The Deep, Indigenous Roots of ‘Rhode Island Corn’

Wouldn't be jonnycakes without it

By Colleen Cronin / ecoRI News staff

It may not be surprising that a state known for its jonnycakes should have a chapter in its general laws called “corn and corn meal,” with a definition for “Rhode Island Corn.”

The law describes the corn as “a light amber color, hard and sound of kernel,” usually called Rhode Island white cap corn, and it specifies that it must be grown in the Ocean State.

The penalty for misbranding corn and falsely attributing it to Rhode Island comes with a $100 fine for each offense.

Although the 1940 law clearly associates the agricultural product with the state of Rhode Island, white cap corn has another name, tying it more closely to its true origins: it’s also known as Narragansett flint corn.

While the variety made its mark on a colonized New England — it’s an essential ingredient in jonnycakes and was commonly ground in the state’s early grist mills — Narragansett flint corn’s history and importance for the Indigenous people goes much deeper.

“This is a long conversation,” Lorén Spears said over the phone, when asked about the significance of flint corn, “but the short version of this conversation, of course, it’s extremely important to the Narragansett people historically, as well as through today.”

Spears is a member of the Narragansett Tribal Nation and executive director of the Tomaquag Museum, which is the only Indigenous-lead museum in the state, focused on telling the stories of people native to land now considered New England.

The corn, with its hearty kernels, “created sustainability for our people,” she said. It could keep during the winter months and was incorporated in “journey cakes” — which Spears said has now become jonnycakes — that could go along with tribal members when they traveled.

The corn stalk is also a part of the “Three Sisters,” along with beans and squash, a sustainable agricultural practice that Indigenous people taught European colonists to help them survive when they first arrived from across the Atlantic Ocean.

Aside from its super-food/crop status, Spears said flint corn was also an important component in ceremonies, especially marriages, because the corn symbolizes fertility.

The Narragansetts’ annual meeting in August, which is still held today, also stemmed from the early harvest of the corn, called the “Green Corn Thanksgiving,” Spears explained.

The story of how the corn got to the Narragansett is also a long one, she said, starting with a harsh winter many, many years ago that pushed the people to ask the creator for help. They were told to send out their best warrior on a journey, Spears said, “and that would give us what we need.”

The warrior traveled to what is now known as the American Southwest, where the corn originated.

“The short of it is that the warrior sacrifices his life for the life of all the people,” Spears said, “and the creator sends the corn and the bean, not the green bean, but … the winter hard shelled bean back via the crow.”

The documentary Woven in Time shows how science is catching up to oral history, Spears said, describing how archaeologists and scientists have been able to prove that corn grown by the Narragansett initially came from tribes in the Southwest.

“Our oral stories have said that all along,” she said.

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Although colonists committed genocide against the Indigenous people who lived in what is now New England, and the state of Rhode Island detribalized the Narragansetts without federal sanction from 1880-1884, Narragansett flint corn still persists.

Several local farms and grist mills continue to grow and process the corn, and Spears said local members of the tribe often grow it in their home gardens. Her daughter-in-law, a master gardener, borrows space in her yard to grow the corn and other native crops.

The Indigenous Roots Forever community garden project, run by Rocky Johnson, also known by his traditional name of Musquant Nemposhim Netas, is working to keep the tradition of the corn alive.

“I want to make sure that the corn is here,” said Johnson, who is also the chief of the Niantic Narragansett.

The program is run through the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust as a way to “reintroduce it to tribal families.”

The stalks grow between 6 and 8 feet high, which is both a great visual and support as the core of the Three Sisters, Johnson said. One ear can produce about 800 seeds, he said, and “that goes a long way in reintroducing it.”

Along with being a great crop for winter storage, Johnson said it’s also perfect for jonnycakes and cornbread. Although jonnycakes are an important tradition for his people Johnson joked that he prefers the taste of cornbread.