Ely Parker 1865-1879

Two Row Wampum: Symbol of Sovereignty; Metaphor for Life

Two Row Wampum Belt

The Two Row Wampum Belt is central to Haudenosaunee culture. It is called the "Gaswehntha," and is a visual record of the very first treaty made with 17th century Europeans. Its oral history has been preserved for centuries. Ely Parker probably heard it while still a youth at Tonawanda. The Two Row Wampum Belt defines Haudenosaunee status with the outside world as sovereign - separate but equal. That principle is represented on the belt as two lines of purple on a field of white.

    "The purple lines represent the Haudenosaunee travelling in their canoe. Parallel to them, but not touching, is the path of the boat of the Europeans that came here.

    In our canoe is our way of life, our language, our law and our customs and traditions. And in the boat, likewise, are the European language, customs, traditions, and law. We have said, "Please don't get out of your boat and try to steer our canoe. And we won't get out of our canoe and try to steer your boat." We're going to accept each other as sovereign - we're going to travel down the river of life together, side by side."

    G. Peter Jemison
    Faithkeeper, Cattaraugus Reservation,
    Seneca Nation

There is another level to the Two Row interpretation, a warning against cultural seductions, and the perils of walking in two worlds. Even as they formed the 17th century treaty with the Europeans, Haudenosaunee leaders knew that some of their people would leave the canoe to ride the white man's boat. And some white men would join the Six Nations, but the ones in most danger were those who had one foot in each - the "two-minded person" who tried to balance astride canoe and boat. The warning could have been written for Ely Parker.

    "The chiefs said that some time in the future, a big wind would come and blow the two vessels apart. And those standing with one foot in the boat and one in the canoe would fall into the river of life, and no power this side of the creation could save them."

    Oren Lyons (Seneca)
    Faithkeeper, Onondaga Nation

    "Because of the way that I live and the things that I do to make a living, I'm always asking myself, which line am I walking on? Is it the old Indian line or is it the white man's line? Oftentimes I feel like I'm jumping back and forth between the two. So I look at Ely Parker and I figure he had to ask himself the same questions: who do I want to be? What kind of Indian do I want to be? How am I going to work for the people? What vision do I have for us? So I'm constantly using him for my own personal metaphor to remind myself: don't go too far, be careful what you do, and remember those underlying values. That's what the work's all about, and when you forget those underlying values, it begins to fall apart quickly.

    At the same time I use him as a metaphor to say, well, sometimes you strike out, but you have to get back up! When I think about Parker, he learned a valuable lesson, but the betrayal of it was that he just got mad and went off to Connecticut, rather than come back here and say, "Okay, now that I know the other side, now I know how they think, I'm back here to use that old Seneca mentality for the fight - do it again, but do it better!" And that was the frustrating part of it for me in looking at his life, was that he gave up. We can't give up on our communities. If everyone did what Parker did, then we wouldn't have anything today."

    Rick Hill Sr. (Tuscarora)

    Chair, Haudenosaunee Standing Committee on NAGPRA