By Michael Levesque

Everett Gardiner Weeden Jr., or Tall Oak, was a member of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe stated that Weeden was “a documented descendant of the Mashantucket Pequot, Narragansett, and Wampanoag tribes.” Tall Oak dedicated his life to the education and advocacy of Indigenous rights. Weeden’s traditional name, Tall Oak, was given to him by Princess Red Wing, another prominent historian of Narragansett and Wampanoag descent, when he was sixteen years old. Tall Oak traced his surname to his ancestor Toby Weeden, a servant mentioned in the will of John Weeden of Jamestown, Rhode Island, in 1735.

Weeden was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on September 4, 1936, to Everett Weeden Sr. and Bertha Ramos Weeden. He grew up in North Providence, Rhode Island. In 1945, when he was nine years old, he moved to the Roger Williams Homes, a public housing project in South Providence. Weeden attended St. Michael’s School. After graduating from Central High School, he was awarded a scholarship to the Rhode Island School of Design, which he attended in 1955 and 1956. From 1957 to 1963, he served in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Tall Oak is known across the Indian country as an ardent Indian Rights activist and one who sought to uplift the rights of Indigenous People across all borders. He was one of the driving forces behind the birth of “The National Day of Mourning” at Plymouth Rock on Thanksgiving Day, 1970. In 1970, on the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim landing at Plymouth Rock, Frank James of the Aquinnah Wampanoag was asked by Governor Francis Sargent to write and give a speech at the ceremony. However, once James shared his speech with officials, they deemed it was “too aggressive and too extreme.” This censorship angered local Indigenous people and helped to spark the creation of the National Day of Mourning. 

Inspired to act on the indecision of government officials, Tall Oak gathered several other Indigenous activists, including Frank James. The six originally planned their gathering to take place in. Still, they later decided to hold it in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the Mayflower landed, and a statue of Massasoit stands overlooking Plymouth Harbor. Their biggest objective was to make sure the event remained peaceful. Part of their mission was to enhance the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people on Cape Cod. The first National Day of Mourning was held on Thanksgiving 1970. Almost five hundred Native Americans from across the country gathered in support to hear James give a speech.

In 1959, he moved to Washington County to help his cousin, Princess Red Wing, at the nascent Tomaquag Indian Museum. In the 1980s, Tall Oak began work to reconnect members of the Pequot diaspora, dispersed throughout the Atlantic Ocean following the slave trade that followed the Pequot War in the first half of the 17th century. On St. David’s Island in Bermuda, he helped to form the St. David’s Island Indian Reconnection Committee, which acted as a lead proponent for learning more and then orchestrating a more formal connection between the communities in Connecticut and Bermuda. This culminated in 2002 with the inaugural reconnection. Tall Oak was featured on the cover of St. Clair “Brinky” Tucker’s St. David’s Island, Bermuda: Its People, History and Culture (2009).

Tall Oak’s commitment to portraying Indigenous people accurately is evident in his participation in several videos. He contributed to Kevin Costner’s “500 Nations” production in 1994 and assisted with the documentary “Mystic Voices,” which focused on the Pequot War in 2005. He was an educational consultant affiliated with the Boston Children’s Museum, Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, and Brown University. He was also affiliated with the Tomaquag Museum since its inception in 1958, serving as a staff member and research consultant. Tall Oak was a charter member of the Charlestown Historical Society, a charter member of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum Research Center, a member of the Connecticut Society of Genealogists, and the Rhode Island Historical Society. He also served on the advisory board for the American Indian Friends Coalition.

Everett Weeden married Patricia Turner Weeden (Mashpee Wampanoag). They had several children, including David Weeden (Mashpee Wampanoag), who serves as the tribal historic preservation officer for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. Everett Weeden’s grandson is Brian Weeden, the chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. Too Tall died in Charleston on Feb. 11, 2022, at age 85. He was inducted into The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2023.

Mike Levesque is a director of The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.