It’s hard to miss Newton’s city seal — the image appears on signs, police uniforms, flags, recycling bins, buildings, and tax bills.
But the 150-year-old seal, featuring a white man proselytizing to Native Americans, is disrespectful, historically inaccurate, and should be replaced, according to a working group formed by Mayor Ruthanne Fuller.
“Pictured is a Colonial authority telling a people that their ways of living and worshiping are wrong,” the Newton City Seal Working Group concluded in its report. “Certainly, most Newtonians would not want a symbol of cultural arrogance to represent their city made up of many faiths and cultures.”
Fuller launched the review of the city seal more than a year ago, as many Massachusetts communities reconsidered the use of Native American imagery in logos and for local sports teams.
Fuller has said she began rethinking the city’s seal during her first term, and considered whether the image represents the city’s current identity, spirit, and values.
“I think many of us are taking a critical look at expressions of white supremacy and systemic racism across the city,” Fuller said in a 2020 interview. “The scene on our seal understandably is painful for Native Americans and their allies.”
The seal, versions of which have been in use since 1865, features a 17th-century scene of John Eliot sermonizing to members of the Massachuset tribe on top of Nonantum Hill in present-day Newton Corner.
The working group solicited input about the seal through an online survey, a public meeting, and letters from community members, including local Indigenous leaders, according to the report.
Maria Turner, the chairwoman of the Natick Nipmuc Tribe, criticized the seal’s imagery in a letter included in the panel’s report.
“I have concerns around the appearance of John Eliot and his overpowering stance to the Indigenous figures. Whether he holds a bible or a scroll, it still gives an appearance of some sort of tool that is used to marginalize a group of people,” Turner said.
Dr. Larry Fisher, chief sachem of the Mattakeeset Massachuset Tribe, told the working group he is troubled by the seal. He criticized the appearance of “helpless Indians” who are not confident in themselves.
“But if you look at our language ... It’s all about being very sure about who we are [and] where we come from,” Fisher said, according to the report.
A large majority of community respondents recommended that the seal be redesigned, according to the report. The working group said the seal’s picture lacks historical context and accuracy.
The scene “glorifies the arrogant concept of devaluing a culture and trying to change that culture’s view of the sacred, their traditions, customs, and everyday way of living,” the panel said.
Eliot’s mission, representing the church and the State of the Bay Colony and England, was to “cajole or force a way of life on the people who have lived here for thousands of years,” the report said. “The work of these early missionaries, and their governmental counterparts, has been called ‘cultural genocide’ by Historians.”
The seal’s image, according to the report, “is disrespectful to the Massachuset Tribe, on whose land we live and whose ancestors suffered violence and degradation, and to people of any background who eschew proselytization and conversion work.”
The working group also called for other changes, including eliminating the word Nonantum from the seal. The word isn’t a reference to the current city village that carries the name, and its use creates confusion, according to the report.
In a statement earlier this month, Fuller said she has requested the City Council’s approval to move forward with the working group’s recommendation. Once approved, the city will seek to hire a graphic design firm to come up with an updated design.
The working group proposed guidelines for that design work, and community input will be used to refine and improve the design options, she said. The City Council ultimately would have to approve a new city seal.
John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com or on Signal at john_hilliard.70. Follow him on Bluesky at iamjohnhilliard.bsky.social.