The discussion will introduce the Doctrine of Discovery and King Charles I, initiating the “Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to the Indians in New England”, the creation of an Indian College at Cambridge and the printing press, 50-years of the little-known forced Christianization of the Native Americans in Plymouth Colony by the English, and their conversion as Praying Indians. 

The influential roles that noted advocates Edward Winslow, Daniel Gookin, and John Eliot, as well as local clergymen John Cotton, Richard Bourne, Samuel Treat, and Gov. Thomas Mayhew had in Christianizing the Indigenous Peoples will be explained. Mention will be made of King Philip’s War, imprisonment at Deer Island, and a whole lot more.

Waban and Kelley have collaborated on presenting Indigenous walk-talks for the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth (HSOY) since 2018. The walks around the former Indigenous Reservation at South Yarmouth continue today. In 2020, Waban built a traditional wetu on HSOY grounds. The frame of the original structure is still there today and was repurposed in 2024 as a Shade Arbor. The Shade Arbor walk-talks begin at the Arbor and then Waban narrates a one mile walk on the Thacher Trail.

Nipmuc – Wampanoag Waban Webquish is an Indigenous professional and cultural anthropologist. He provides education on the history and traditions of his heritage through guided walks and seminars.  He also creates and distributes traditional Indigenous items including handmade wampum jewelry from harvested quahogs and culturally sustainable foods. 

Bob Kelley, of South Yarmouth, is a commissioner with the Yarmouth Historic Commission, current President of the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth, and a tenth generation Yarmouth Quaker descended from David ^OKillea of Kelley’s Bay on Bass River. He is a researcher and writer of the local history of South Yarmouth, with heavy concentration in the subjects of genealogy, saltworks, Quakers, and the Indigenous Peoples in Yarmouth.