Wampanoag history book returns to nonfiction shelves. Why was it removed?

This month, the Herring Pond Wampanoag tribe becomes the first in Massachusetts in nearly 50 years to get state recognition.

It was the Wampanoag who first encountered the Pilgrims when they arrived in 1620 and were the first to sign a treaty with the Pilgrims in 1621. That relationship soon soured – all of which is written about in Wampanoag author Linda Coombs’ 2023 middle school history book “Colonization and the Wampanoag Story.”

Coombs was surprised to find out earlier this year that the book was moved to the fiction shelf of a Texas library when a five-member panel in Montgomery County voted for the move after a complaint from an anonymous library card holder.

This month, the decision was overturned by a Texas judge, who ruled that the book be moved to its rightful spot on the nonfiction shelf. The move is fitting before Thanksgiving when many, particularly in the Native American community, are reminded of the erasure of their history.

Host Robin Young talks to author and historian Coombs about her book and the history of Native Americans.