Native American Minnesota

In the June 11 issue of the Toronto Globe and Mail: Part scholar, part activist: With the Dakota nation’s rich history in mind, Waziyatawin takes on prestigious research chair position at University of Victoria. (Photo is cropped from a screenshot of her appearance on TPT a couple weeks ago, blogged here.)

On July 1, she will leave Minnesota for British Columbia. Waziyatawin (pronounced Wah-ZEE-yah-tah-ween) will be taking up a five-year position as the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples at the University of Victoria. She plans to teach courses on such themes as truth-telling and reparative justice, indigenous women and resistance, and decolonization.

I stopped by the headquarters of the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community in Mendota yesterday, as I was in the area and had some extra time before my next meeting.

 
I was greeted with a warm hug by Pidamaya Sharon Lennartson (right photo, click to enlarge) who’s listed on their Contact Us page as the administrative assistant for the Council. We’d exchanged email a few times last month after she’d blogged one of my posts and I attached a comment.

I’d initially heard about Sharon from my sister who has visited their headquarters many times in the past. Like us Wigleys, Sharon’s ancestors include Hypolite Dupuis and Angelique Renville.

We didn’t have a lot of time to talk as it was late in the day and she was swamped with phone calls.  I’m hoping to set up another time to visit with her and possibly the Council. 

Last Friday night, Waziyatawin Angela Wilson was a guest on Almanac, Twin Cities Public Television’s weekly public affairs program, with co-hosts Eric Eskola and Cathy Wurzer. The segment was the third in their series of Sesquicentennial Month discussions with Minnesota  historians.

 
The video can be viewed from the Almanac home page or their archives. The segment is about 5 minutes long.

And a tip-of-the-blogger hat to her for mentioning this blog as one of the places people can go to get information about our state’s sad history of treatment of its indigenous people.

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.

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.