Native american ojibwi presentation fliskv2

Native Ancestry: A Struggle Against Assimilation

The Ojibwe Experience Then and Now

About the Ojibwe

• Ojibwe or also known as; Ojibwa, Ojibway, Chippewa or Chippeway

• The Ojibwe peoples are a major group of the Anishinaabe-speaking peoples, a branch of the Algonquian language family which includes; the Algonquin, Nipissing, Oji-Cree, Odawa and Potawatomi

• The Ojibwe peoples number over 56,440 in the U.S.

Where the Ojibwe Live

Source: Wikipedia

About the Ojibwe

• The Ojibwe are known for the crafting of birch bark canoes and the cultivation of wild rice.

• The Ojibwe Nation was the first to sign more detailed treaties with European settlers before they were allowed too settle farther west

Anishinaabe

• Lake Superior Chippewa is one of the largest bands of the Ojibwe

• Reside in northern parts of present day Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin

• Defeated the Dakota(Sioux) pushing them west of the Mississippi in 1754

• More technologically adapt purchased guns from the French fur traders

Bands United

• Several treaties with the US government leading up to the final treaty of 1854 unite the independent bands of the Lake Superior Chippewa; Mississippi, Pillager, Bois Forte, Muskrat, Red Lake, Pembina and La Pointe become a collective

• These treaties of 1837 and 1842 were constantly in dispute-they allowed rights to timber and copper in region with the assurance that the Ojibwe would not be forced west of the Mississippi and would retain their hunting and fishing rights to the land

• The seat of power of the Ojibwe was located at LaPointe on Madeline Island in present day Wisconsin

Encroachment

• The Indian Removal Act of 1830 signed by President Andrew Jackson allowed the government to relocate Indians west of the Mississippi. This was instrumental in creating the states like Wisconsin and Minnesota

• The Ojibwe were not forced to move initially but watched as other kin tribes were forcibly relocated to less desirable land but in 1850 this changed

• White settlers ignored the treaties and encroached on Ojibwe land in increasing numbers during that period

1850

• In 1850 President Zachary Taylor signed an order to remove the Ojibwe west in order to “protect” them from the white settlers. The new state of Wisconsin ignored the presidential order and refused to act on the removal

• Minnesota territory Governor Alexander Ramsey and Indian Agent John Watrous created a plan that resulted in the death of over 200 hundred Ojibwe

Sandy Lake

• Watrous refused to continue disbursing the annual annuities in LaPointe requiring the Ojibwe to travel to Sandy Lake in the territory of Minnesota approximately 150 miles west

• Ojibwe people faced starvation, harsh conditions and rotten provisions when they arrived in Sandy Lake.

Chief Buffalo (Kechewaishke)

In 1852 at 92 years of age, serving as primary chief of the Lake Superior Chippewa for over fifty years, Chief Buffalo made a personal trek to Washington DC after the Sandy Lake tragedy. He manages to meet with President Fillmore who agrees to stop the forced move west of the Ojibwe and agrees to open up negotiations that next year on a new treaty which became the treaty of 1854

1854 The Treaty of LaPointeThis treaty ceded all of the Lake Superior Ojibwe lands to the United States in the area denoted in map as 332. In exchange it created reservations for the Lake Superior Ojibwe in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Also, these tribes retained hunting, fishing and gathering right within this region. Exercising these treaty rights would remain a struggle into the 21st century. Indian reservations established under this treaty were:L'Anse with Lac Vieux DesertBad RiverLac du Flambeau and Lac Courte OreillesFond du LacGrand PortageOntonagon and Red Cliff

Source: Wikipedia

WHY THIS BOOK?Anishinaabe Syndicated:

About the AuthorJim Northrup

Anishinaabe, author, humorist journalist and playwright

Fond Du Lac Reservation, MN

Attended Boarding schools at 6 years old

Vietnam Vet

Grandfather

Student of the Ojibwe language

Anishinaabe Syndicated

Northrup’s book chronicles the years between 1989 and 2001 when shifting treaty rights, casino gambling, tribal sovereignty and native language renewal were important topics for his monthly syndicated newspaper column the Fond du Lac Follies

Irreverence

Northrup is often irreverent in equal measures regarding the treatment of gaming/treaty rights by the federal government, “necks of red” as he calls them and the tribal government who he is often baffled by their approach to the gaming disputes.

“Christopher Columbus was just the point man”

Are you full blooded Indian?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=q3wBCavyD1E

Fond Du Lac: Lake Beer Can

Powwows

• Northrup writes fondly of visiting various powwows across the midwest. He describes in detail the sights and sounds and the feelings of togetherness that these stir in him

• As I reflect on the powwow I attended captured in the next video, I could see a little better how the event could really bring the culture alive for the participants. The excitement, food, crafts and dancing and celebration of elders

Augsburg College Traditional Powwow

Powwow

• What also struck me was the overall patriotic theme that was integrated through the ceremony. A significant amount of time was devoted to honoring the veterans of our nation and how the powwow ceremony itself elevated the importance of this act

Veteran and ActivistJim Northrup is a veteran and his writing for the FDL Follies captures his activism for veterans rights.

He has travelled the nation speaking and advocating for fair treatment for all veterans as well as acknowledgement of the Anishinaabe contribution to protecting our country.

In the attached video he shares (candidly) a deeply personal poem about the loss and devastation that followed many veterans home after the war.

Below I read an excerpt from his book about attending a war memorial in Duluth http://youtu.be/iKIPO3aXJBs

Ricing

• An important and critical skill and aspect of being an Anishinaabe

• Jim Northrup writes extensivelly about this practice in his book. It is clear that the practice of ricing is much more than economic. It is provides a connection to the history of the Anishinaabe and reconnects him as a man to his childhood

Ricing on Perch Lake FDL

Sugar Bush

• Northrup writes many times over the years about the practice of making maple syrup

• “We tapped into the cycle of seasons once again. It was a family affair to go to the sugar bush. Anishinaabeg(plural) have been making maple syrup for hundreds of generations”p.91

My grandson Aaron

Connecting it all together

The Ojibwa prayer below set to the Gaelic music captures my emotional connection to Madeline Island and my own Irish heritage. My visits to Madeline always reminds me of my time in Ireland

http://youtu.be/vEBvo8Y4ZIY