A story of friendship and a commune: activism alongside Native Americans

Peggy:  One of the most interesting outcomes of the 1960s was experimenting with alternative lifestyles. Many people explored “group living.”

In my case, my friends and I moved to Maine and formed a commune.

There are a number of Native American tribes in Maine. And we became very interested in learning about their culture and how they lived.

At the time there was a lot of poverty. They lived in shacks with no running water, with no heat except propane tanks that they use to keep warm in the winter time. There were no jobs. Many joined the armed services and many ended up fighting in Vietnam.

We got to know some Native Americans. We became friends. They liked us and we liked them.  

One of our political tactics was to bring public attention to racist, demeaning representations of Native Americans. Our goal was to help Native Americans to take pride in their history and culture

 Here’s one example: There was billboard with a cartoon stereotype of an “Indian” with a Tomahawk. We defaced it. We spray-painted all over it. We used this tactic several times.

 There was a restaurant in Maine called the Silent Woman Restaurant. There was a big sign outside with a women dressed like a pilgrim with her head on a platter.

We did not like that because that was sexist. 

So we drove down. This is in the middle of the night, and it was like a two hour drive. We were freezing to death. We drove down, and there's there was a sign for the restaurant, with a pilgrim-dressed-woman with her head on the platter.

 Are you kidding?

We covered up the sign and spray-painted the woman's symbol with a circle with the cross below. And we put a fist inside it. The message was the power of the women.