Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
The Bristol Museum, which has free entry, houses a collection of material relating to Indigenous peoples and also Native visitors to Bristol. The Curiosity Gallery on the first floor contains several displays of these artifacts, including a beaded bandolier bag and Pueblo pottery. It also features art from contemporary Native artists, such as Cara Romero (Chemehuevi) and Diego Romero (Cochiti Pueblo), who have visited the city as guests of the Rainmaker Gallery (https://www.rainmakerart.co.uk/). Hear Diego Romero speak about the inspiration behind his pottery in the video link!We also recommend a visit to the Rainmaker Gallery, which specializes in contemporary Indigenous North American art and jewellery and is only a short walk or ride away from the museum. Located at 140 Whiteladies Road, Bristol, you can get there by walking (it's about a mile) or taking a taxi or uber, or the bus. The numbers 1/ 2a/ 3/ 4/ 72a buses all leave from the stop opposite the museum. Take any of them and alight at Apsley Road. It's only a one minute walk further along Whiteladies Road to where the gallery is situated.
Colonial Institute
The famous Dakota activist, Dr. Charles Eastman, lectured here in March 1928. Born in Minnesota in 1858, Eastman graduated from Dartmouth College in 1887, before training to be a physician at Boston University. His medical practice took him to the Pine Ridge and Crow Creek Reservations in South Dakota, where he helped care for those who survived the Wounded Knee massacre. By the early 20th century, he was also a prolific author and speaker on Dakota history and American Indian affairs. His visit to Bristol was part of a two month tour to promote friendship between Great Britain and America on behalf of the philanthropic Brooks-Bryce Foundation. He gave a special lecture on Indian culture on behalf of the Royal Colonial Institute here and it's likely that he dressed in his traditional clothing to do so. He was about 70 years old at the time.Want to learn more about the life of Charles Eastman, also known as Ohiyesa? Watch the video for a documentary trailer about his life and legacy.
Victoria Rooms
In February 1885, the Rev. Henry Patahquahong Chase (Mississauga Ojibwe) attended a meeting of the Colonial and Continental Church Society here at the Victoria Rooms. According to newspaper reports, he gave an "interesting statement of his history of the means by which he became a member of the Church and his subsequent missionary work among the different Indian tribes." This was not his first visit to Bristol, having also lectured here in 1881 while on a fundraising tour for the upkeep of churches on reserves near Muncey, Ontario, where he served as a priest.You can learn more about Chase's experiences during his 1885 visit to Britain by reading the letters he wrote to his daughter: http://www.huronresearch.ca/confrontingcolonialism/working-with-primary-sources/157-2/
The Matthew
This ship (free of charge to visit!) is a full-size replica of the one that John Cabot used on his voyage to Newfoundland in 1497. It was able to carry 50 tuns (casks of wine). Eighty years later, the explorer Martin Frobisher returned to Bristol from his voyage to the same general area. With him, he brought three Inuit captives: a man called Kalicho, a woman called Arnaq, and a child known as Nutaaq. As you explore inside the Matthew, you can get a general idea of what ships in this period looked like, although Frobisher's vessel was almost four times bigger - it was capable of carrying 200 tuns.
M Shed
Inside the M Shed (free entry), you can explore the Bristol Life Gallery on the 1st floor. There, a white padded Inuit outfit represents the story of Kalico, Arnaq, and Nutaaq, the three Inuits from Baffin Bay, in what is now Nunavut, Canada, who were forcibly brought to Bristol by Martin Frobisher in 1577. You'll learn more about their visit to Bristol and follow in their footsteps over the next few stops.
Kayaking in Bristol
After being forcibly brought to Bristol with much fanfare, the three Inuits were celebrated at a reception hosted by the Lord Mayor on October 9th, 1577. Kalicho demonstrated the use of his kayak and his spear to hunt ducks in the river. As Seyer's Annals of Bristol note, "he rode in a little bote made of skinne in the water at the backe, where he killed two duckes with a dart, and when he had done carried his bote through the marsh upon his back. The like he did at the weare and other places, where many beheld him. He would hit a duck a good distance of and not miss." What is particularly noteworthy here is that it would eventually be discovered that his captors had broken at least one of Kalicho's ribs during his capture. Not only did he carry his boat "through the marsh" (essentially the walk you have just taken from the M Shed) but he also did it while suffering from a broken rib.
St Stephen's Church
Barely a month after arriving in Bristol, Kalicho died from pneumonia, probably brought on by the broken ribs sustained during his capture. Arnaq died less than a week later, on November 13th, and both are buried at St Stephen's, although the exact place is unknown. St Stephen's tower used to be visible to seafarers so it is likely that Kalicho and Arnaq would have seen it as they arrived in Bristol Harbour.After the deaths of Kalicho and Arnaq, the baby, Nutaaq, was sent to London with a nurse, in the hopes of presenting him to Queen Elizabeth. However, he fell ill shortly after arriving and died in the city.
Mr Davey's Rooms, Broad Street, Bristol
In March 1844, Joc-O-Sot or Walking Bear, a chief of the Meskwaki nation of Iowa, accompanied a Dr. Collyer at his lecture at Mr. Davey's Rooms, 1 Broad Street (approximately where you're standing). Joc-O-Sot had been wounded in Black Hawk's War of 1832, a conflict between the United States and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis, and Kickapoos who had reclaimed tribal land in Illinois. Since then, he had been touring the US as part of a theatrical troupe before travelling to England. Calling him a "fine specimen," the Bristol Mercury described him as "upwards of six feet high, straight as an arrow, and, when attired in the picturesque dress of his country, with his war paint on, is well-calculated to realize the conceptions of the Indian 'brave'." Joc-O-Sot eventually joined George Catlin's show in London and met with Queen Victoria in June before falling ill, possibly with pneumonia. He returned to the US and died in Cleveland in August 1844.
Ebenezer Chapel, King Street
Rev. Peter Jones (Mississauga Ojibwe) preached at the Ebenezer Chapel, located at this site, on February 5, 1832. This was part of a long tour of England that spanned over a year, in which Jones gave over 150 lectures, raised over £1000 for the Methodist Church's mission work, and petitioned the Colonial Office about Indigenous land rights. As he wrote in a letter to his brother, John, he had become something of a celebrity during his tour: "When my Indian name, Kahkewaquonaby, is announced to attend any public meetings, so great is the curiosity, the place is sure to be filled." He had also visited Bristol in May and June of 1831, where he was taken ill and spent several weeks confined to his bed in the home of his hosts, Martha and James Woods, as he battled what was probably pneumonia. He also met his future wife, Eliza, during this visit.Want to know more about the Mississaugas, their history, and their nation today? Watch the video link!
