Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Paul Pouliot, an Alton resident and a leader of the Cowasuk band of Pennacook Abenaki people, answers a question by Mayor Jim Donchess during Nashua's first observance Monday of Indigenous Peoples Day. (Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP)

NASHUA — Gathered on the western shore overlooking the spot where the Merrimack River bends slightly toward the northeast, two Native American historians and lecturers spending their retirement years immersed in a grassroots campaign to steer the public toward the truthful accounts of their peoples’ history introduced themselves with a percussion-based ancestral chant.

Paul and Denise Pouliot then took turns explaining, in some cases correcting, what passes for accurate depictions of the history of their fellow Indigenous peoples.

The occasion was Nashua’s first observance of Indigenous Peoples Day, which became the official name of the holiday formerly known as Columbus Day when the Board of Aldermen approved a resolution last year.

Roughly a dozen people, including the Pouliots and Mayor Jim Donchess, gathered in the still and quiet of Monday morning along the waterway where Native Americans once fished, hunted, explored and passed down ancestral lore from one generation to the next, all the while acting as stewards of the land they loved.

The gathering took place on the property of Thoreau’s Landing, a condominium community whose leadership arranged with Donchess’s staff to welcome the participants.

Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Residents and guests at Nashua's first observance Monday of Indigenous Peoples Day gather around Mayor Jim Donchess as he reads a proclamation marking the occasion. (Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP)

In converting the holiday’s official name to Indigenous Peoples Day from Columbus Day, Nashua became the state’s 16th municipality to do so.

But the sailing hasn’t been nearly as smooth at the state level: Legislation put before state lawmakers in 2018, 2019, 2020 was defeated each time, and a similar bill introduced this year was tabled.

But proponents of the change aren’t about to give up, the Pouliots told Donchess Monday.

“It’s been a real grassroots movement in Concord,” Paul Pouliot said, referring to the legislature. “We haven’t had success yet … but we’re the same state that wouldn’t accept Martin Luther King Day for what, 20 years? So we’re still trying,” he added.

Donchess, noting that Nashua had declared Martin Luther King Day a legal holiday “long before New Hampshire did,” read the proclamation affirming the city’s adoption of Indigenous Peoples Day.

Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Paul and Denise Pouliot, Alton residents and leaders of the Cowasuk band of Pennacook Abenaki people, share the history of Native Americans in the region during Nashua's first observance Monday of Indigenous Peoples Day. The event took place on the property of Thoreau's Landing, the condominium community that borders both the Merrimack and Nashua rivers. (Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP)

The Pouliots are deeply involved in Native American affairs in New Hampshire, but also have a presence at the national level.

They are officers, and longtime members, of the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki people, and hold positions on the New Hampshire Commission for Native American Affairs.

More information on the Pouliots and their causes can be found at www.indigenousnh.com, the website for their grassroots organization Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective (INHCC).

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Paul and Denise Pouliot, leaders of the Cowasuk band of Pennacook Abenaki people from Alton, perform an ancestral Native American chant as part of Nashua's observance Monday morning of Indigenous Peoples Day. The Pouliots were guest speakers at the event, which took place on the shore of the Merrimack River just north of its confluence with the Nashua River. (Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP)