Native American Minnesota

As I blogged in mid-July, the City of Minneapolis is celebrating its sesquicentennial with a Celebrating our Minneapolis History program series at the Minneapolis Central Library featuring local historians, authors and educators.

The first in the series was last Wednesday evening, and it had a Native American focus. Librarian JoEllen Haugo (center photo, click to enlarge) was the event organizer. I had a modest table (right photo) among a dozen or so others where I met with interested people before the presentations and at break time.

The first session: Before Minneapolis: the land, native people.

Click play to listen to the first session (6-7 PM) or download the MP3. 1 hour 15 minutes.

Left: Moderator Amy Ollendorf, President, ALO Environmental Associates
Left center: Scott Anfinson, Minnesota State Archaeologist 
Right center: Arlo Omaha, Native American linguist
Right: Brenda Child, Associate Professor, American Indian Studies, U of MN

The second session: American Indians 20th Century Relocating to Minnesota Cities.

Click play to listen to the second session (7:30-8:30 pm) or download the MP3. 1 hour 12 minutes.

Left: Moderator Laura Waterman Wittstock, CEO, Wittstock and Associates
Center: Roger Buffalohead, former faculty member, American Indian Studies, U of MN
Right: Clyde Bellecourt, founder, American Indian Movement

George Goggleye Jr., Tribal Chair of the Leech Lake Band Of Ojibwe, spoke briefly Sunday night on the steps of the State Capitol. He then introduced Leech Lake Nation, a drumming and singing group who performed ‘Honor Song.’

Click play to listen. 5 minutes. The music begins at the one-minute mark.

Or alternately, download the MP3.

 
Here’s the audio of Kevin Leecy’s Sesquicentennial speech Sunday night on the steps of the State Capitol. Kevin is Tribal Chair of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa and Chair of the Board of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council (MIAC).

Click play to listen. 4 minutes, 26 seconds.

Or alternately, download the MP3.

Here’s the audio of Governor Tim Pawlenty’s Sesquicentennial speech last night on the steps of the State Capitol.

Click play to listen. 7 minutes.

Or alternately, download the MP3.

I took photos of some of yesterday’s Sesqui activities at the State Capitol.  I’ll blog those soon.

I also recorded the audio of portions of the speeches that were given from the platform.

Here’s an excerpt of Sesqui Executive Director Jane Leonard’s speech, where she addresses the dark side of Minnesota’s Statehood: the sad and painful legacy of the state’s treatment of its indigenous peoples.

Click play to listen. 4 minutes.

On March 2, I attended a presentation at Fort Snelling State Park by historian Bruce White about his new book "We Are at Home: Pictures of the Ojibwe People," published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.

This is the audio of the first 11 minutes of Bruce’s presentation in which he discusses the importance of the Coldwater Spring area near Fort Snelling to both the Dakota and Ojibewe.

Below is the press release on Bruce’s book.

 Bruce White, author of "We Are at Home: Pictures of the Ojibwe People," published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, will be at Fort Snelling State Park on March 2 at 1 p.m., to speak about his book and about the frequent visits by Ojibwe people to the area of Fort Snelling in the 19th century. Copies of "We Are at Home: Pictures of the Ojibwe People" will be available for sale at the program, and Mr. White will autograph copies for those who have them.

Beginning in the 1850s Ojibwe people in Minnesota were photographed by many different kinds of photographers who were interested in recording them, mostly for an audience of non-Indians. These photographs emphasized the exotic, stereotypical look of the Ojibwe, their chiefs, their birch-bark houses and canoes, sometimes recorded with the idea that the Ojibwe were disappearing from the landscape. As time went on, however, Ojibwe people began to obtain photos for their own purposes, recording communities, family members, and relationships.

In the process they created a much richer record of people who have not disappeared but who survived and who thrive today. The audio-visual presentation will be based on the book, "We Are at Home: Pictures of the Ojibwe people," a book published in 2007 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, which took the author over twenty years to research and write. The author will also discuss the many delegations Ojibwe people in the 19th century to the Fort Snelling area, where they traded with the local Dakota, shared ceremonies, and took part in U.S.-government sponsored diplomacy at the fort and at Coldwater Spring.