History is messy. If you walk across the Sunken Garden at the College of William & Mary today, you’ll see students tossing Frisbees and clutching lattes, but you won't see much that reminds you of the William and Mary Indians. It’s a name that carries a double weight. For some, it’s a nostalgic sports memory from the mid-20th century. For others, it’s a direct link to the Brafferton Indian School and a complicated, often painful, colonial legacy that dates back to 1693.
The story of the "Indians" at William & Mary isn't just about a logo change in the 1970s. It’s actually about how a colonial institution tried to "civilize" indigenous people and how, centuries later, that same institution had to figure out what to do with a mascot that felt increasingly out of step with reality.
Honestly, most people get the timeline wrong. They think the mascot just appeared out of thin air in the 1920s. It didn't. The connection to indigenous history is baked into the very bricks of the campus, specifically at the Brafferton building, which was constructed in 1723 to house the Indian School. This wasn't a voluntary social club; it was a project funded by the estate of Robert Boyle to educate young men from tribes like the Pamunkey, Chickahominy, and Nottoway in English customs and Christianity.
The Brafferton Legacy and the Shift to Athletics
The school's athletic identity wasn't always tied to the "Indians" moniker. In the early days, they were the "Orange and White" or the "Indians" interchangeably, but it wasn't a formal, branded thing until much later. By the 1920s, the college officially adopted the William and Mary Indians as their nickname.
Why then?
Well, it was the era of the "noble savage" trope in American sports. It was a time when schools across the country—Stanford, Dartmouth, Marquette—all leaned into indigenous imagery because it represented "bravery" and "warrior spirit" to the white administrators of the time. It’s kinda ironic when you think about it. The college that had spent the 1700s trying to strip away the culture of indigenous students was now using that same culture as a costume for football games.
By the 1940s and 50s, the imagery became more cartoonish. You started seeing the stereotypical feathered headdresses and the "Indian" character appearing in yearbooks. It was basically a caricature.
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When the William and Mary Indians Became the Tribe
Things started to get tense in the late 1960s. The social climate was changing fast. You’ve got the American Indian Movement (AIM) gaining steam, and people were finally starting to ask why human beings were being used as mascots. At William & Mary, the pressure didn't just come from the outside; it came from the students and faculty who realized that the "Indian" mascot was, frankly, a bit embarrassing given the school’s actual history with the Brafferton.
In 1974, the college officially dropped the "Indians" nickname and the associated logos. They didn't go for a total rebrand to something like the "Eagles" or "Warriors," though. They chose "The Tribe."
It was a middle-ground solution.
The idea was that "The Tribe" could represent the "William & Mary family"—a sense of community and togetherness—without relying on a specific racial caricature. But they kept the feathers. For decades, the primary logo was a stylized "W&M" with two green and gold feathers hanging off it. It was a compromise that satisfied the alumni who wanted to keep the tradition alive while technically removing the "Indian" name from the official record.
The NCAA Crackdown and the Green Griffin
Fast forward to 2006. The NCAA decided it had seen enough. They released a list of schools with "hostile and abusive" nicknames and imagery. While "Tribe" was allowed to stay because it’s a generic term, the feathers were a no-go.
The NCAA told the school the feathers had to go.
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This sparked a massive debate on campus. You had alumni groups like the "Save the Feathers" folks who felt the school was erasing its history. On the other side, you had people pointing out that the feathers were a direct reference to the "Indians" mascot they had supposedly abandoned thirty years prior. Eventually, the feathers were scrubbed from the uniforms.
Then came the quest for a new mascot. Because "The Tribe" is an abstract concept, you can't really have a guy in a "Tribe" suit running around the sidelines. For a while, there was no mascot at all. Then there was a brief, weird period with a pug (yes, a dog), and eventually, in 2010, the school introduced the Griffin.
The Griffin—half lion, half eagle—was supposed to represent the link between the British monarchy (the lion) and the American republic (the eagle). It was safe. It was mythological. It had absolutely nothing to do with the William and Mary Indians.
The Real People Behind the Name
What often gets lost in the "cancel culture" versus "tradition" debate is the perspective of the actual indigenous people in Virginia. Tribes like the Pamunkey and the Upper Mattaponi have a deep, lived history with the college that goes way beyond a football logo.
Research conducted by the William & Mary Bray School Lab and the Lemon Project has started to peel back the layers of what life was actually like for the boys at the Brafferton Indian School. It wasn't just "education." It was an attempt at assimilation. Some students died there due to lack of immunity to European diseases. Others went back to their tribes and became vital interpreters and intermediaries, using their English education to protect tribal land.
It’s a nuanced story. It’s not just a tale of oppression, and it’s certainly not a tale of "honoring" through a mascot. It’s a story of survival.
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Today, the college has made a much more concerted effort to engage with the local tribes. They’ve established a "Native Studies" minor and have worked to ensure that the history of the Brafferton is told accurately, highlighting both the agency of the indigenous students and the colonial motives of the founders.
Misconceptions That Just Won't Die
- "The tribes supported the mascot." Some individuals might have, but there was never a formal, consensus-based approval from the Virginia tribes for the "Indians" mascot.
- "Tribe is a racist word." Not inherently. However, in the context of William & Mary, it was a direct linguistic pivot from "Indians," which is why it remains controversial for some.
- "The Griffin replaced the Indians." Technically, the Griffin replaced the lack of a mascot. The "Indians" name had been gone for decades before the bird-lion showed up.
What This Means for You
If you're an alum, a student, or just a history buff, understanding the transition from the William and Mary Indians to the current identity is about more than just sports. It’s about how an institution reckons with its past.
If you want to actually "honor" the history, the best way isn't by wearing an old sweatshirt with a feathered logo. It’s by visiting the Brafferton building on campus. It’s by reading the work of historians like Danielle Moretti-Langholtz, who has spent years documenting the indigenous presence at the college.
Go look at the "Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved" and then walk over to the Brafferton. Realize that the college’s prestige was built on the backs of people who were often there against their will. That’s the real story.
To dig deeper into this history, you should check out the William & Mary American Indian Resource Center (AIRC). They provide actual scholarly context that bypasses the mascot fluff and gets into the legal and social history of Virginia's tribes. You can also visit the Jamestown Settlement nearby, which, while a bit touristy, offers a broader look at the Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom that existed long before the college was a glimmer in King William's eye.
Understanding the shift from the William and Mary Indians to a more modern identity requires acknowledging that "tradition" is rarely as simple as it looks on a game-day poster. It involves a constant, sometimes uncomfortable, conversation between the past and the present.
Actionable Steps for Further Learning:
- Visit the Brafferton Building: Located on the Ancient Campus, it is one of the oldest standing school buildings in the U.S. and serves as a physical reminder of the Indian School’s history.
- Explore the Lemon Project: While focused on the history of African Americans at the college, this initiative provides a framework for how the school handles its colonial and exclusionary past.
- Support Local Tribes: Research the current initiatives of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe or the Chickahominy Indian Tribe to see how they are preserving their culture in Virginia today.
- Read the Research: Look for the book The Brafferton Gallery: Ancestors and Art to see how the college is currently interpreting its indigenous history through visual culture and scholarship.