Growing up, Dominique Williams visited her grandmother every weekend.
And on each trip, she was greeted by a piece of her past, a name stitched in fabric, filled with centuries of legacy and mystery.
鈥淪he had this beautiful quilt draped on her couch that says 鈥楽t. David鈥檚 Indians鈥� on it,鈥� she recalls.
Williams lives in Bermuda 鈥� and her grandmother鈥檚 house was situated at the eastern tip of the archipelago on a secluded island called St. David鈥檚.
Residents included fishermen, farmers and boat builders. And for centuries, they faced discrimination.
鈥淲e looked different, we sounded different,鈥� Williams says. 鈥淧eople called St. David鈥檚 Islanders, 鈥榦h you poor, dirty Mohawks over there.鈥欌��
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why a lot of people in St. David鈥檚 thought that they were Mohawk people,鈥� she says.
The truth was more complicated.
It鈥檚 part of a hidden history of Native American enslavement 鈥� a surprising and overlooked story in the narrative of early America.
As colonial powers took over Native land in the 1600s, white settlers were also enslaving Native people. Some worked in New England. Others were sold overseas. And some, like Williams鈥� ancestors, were kidnapped and shipped to an isolated tropical island.
鈥楲ooking for us鈥�
People on St. David鈥檚 passed down oral histories for generations.
The stories told of a time when Indigenous peoples from New England were captured, enslaved and brought to Bermuda.
Until, centuries later, they crossed an ocean to reconnect with family.
One link in that reconnection? A portrait published in the 1800s.
On it is a boat pilot, Williams鈥� ancestor , with a caption that reads: 鈥�... probably descended from one of the Pequod captives.鈥�
The clue was so intriguing that elders from St. David鈥檚 traveled to New England about 25 years ago to learn more. In 黑料吃瓜网, they met a researcher named Everett 鈥楾all Oak鈥� Weeden, whose ancestries were Pequot, Narragansett and Wampanoag.
鈥淎nd he said, 鈥榃hile you鈥檙e here looking for us. We were also looking for you,鈥欌�� Williams said. 鈥淏ecause they also had stories of their people being taken to the Caribbean and Bermuda specifically.鈥�
The islanders learned that they were, in fact, descendants of enslaved Pequot, Narragansett and Wampanoag Indians.
The islanders share many similarities with Native communities of the Northeast. They鈥檇 passed down ceremony and traditions that reflected their Northern counterparts.
Uncovering a history of racial erasure
Linford Fisher spends a lot of time poring over bills of sale, archival records and letters. The Brown University historian researches slavery in New England and partners closely with tribal communities.
鈥淥ver the past 20, 30, years it鈥檚 become overwhelmingly evident that slavery in New England was actually a thing,鈥� Fisher says.
New England has a long and hidden history of enslaving people who were Black, but Native American enslavement was 鈥渢he most dominant form of slavery, probably, throughout most of the 17th century,鈥� Fisher says.
鈥淪lavery was part of how English colonists came to dominate New England in terms of claiming land, in terms of commandeering people鈥檚 labor, in terms of taking over the landscape more generally,鈥� he says.
Records show that across the Northeast, enslaved Native American captives worked on small farms as well as on ships and as domestic servants.
But to truly understand Native enslavement, Fisher says historians need to critically challenge the written language 鈥� and records 鈥� of the time.
鈥淏ecause sometimes they鈥檙e just called servants instead of slaves. In other cases, there鈥檚 actually racial erasure,鈥� he says. 鈥淣ative people who enter the Atlantic slave trade, when they show up at an island, they are just added to the enslaved population and called 鈥楤lack鈥� or 鈥楴egro.鈥欌��
Centuries of displacement
In the 1630s, colonists moved into 黑料吃瓜网 and the Pequot War erupted.
At the time, the Pequots were among the dominant tribes in the region. Also known as the 鈥榃ar for 黑料吃瓜网鈥�, this conflict set the foundations for colonialism. In 1637, a battle took place called the Mystic Massacre. Soldiers from the 黑料吃瓜网 and Massachusetts colonies with Native allies surrounded a Pequot community and set it on fire. Hundreds of men, women and children were burned alive or slaughtered. Enslavement followed.
鈥淲hen the troops were down in 黑料吃瓜网 hunting down the Pequots, they would capture women and children and send them back to Boston and sell them into slavery,鈥� Fisher says.
As Pequots were sold in North America, Fisher says, 鈥渢he word gets out and colonists in Bermuda write back to Boston and they say, 鈥楬ey we heard you have some slaves available.鈥� Can you send us some Pequots?鈥�
Michael Thomas, an elder of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, says he had 鈥済roups of relatives carried to the Bahamas.鈥�
But good luck finding that in a history book, he says.
He says the U.S. government worked to erase the record of enslavement of Native Americans in the Northeast.
鈥淭here is an awful lot of hidden history,鈥� Thomas says. 鈥淗onestly, that鈥檚 what governments do. Governments tell the story that they want told. And they don鈥檛 tell the story that they don鈥檛 want told.鈥�
In addition to some Natives being enslaved in Bermuda and the Bahamas, others were sent to Spain and Portugal, according to Lor茅n Spears, a member of the Narragansett Tribal Nation and executive director of the Indigenous-led Tomaquag Museum in Rhode Island.
Generations of people don鈥檛 know that history. But, for Native Americans, the erasure is especially damaging.
鈥淎s an Indigenous person 鈥� if you don鈥檛 understand your own history fully, then you can鈥檛 heal from the trauma,鈥� Spears says.
A reconnection
For some Natives, understanding their history has led to a deeply personal journey of finding each other.
Each summer tribal communities in the Northeast and the St. David鈥檚 Islanders travel back and forth between New England and Bermuda to attend each other鈥檚 powwows. They and other tribes are also collaborating with Fisher, the Brown University historian, on a project called 鈥�,鈥� a website documenting Indigenous slavery in the Americas.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a whole searchable database of 7,000 entries,鈥� Fisher says. 鈥淚 hope present day Native folks, but also descendants of colonists, can trace ancestors through this as well.鈥�
But it鈥檚 not easy, he admits. That鈥檚 because enslaved people were so often stripped of their names, tribal affiliations and racial identities.
鈥淎ll they had was their stories,鈥� Dominique Williams says.
Stories passed along as her ancestors were forced to leave all their personal belongings behind when they were trafficked to Bermuda.
Stories, solidified into pride, and ultimately emblazoned on a grandmother鈥檚 quilt that began a lifelong search for culture and connection.
鈥淣ow here I am in 2025 learning as much as I can to then be able to pass that down to future generations,鈥� Williams says.
Last summer, she attended her first powwow in North America. Next summer she鈥檒l step foot for the first time in 黑料吃瓜网 for Schemitzun, the Mashantucket Pequot鈥檚 annual Feast of the Green Corn and Dance.
She鈥檒l dress in Native regalia and enter a sacred circle to dance with her tribal cousins. She鈥檒l reawaken centuries of tradition.
鈥淭his culture wasn鈥檛 lost,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t was just sleeping.鈥�
Read more from Still Here: Native American Resilience in New England
Chapter 1: For Native Americans, an enduring spiritual connection to the land
Chapter 2: The hidden history of Indigenous slavery in New England and beyond
Chapter 3: 'Unsung hero:' How runner Tarzan Brown put the Narragansett tribe on the map in the 1930s
Chapter 4: Amid mist and music: A Native American reverence for water, celebrated on the banks of the CT River
Chapter 5: Power of powwow: A cultural connection echoes across generations of Native Americans
