Latest news with #Ho-Chunk
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Yahoo
Ho-Chunk paddled from Green Bay to Milwaukee in dugout canoe to highlight tribal history
Along the Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan on June 5, members of the Ho-Chunk Nation could be seen paddling in a traditional handmade, dugout canoe. The paddle event marked the end of a four-day journey that took them from Green Bay and Sturgeon Bay in Door County along ancestral Indigenous waterways. Along the way, members of the tribe honored their ancestors at Milwaukee's Lake Park, home to one of the last remaining Indigenous mounds in the city. The journey is part of a broader effort to raise awareness of the tribe's historic presence in the area. 'All of this land used to be ours at one time,' said Clayton Winneshiek, traditional chief of the Ho-Chunk Nation. Tribal members invited local officials, academics and anyone who wanted to join them in the canoe and learn about their cultural ties to the land and water. 'The dugout canoe journey is more than a trip – it's a cultural reclamation,' said Ho-Chunk Nation President Jon Greendeer in a statement on Facebook. 'As we paddle these waters we carry the stories of our ancestors, reconnect with the land and lake, and invite others to learn with us.' In 2018, Dane County gifted the Ho-Chunk Nation a large cottonwood trunk. Ho-Chunk youth then carved the canoe out of the single piece of wood, much like the ones their ancestors made thousands of years ago. In recent years, at least 10 of these ancient canoes have been discovered in Lake Mendota in Madison. More: Archeologists find at least 8 more canoes on bottom of Lake Mendota, one 4,500 years old The annual canoe journey started in 2022 with a voyage from the four lakes in Madison then south to Beloit. Overall, the long paddle trips serve as an excellent tool to educate the public, according to William Quackenbush, the Ho-Chunk Nation's tribal historic preservation officer, who leads the journeys. While in Milwaukee on June 5 members of the Ho-Chunk canoe journey visited Indigenous ancestors buried in Lake Park to bring attention to preservation efforts of an ancient Indigenous burial mound in the park. The ancient mound is one of the last in the city. The mound is about 40 feet in diameter and two feet high overlooking Lake Michigan near Lake Drive and Locust Street. It was built by Indigenous people during what archaeologists call the Middle Woodland Culture between 300 B.C. and A.D. 400. Milwaukee once held thousands of these ancient Indigenous mounds, but nearly all of them were destroyed by development during the past 150 years. An identifying plaque was placed on top of the mound in 1910, but that was recently removed because it encouraged people to walk on it to read it. Tribal members are working with county and city park officials to figure out the best way to keep the mound, which is located near a softball field, protected. 'We (Ho-Chunk) don't have the jurisdiction to protect the mound,' Quackenbush said. 'The city, county and historical society have the jurisdiction. We want to hold them to task to do it.' More: Milwaukee's last ancient Indigenous mound has a problem Quackenbush and the Ho-Chunk Nation have been leading efforts to protect and preserve the remaining ancient Indigenous mounds in Wisconsin from destructive development and other threats. Academics debate who actually built the mounds and which tribe's ancestors are buried in them. But Quackenbush said his people do not doubt it is their ancestors who built and who are buried in the mounds as "ancestrally, we have deep roots to this location." Quackenbush said other tribes, such as the Potawatomi, have passed through the Milwaukee area and claimed it for a time in its thousands of years of Indigenous history, but the Ho-Chunk were among the first people here. He said the Ho-Chunk Nation does not try to deny any tribe the right to claim the Milwaukee area as their ancestral home, as well. Sign up for the First Nations Wisconsin newsletter Click here to get all of our Indigenous news coverage right in your inbox Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at fvaisvilas@ or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ho-Chunk paddled from Green Bay to Milwaukee in dugout canoe
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Indigenous bones, found years ago in Wisconsin and never reported, recently tossed in river
State officials are investigating an incident in western Wisconsin in which ancient Indigenous human remains were discovered more than a decade ago, but never reported and recently thrown into the Black River. Authorities became aware of the incident last week when Ryan Howell, an archeologist for the Army Corps of Engineers who lives in Wisconsin, was notified. Howell said he's not sure why he was contacted, but he does help run a very popular Facebook group called Wisconsin Archeological Artifacts, at which Wisconsin residents share photos and discuss ancient artifacts discovered in the state. He said once he knew about the situation, he was obligated to pass it on to authorities. 'There is a state law that outlines the proper legal procedures and what people should do in these unfortunate events,' Howell said. 'But the law is obscure and few people, including most local law enforcement, are trained to deal with the situation. … Sometimes they just start calling any archaeologist or tribal office they can find looking for help.' More: Online archeological group deciphers arrowheads, artifacts found regularly in Wisconsin More: The Milwaukee Public Museum houses 1,600 Native American remains. Will they be returned to their tribes? La Crosse County Sheriff's Deputy Nate Cibulka said the remains were discovered about 13 to 15 years ago by a man whose family had owned land in the Holmen area. The remains apparently were found on public land at a state boat landing near the Black River. The man kept the remains through the years, and then discarded them. 'They were very fragile and falling apart, so they threw them into the river,' said Cibulka, who talked to the man who had them. 'That, obviously, wasn't the best option.' It's unclear if charges, citation or a fine will be filed, so the Journal Sentinel is not naming the man. Taylor Lambrigger, burial sites coordinator with the Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Office, said property owners might not report a finding on their property because they don't know the law, or they're worried they'll get in trouble. She strongly encourages anyone who finds them to reach out to local law enforcement. She said there are no penalties for people discovering ancient human remains accidentally, but if someone knows they have an ancient burial site on their property they need to contact her office before beginning any building projects. If the process is followed correctly, the discovered remains are eventually given to tribal nations within Wisconsin today who have reburial sites for their ancestors on tribal lands. Howell said the bones were likely more than 500 years old. He said discoveries like this are common in Wisconsin, especially near or in populated areas, such as Milwaukee or Green Bay, because the best places to settle now also were the best places to settle historically. In western Wisconsin, where the discovery was made, the area had several Ho-Chunk villages. If the process is followed correctly the discovered remains are eventually given to tribal nations within Wisconsin today who have reburial sites for their ancestors on tribal lands. More: Ancient Menominee remains, 1,200 years old, have returned home after spending decades in boxes at University of Michigan Sign up for the First Nations Wisconsin newsletter Click here to get all of our Indigenous news coverage right in your inbox Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at fvaisvilas@ or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Indigenous bones found in Wisconsin, kept, and then tossed in river
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
At Nebraska boarding school, search for graves, closure continues
Jessica WadeFlatwater Free Press Carolyn Fiscus knows where her aunt, Mildred Lowe, spent her final days. She knows the 12-year-old Winnebago girl became gravely ill in the winter of 1930 at the Genoa U.S. Indian Industrial Boarding School. She knows Mildred died. She does not know where her aunt was buried. It's a mystery Fiscus pondered as she sat in a folding chair beneath the sweltering sun in July 2023 and watched as a small team of archaeologists dug into the hardened Nebraska dirt. They were searching for the graves of children. Fiscus hoped her aunt might be among them. She prayed, reaching out to Mildred's spirit and the spirits of other children believed to be buried on land that was once a sprawling campus. The excavation had days to go, but the longtime educator and Ho-Chunk elder said she felt in her heart what the archeological team would soon realize: The children's remains weren't there. The search would have to continue. Hundreds of children like Mildred were brought to the Genoa boarding school 110 miles west of Omaha during the institution's 50 years of operation. At least 86 are known to have died there — young casualties amid the federally mandated erasure of Indigenous culture. Records show nine students were buried on school grounds. The remains of 37 others were sent home to their tribes. The final resting place of 40 is still unknown. 'It's not just my aunt,' Fiscus told the Flatwater Free Press. 'There are many others that haven't been accounted for.' In recent years, the U.S. government has acknowledged the troubled history of the schools and joined the nationwide search for those children through its federal boarding school initiative. But with a new administration in D.C., it remains unclear if the federally-led effort will remain a priority. The new interior secretary, former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, is reviewing all department programs, including the boarding school initiative launched under President Joe Biden, according to a statement from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Some Native leaders have expressed cautious optimism, noting Burgum's relatively strong record on Native issues as governor. Any changes at the federal level are not expected to impact the search in Nebraska, which has relied on state and local resources. Those involved remain hopeful as they continue to search for the graves. With the search ongoing, Fiscus and other descendants face a festering question: What does closure look like when the school's dead remain lost? The Genoa school was among the largest federal Native American boarding schools built in the U.S. From 1884 to 1934, children from more than 40 tribes were taken by railroad or horseback to the arching sign that still reads today 'U.S. Indian School.' At its peak in 1932, the 600-acre campus housed 599 students who ranged in age from 4 to 22 years old. Spurred by the discovery of unmarked graves at similar schools in Canada in 2021, the U.S. Interior Department launched an investigation into the nation's boarding school system. To date, the department has found that at least 18,000 children were taken from their tribes and forced to attend schools founded in the name of assimilation. It also documented nearly 1,000 deaths and 74 gravesites associated with the more than 500 schools. Historians believe that the true death toll is likely much higher. Records show that diseases such as tuberculosis spread quickly through the schools, greatly contributing to the number of deaths. In Nebraska, the state Commission on Indian Affairs has led the search effort in partnership with the state archeology department. For Judi gaiashkibos, the commission's director and a citizen of Ponca Nation, the search has been personal. Her mother was a student at the school. 'It's a buried history. It's a sad story that America doesn't want to fully accept,' gaiashkibos told the Flatwater Free Press. 'So many people who grew up in our country and our state weren't taught any of this history.' Like many former students, gaiashkibos' mother, Eleanor Josephine Knudsen, didn't share much with her 10 children about her time at Genoa. Limited firsthand accounts and the loss of records to time make it difficult to fully comprehend what life was like at the boarding school, but some truths are known. Children were physically abused there. A former teacher named Julie Carroll was one of two school employees to describe the abuse before a U.S. Senate subcommittee in 1929. 'Some of the children were beaten up like dogs until blood flew out of their noses,' Carroll said. Students were 'loaned out' to work on nearby farms. Some would be stuck on campus for years before returning home. Some would return home only to find they had lost their native language; they were unable to speak with their relatives. And some never made it back to their families. Fred Hensley was a student at the Genoa school for eight months when in the spring of 1891 he succumbed to an unknown illness. The 9-year-old Winnebago boy's body never returned home. According to the school newspaper: 'Funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon … and the little body was laid to rest among the mouldering (sic) remains of his schoolmates who preceded him to the better land.' Decades after the Genoa school closed, former students would mention the school's cemetery, but no one could quite recall its exact location. Years had passed, and the 600-acre campus was filled in by nearby farms and the town of Genoa. Campus landmarks tumbled and any headstones that once stood were removed or lost to time. Still, there is ample evidence that a cemetery once existed on the grounds. Its location was marked on a 1899 plat map, and there are references to students, like Fred, whose burials were shared in local newspapers. State Archeologist Dave Williams gathered plenty of his own evidence before he began to dig at a potential grave site on the outskirts of Genoa in July 2023. He was guided to that spot by a historic map, a team of cadaver dogs and ground penetrating radar that had revealed four anomalies consistent with the presence of graves, the Omaha World-Herald reported at the time. For nearly two weeks Williams' and his team dug into the sun-baked dirt. In the end, they didn't find signs of human remains. 'I think we had high hopes because of those pieces of evidence stacking up,' Williams said. 'Then to go in and spend time and not come away with anything is disappointing, but negative data is still data.' Williams and gaiashkibos shared the results of the dig with the dozens of tribes whose children were taken to the school. There were varying ideas on how to proceed. Some wanted Williams to expand the search area and keep digging. Others wanted the team to look for more archival evidence before conducting another excavation. Geophysical surveys will continue, and a specialized cadaver search dog team will again assist with the search. 'We need to locate the cemetery so we can work toward protecting it, and maybe bring a little closure to the descendants,' Williams said. Closure is difficult to define. On Oct. 25, President Biden spoke before a crowd at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona and for the first time in U.S. history acknowledged the devastation of the schools. He called the country's federal boarding school era 'a sin on our soul.' 'The federal Indian boarding school policy and the pain it has caused will always be a significant mark of shame,' Biden said. 'A blot on American history.' Whether that work will continue remains to be seen. In a statement sent to the Flatwater Free Press, the Bureau of Indian Affairs said Burgum, the new head of the Interior Department appointed by President Donald Trump, is currently reviewing all programs at the department. 'The Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs remain committed to our trust responsibilities of protecting tribal treaty rights, lands, assets, and resources, in addition to its duty to carry out the mandates of federal law with respect to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages,' the statement read. Tribal leaders in Burgum's home state have been publicly supportive of his new role. 'Governor Burgum understands Indian country and the challenges we face,' David Flute, secretary of the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations, said in a November statement to the North Dakota Monitor. A few days before Biden issued his apology, James Riding In considered what it means to move forward as a boarding school descendant and Pawnee citizen. The Arizona-based professor is an author, advocate and board member of the Genoa Indian School Digital Reconciliation Project. While his relatives didn't attend the Genoa school, Riding In feels connected to Genoa. The location is Pawnee homeland. 'This whole idea of reconciliation – it might be a good concept, but is it just like an apology being issued for past wrongs?' Riding In asked. 'To me, reconciliation should have greater meaning.' That greater meaning should translate into systemic change, such as land restorations, Riding In said. To gaiashkibos, locating the school cemetery is a move toward closure, and she has facilitated every step of the search. She watched as Williams and his team used ground penetrating radar to narrow in on an excavation site. She laid a bundle of sage on the damp October ground in 2022, marking the spot where a search dog indicated the possible presence of human remains. She toured an old dairy barn that once belonged to the school and touched the names of former students carved into the century-old wood. '(Finding the graves) also is a tribute to honor those who suffered at the hands of this failed policy to assimilate and 'kill the Indian,'' gaiashkibos said. 'Those children were the last little soldiers to die. I'm committed to finding the warriors, those children.' Fiscus is still searching for the grave of her aunt Mildred. Records show the girl's body was sent back to her tribe, but Fiscus has found no evidence that Mildred was buried on Winnebago ground. Another record indicates Mildred's body was taken to an Omaha funeral home, adding to the mystery. Despite the uncertainty, Fiscus said she found her own form of closure that summer day at the excavation in 2023. 'I feel like she's on her way home,' Fiscus said of her aunt. 'Back to the ancestors.' The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraska's first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.
Chicago Tribune
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Metea Valley Theater in Aurora to present ‘Legally Blonde the Musical'
Metea Valley Theater will present 'Legally Blonde the Musical,' an award-winning musical based on the hit movie, in four performances this spring. A preview show featuring the understudies will take place at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 24, in the Metea Valley High School auditorium, 1801 N. Eola Road, Aurora. Three other performances will be held at 7 p.m. May 1-3 at the school. The show follows the transformation of Elle Woods and her journey to Harvard Law School after she breaks up with her boyfriend. Seats are assigned and can be ordered online starting March 29 at Tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 for students and seniors. Jazz vocalist to perform at St. Charles Public Library Chicago jazz vocalist Petra van Nuis will perform at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 30, at the St. Charles Public Library, 1 S. Sixth Ave. in St. Charles. She will be singing with pianist Dennis Luxion, who was jazz legend Chet Baker's pianist in Europe in the 1980s, according to a press release about the event. They will be performing Great American Songbook standards, both familiar and obscure, officials said. For more information about the free performance, go to or call 630-584-0076. Kifowit plans online session State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, invites community members to join her for a live online Zoom session at 9 a.m. on Monday, streamed on Facebook and Spotify, that will feature Jaemie L. Neely, executive director of the Federation of Women Contractors and an advocate for women- and minority-owned businesses in the construction industry. The discussion will touch on legislation impacting labor and business diversity in Illinois, efforts to increase vendor diversity and economic opportunities for small and minority-owned businesses and the importance of advocacy in shaping inclusive policies, according to a press release about the session. Residents can watch live on Facebook: @RepKifowit and on Spotify: Coffee with Kiffy Podcast. For more information about the event or to participate, contact Kifowit's office at 217-782-8028. Art exhibition planned at Farnsworth House An art exhibition called 'Movement: Water Into Wood,' celebrating the legacy of nationally acclaimed Ho-Chunk artist and teacher Truman Lowe, will open soon at the Edith Farnsworth House, 14520 River Road in Plano. The exhibition will open to the public at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 30, with a reception in the Edith Farnsworth House Visitor Center and Barnsworth Gallery. The program will include remarks by Rebecca Trautmann, author of 'Water's Edge: The Art of Truman Lowe.' The March 30 exhibition opening is free, but those who want to attend are asked to RSVP at 'Movement: Water Into Wood' will run from March 30 to Aug. 31, 2025, and is available with the purchase of Edith Farnsworth House tour tickets or grounds passes. Bunny Burrow Express trolley rides offered Fox River Trolley Museum's Bunny Burrow Express will be making runs to a secret rabbit warren on three Saturdays, April 5, 12 and 19, at the Jon J. Duerr Forest Preserve, 35W003 Route 31, South Elgin. The antique trolley car rides will include egg hunts and other seasonal fun, according to the museum's website. Children will receive souvenir baskets to collect eggs. Train trips last about 75 minutes and depart at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Tickets cost $30.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
ICT NEWSCAST: Wisconsin University honors Ho-Chunk land and Native students
The ICT Newscast for Friday, March 14, covers .Check out the ICT Newscast on YouTube for this episode and more. Wisconsin University honoring Ho-Chunk land and Native students: UW-Madison is investing in Native students through the "Wisconsin Tribal Educational Promise," covering tuition, housing, and fees. President Trump's joint address to Congress and its impact on Indian Country: A roundtable discussion with Holly Cook-Macarro and Mike Stopp addresses the impact of Trump's policies. A Tribe in Maine celebrating a landback victory: The tribe has regained stewardship of forest, wetlands, and river frontage. Renewable energy projects affecting sacred land: The Wayuu community in Colombia is facing challenges with renewable energy projects. The passing of Marion Ironquill Meadmore: One of Canada's first Indigenous women lawyers, she was also a co-founder of Canada's first Indian and Métis Friendship Center. View previous ICT broadcasts here every week for the latest news from around Indian Country. ICT is owned by IndiJ Public Media, a nonprofit news organization. Will you support our work? All of our content is free. There are no subscriptions or costs. And we have hired more Native journalists in the past year than any news organization ─ and with your help we will continue to grow and create career paths for our people. Support ICT for as little as $10. Sign up for ICT's free newsletter.
