Covering more than 26 square miles, Akwesasne is the largest Mohawk nation (Kanien’kehá:ka) community and land-holding. The territory straddles the invisible line between the United States (New York) and Canada (Ontario, Quebec) along the St. Lawrence River. Considered a single community, Akwesasne (Mohawk for “Land Where the Partridge Drums”) has direct jurisdictional relationships with two federal governments and three provincial/state governments.
Today, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Government’s organizational structure consists of 10 elected officials, including three Chiefs. It is the official representative of the Mohawk people to New York State and U.S. federal agencies; there is a similar Akwesasne First Nations government to deal with Canadian authorities, and both groups of elected officials govern the territory in a three-way system with the traditionally appointed Council of Chiefs.
When the Mohawk accepted the message of the Peacemaker, they became an part of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, which can lay claim to being the longest-lived participatory democracy in the world. The Mohawk are the Keepers of the Eastern Door.
Tradition holds that Mohawk warriors cut the sides of their heads with a strip of hair remaining in the familiar shape of today’s Mohawk haircut. This style is also called the scalplock. However this was NOT the only style of hair and many warriors cut their hair in various ways such as cut on one side, in front and more.
Akwesasne ironworkers of the Local 440 have been contributing to the New York landscape for generations on such structures as the Twin Towers, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State building. Mohawk ironworkers span six generations.
