Description
<p>Colonial Virginia’s government demanded that representative members of indigenous tribes with whom they held a tributary relationship wear specific clothing or badges for freedom of movement through English-controlled territory. Mark Hutter, a tailor and interpreter for Colonial Williamsburg, made this yellow, orange, and black striped jacket in 2012 as an example of what the “coate of strip’d stuff” described in a 1646 treaty may have looked like. It is based off of an English Cassock Coat in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. A diplomat or messenger wearing this jacket would stand out as a recognizable ally, and thus be protected from the violence that would meet a member of a tribe that had not signed a treaty with the English. This reproduction coat is currently held at the Pamunkey Indian Museum and Cultural Center.</p>
