Frank B. Wamsutta James was an Aquinnah Wampanoag elder and indigenous political activist who died on this day in 2001.

James was the first Native American graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music in 1948. While many of his classmates secured positions with top symphony orchestras, James was flatly told that, due to segregation and racism, no orchestra in the country would hire him as a trumpet player because of his dark skin.

James first came to national attention in 1970 when he, along with hundreds of other Native Americans and their supporters, went to Plymouth and declared Thanksgiving a National Day of Mourning for Native Americans.

James was initially invited to speak at this event, however the invitation was rescinded when the speech was read by organizers beforehand. Here is an excerpt of the speech he would have given:

"I speak to you as a man -- a Wampanoag Man. I am a proud man, proud of my ancestry, my accomplishments won by a strict parental direction ("You must succeed - your face is a different color in this small Cape Cod community!"). I am a product of poverty and discrimination from these two social and economic diseases.

...We, the Wampanoag, welcomed you, the white man, with open arms, little knowing that it was the beginning of the end; that before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoag would no longer be a free people. What happened in those short 50 years? What has happened in the last 300 years?"