Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Rarihokwats
Parallel form(s) of name
- Jerry Gambill
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Jerry Gambill (Rarihokwats) is non-Indigenous person who worked as a Community Developement Worker with the then Department of Indian Affairs. His job brought him to the Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne in the mid-1960's. He lost his official job with the Government, but remained on Cornwall Island and was adopted in the Nation, given the name Rarihokwats "He writes". Along with Ernest Benedict, Gambill founded and helped run multiple organizations aimed at promoting community development and education. Gambill and Benedict revived Fadden’s Akwesasne Mohawk Counsellor Organization to educate the reservation’s youth. The men also started White Roots of Peace, a travelling caravan that toured reservations, college campuses and urban community centers across the continent performing traditional music, telling stories, and selling indigenous art, crafts, books, and poetry. They also created "Akwesasne Notes", which became an influential Indigenous newspaper.