,
    Sarah Sanders,
    Tim Dunn, the Wilks brothers, and
    Trump—all of them using every means
    in their power to rewrite US history
    to a pro-slavery, non-indigenous,
    and racist viewpoint.

    https://www.propublica.org/article/tim-dunn-farris-wilks-texas-christian-nationalism-dominionism-elections-voting

    https://www.tpr.org/news/2024-02-25/three-west-texas-billionaires-are-pushing-texas-to-the-far-right?_amp=true

    https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2023/11/06/prageru-mike-huckabees-kids-guide-series-and-other-indoctrination-tools-for-young-minds

    https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/politics/white-supremacists-are-riling-up-thousands-on-social-media

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/25/trump-sexual-misconduct-allegations-timeline

    https://apnews.com/article/trump-rape-carroll-trial-fe68259a4b98bb3947d42af9ec83d7db

    • Mary, I must have missed you taking a stand against colonizers/invaders/rapists committing atrocities when it happens to Jews. White supremacy is as bad as the antisemitic lies coming from liberals, but you don’t seem to care about your own political party’s hatreds and prejudices. I stand up against the liberal embrace of antisemitic lies. I wonder if 200 years from now, if there is still a United States, will the President apologize to Jews for the awful antisemitic hatred so ingrained in this country? Imagine calling the abuse and rape and mutilation of women, “resistance by freedom fighters”. I don’t know how anyone can object to rape only for some women, but not for others. It always sounds hollow to me when you continue to confront Trump’s sexual deviations, but keep silent about Jewish women being raped in tunnels as we speak. If you want me to believe you care about “injustices in the world”, I have to tell you, I do not.

      • Jackie– sorry, but those rapes you speak of in the tunnels
        of Gaza at the hands of radical hateful terrorist could
        have been stopped long ago if the Netanyahu regime had
        perused a tactic of negotiation and compromise, rather than a frothing
        psychotic desire for revenge. You keep talking about liberals being silent
        about the plight of the hostages being held by terrorist.
        That is not the case– Here –Feel free to quote me later–
        The F*****ng ruthless radical terrorist pigs that are hiding among
        the civilian population and hiding like rats in tunnels
        and hospitals while raping innocent people
        deserve to be killed in the most painful way–
        Any questions ?
        These atrocities can be stopped– But the administration of the
        Netanyahu regime is much more focused on revenge and
        centuries old hatred. Any questio0ns ?

          • Jackie– The war in Gaza is about Netanyahu.
            The hostages could have been released long ago
            if a frothing Palestinian hater was not in charge.
            Sometimes the head of state has to deal with the
            reality at hand.
            Hamas stupidly doesn’t recognize Israel’s right to exist.
            Netanyahu stupidly does not recognize the rights of the
            Palestinians and has been illegally allowing ” settlements”
            in the heart of their ancient ancestral lands for decades.
            Other people here stupidly claim that the Palestinians
            don’t even exist.
            Violence begets violence
            Hatred begets hatred.
            Respect and compromise will get the hostages released.
            Violence and the mass slaughter of innocent people
            will result in the deaths of all the innocents.
            The concept that there are no innocent Palestinians
            is disgusting –It’s as disgusting as saying there are no innocent
            Israelis.
            Sorry, jackie– everyone has the right to self determination
            and freedom from extinction. Palestinians have the right to
            tend their olive groves and not wake up to the sound
            of approaching bulldozers coming to flatten their
            house because some child became radicalized
            20 years ago when an israeli bulldozer flattened their
            family home and now they feel they had to avenge that
            atrocity. And then the IDF now feels the need to avenge
            whatever atrocities that now grown terrorist has
            committed. It’s an endless cycle of hatred and violence.

          • Keller, you are entirely ignorant of the history of modern Israel. Wars on Jews are not about who is leading Israel at which moment in time. Wars on Israel are about ridding the world of Israel and Jews. Israel’s enemies do strategically concern themselves with leaders who gives them the best opportunities to carry out their war crimes and when, and even when they can gain the most world sympathy depending on who’s running the show, but when you blame one Jewish right wing leader of Israel as responsible for the rapes in tunnels still going on now, you may as well just blame Jews for deserving the war and say everything the Jews are suffering in Iran proxies’ efforts to annihilate them, is deserved: the Jews deserve it. That epitomizes the Jew-hatred coming from much of the liberal left:
            Blaming Israel or its leadership for causing Oct 7th. Your comment blaming Netanyahu is therefore antisemitic, even though I understand you are unable to see it.

          • Jackie– I make the distinction between Jewish people
            and the Israeli government. — every time.
            Netanyahu is an a******e -the Jewish people
            are proud of their culture and their heritage–
            with good reason in my opinion.
            When people make no distinction between hamas
            and the Palestinian people, or none between Hezbollah
            and the Lebanese people,
            we know we are dealing with an
            Arab hatred that someone is not even trying to hide.
            I don’t hate Jews– you hate Arabs- And you lecture
            me? Go figure .
            You keep telling me I don’t know about the history
            of “modern Israel”. I disagree, but regardless, the
            truth of the matter is I don’t really care– I care about
            the hostages getting out of hell, and the cessation of
            hostilities to stop of the deaths of innocent people on both
            side of this seemingly intractable conflict.
            You can use your space here to lecture me
            about history– I will use my space to advocate for
            the hostages coming home alive and the right
            of children to play without fear of being
            burned alive or buried in rubble.
            Indiscriminately killing thousands of children
            is not going to bring the hostages home–
            Neither are thoughts and prayers, or
            falsely accusing people of being anti-semites.
            I might make you feel good– but please, try
            something else.

  4. When people make no distinction between Israelis and “Jews”, we know we are dealing with a Jew hatred that someone is not even trying to hide.

  5. Many Jews became believers in Jesus as the Christ. Many did not. Those who rejected Jesus as the Christ began to riot against those who did. Claudius’s solution to this social unrest was to expel all the Jews. Though the Jews lived relatively peacefully under Roman rule at first, this changed in the first century A.D. In 19 A.D., the Jews were expelled from the city. This was an outward diaspora(to scatter about) to other countries.

    The Land of Israel, regardless of the name one calls it, can never belong to any nation other than the Jewish People. A series of foreign empires have invaded, conquered, subjugated and persecuted the Jews, the indigenous people who self-ruled in their land as the only independent nation for over 1400 years, but its true ownership can never be transferred from the Jewish nation. When Rome invaded and conquered, they renamed Israel “Syria Palaestina” in order to conquer the Jews conceptually, to disassociate them from the land, and to associate it instead with the Biblical enemies of the Jews, the Philistines. Palaestina was the name for ever. Jews who occupied that region before 1948 and the Balfour declaration has Palestinian in heir passports. Arabs who call themselves Palestinians are an invented people After 1948 Jews have been returning to their homeland.

    • Yes, Golda Meir’s passport identified her as Palestinian. Ignorance and denial of history, even of the factual derivations of names of places and people as correctly outlined by Andrew, only serves to promote the Jew hatred we see exploding today. History does repeat itself, after all, and there is nothing new under the sun.

    • andy– so god gave the land to the Jews, and therefore
      it is theirs forever. The problem is that when she did this,
      she left the border lines a little unclear and since the Palestinians
      are an invented people of which none are innocent,
      it’s perfectly fine in your opinion for Israel to just reclaim
      their god given right to any part of the area they choose.
      That’s advocating for Jewish supremacy in the most clear terms
      possible. But I understand that you can’t see that.
      Of course you will point your bony finger at me and claim that
      is antisemitic. Like if I criticize white supremacist, i hate all while
      people– right ? Sorry– There are white supremacist, black
      supremacist and Jewish supremacist. The Japanese were
      convinced that they were the superior race in the 1930’s. The Germans
      also. And right here on this very page you are shouting the
      praises of christian supremacy. You are as wrong as the KKK.

      You are so far down the rabbit hole that
      you actually believe the Palestinians don’t even exist
      and any of the “so called” people that might challenge that idea ,
      should be exterminated because they ALL are bent on the
      idea of killing ALL jews. Why not ? They’re all guilty after all.
      So where does that leave us in relation to this article ?
      It’s pretty clear from the history of the indigenous peoples on
      this continent that god gave this land to them, and according to
      you, The Land right here in north America , regardless of the name one
      calls it, can never belong to any nation other than the indigenous peoples
      who lived here. God gave it to them. Or is there something else here andy ?
      Is it that your god is the true god, and their gods are “INVENTED” ?
      Yeah, OK — I get it now.

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