New $1 Coin Depicts Treaty Between Wampanoag Tribe and Plymouth Settlers

by Native News Network Staff in Native Currents. Discussion »

PLYMOUTH, MASSECHUSETTS - The United States Mint will unveil its newest $1 coin today at 10:00 am EDT at the Henry Hornblower II Visitor Center on Plimoth Plantation.

The design’s theme is “Supreme Sachem Ousamequin, Massasoit of the Great Wampanoag Nation Creates Alliance with Settlers at Plymouth Bay (1621).”

Cedric Cromwell, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, chairwoman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head(Aquinnah) and head historian James Adams of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institute will be present.

The coin is a third in a series.

New Dollar Depicts Wampanoag Treaty of 1621

The 2011 reverse (tails side) design depicts hands of the Supreme Sachem Ousamequin Massasoit and Governor John Carver, symbolically offering the ceremonial peace pipe after the initiation of the first formal written peace alliance between the Wampanoag tribe and European settlers.

The design includes the required inscriptions, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and $1, along with the additional inscription WAMPANOAG TREATY 1621. The reverse was designed by United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program Master Designer Richard Masters and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Joseph Menna.

Following the ceremony, the public can exchange their cash for the new 2011 Native American $1 Coin. Children 18 years old and younger will receive a new coin to commemorate the event.