I grew up on the powwow trail. My family and I used to travel to powwows all across the U.S. and enter dance competitions. I didn’t think too much of it at the time, it was normal to me, just something we did. Photos by Colleen Bies Share This Post Every weekend we’d go to …
I was born in Chicago. My family moved back up to the Bad River Reservation where my father is from when I was four months old. After a few years, we moved into the border town of Ashland, which is just to the west of the reservation. Photos by Stanley Schrock I went to the …
I was born and raised on the Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe Indian reservation in northern Wisconsin — I had a lot of fun growing up there. Photos by Andi Stempniak As kids, we were outside all of the time. In the summer we spent the majority of our time swimming, and in the winter it was …
My name is Dylan Jennings, or Bizhikiins—Young Buffalo, as we translate from Ojibwemowin, our language. Photos by Megan Monday “My parents were really young when they had me, just out of high school. They met down by Waaswaaganing, or the Lac du Flambeau Reservation, near Minocqua. They stuck together to raise me and to take …
“I dedicate my life to educating others about Native people.” Read More »
I am called Paul DeMain, but my name is Skabewis in the Ojibwe language. I take the title ‘The Messenger.’ I speak for things that don’t have a voice. I speak for the water, and for our natural world that is impacted by water. Photos by Julian Emerson I grew up in Wausau and have …
People assume just because I live here on the reservation that I’ve been here all my life. But I have to tell them no, I was born in Chicago, and I’m a product of the Indian Relocation Act. Photos by Megan Monday “The Indian Relocation Act was an initiative that displaced Native Americans from the …
“I am descended from people who embraced the breath of life.” Read More »
I go by Bobby Bullet St. Germaine. Bobby Bullet is a stage name. In the late 70s, I had a couple songs out, one of them which broke the Billboard top 100. Well, my manager and I had the idea to get the name “Bullet” into the conversation because, if a song was really good, …
I started singing on the drum when I returned from Vietnam. One of my most memorable times singing was at the dedication of The Highground in 1988. The Highground is a memorial park that pays tribute to veterans. Photo courtesy Gary Kmiecik They were going to dedicate the “Fragments” statue—a Vietnam veterans’ tribute—and they asked …
“It’s a place where we can go and find peace and healing.” Read More »
I started playing lacrosse three or four years ago. I am fifteen now. One of my friends asked me, ‘Would you like to come play lacrosse?’ Photo courtesy of Shawn Beaver It was just a pick-up game at a community center. I started with the modern version of the game, but then I picked up …
The Wisconsin Historical Society Press published ‘Hope Is the Thing: Wisconsinites on Perseverance in a Pandemic’. In this series, we feature five writers who share their experiences as they explore hope in the era of Covid. Louie V. Clark III contributed an essay to the book. My wife and I got married in 1975 and …
I’m in school right now, but I’m doing it remotely because of the pandemic. I’m pursuing my associate’s degree in science at Nicolet College in Rhinelander, and from there I’d like to either go into linguistic anthropology or environmental science. Photo courtesy of Jephrey Valliere I was working for Amazon down in Kenosha for a …
I am number seven of ten kids. When I was little, my four oldest siblings already had their own kids and homes. I had my mother and my father, and I was protected. We didn’t have money, but we were cared for and loved. Photos taken by Corey Howell Church was our foundation. We went …
