Gladys Tantaquidgeon

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Gladys Tantaquidgeon (June 15, 1899 – November 1, 2005)^[1] was a Mohegan anthropologist, author, council member, and elder.^[2]

[edit] Biography

In childhood she learned traditional practices, beliefs, and lore from nanus or respected elder women. She had only infrequent Western education in youth, but at 18 she attended the University of Pennsylvania to study anthropology. There she studied and worked with Frank Speck. She later did field work concerning the Lenape and other eastern tribes. Later she worked with the "Federal Indian Arts and Crafts Board" and advocated for an end to the ban on the Sun Dance. She also worked at a museum set up by the Tantaquidgeon family. In 1947 she returned to her own people becoming a council member and medicine woman.^[3]

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