"Led by Henry Perkins of the University of Vermont, the Eugenics Survey in the mid-1920s attempted to find and isolate (with the help of town clerks, police departments, and the new social service departments and agencies) those village- and farm-dwelling families that had bad (i.e., non-White Vermonters) genetic traits. Soon the lens of genocide was trained on the Gypsies, Pirates and River Rats,* as well as other ethnic groups. Employing the latest genealogical research and statistical record keeping techniques, the survey added new technologies to the list of ancient genocidal procedures used by New English authorities again the Abenakis. In addition, they provided social and police organizations with lists of families to "watch." ...Major Abenaki families at Mississquoi were especially at risk. The more "hidden" families and the Gypsies partially escaped unheeded - for a while. But then began ethnic conflict incidents as Gypsies and Pirates had their children taken from them. The theft of children and the hatred emanating from the burning cross and Ku Klux Klan rallies are sill recalled by Abenaki and French Canadian elders in Barre, Vermont. Any family who still had thoughts about standing forth as Abenaki, due to the tourists' continued interest in our arts and culture, quickly retired to obscurity as the tide of intolerance rose.
...With the passage of An Act for Human Betterment by Voluntary Sterilization (Senate bill 31) in 1931, racism, harassment, and even sterilization came to the Abenaki as it was coming to the Jews of Europe. ...It was reported that over two hundred people were sterilized during this campaign. It is my opinion that the "new racism" of Vermont's elite eventually permeated Abenaki society, leading to shame at being different or fear that we or our children would be "discovered" by the state of Vermont and have evil things done to them. This mixture of shame and anxiety that visited the Alnôbak caused families to repudiate their Native American ancestry and "pass" into other, less despised segments of society. The safest ethnic refuge during the 1930s was the French Canadian community, the descendants of our ancient allies, since they shared our religion, economic status, and other social and geographic traits."
*"The derogatory names" [given to Abenakis] "who chose to maintain many of their tradition political, craft, and land use patterns in the face of increasing hostility by their Anglo neighbors. ...They were visible to their neighbors yet seemed different enough to be seen as vaguely menacing. Called 'Gypsies,' 'Pirates,' or 'River Rats' by their neighbors, they had to settle in areas not coveted by English Americans. These were marshes, pine woods, and mountains." Wiseman, pp.119-20
Quoted from Fred M. Wiseman, The Voice of the Dawn: An Autohistory of the Abenaki Nation, pp. 147-49.
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