Skunk Hill : A Native Ceremonial Community in Wisconsi by
Rising above the countryside of Wood County, Wisconsin, Powers Bluff is a large outcrop of quartzite rock that resisted the glaciers that flattened the surrounding countryside. It is an appropriate symbol for the Native people who once lived on its slopes, quietly resisting social forces that would have crushed and eroded their culture. A large band of Potawatomi, many returnees from the Kansas Prairie Band Potawatomi reservation, established the village of Tah-qua-kik or Skunk Hill in 1905 on the 300-foot-high bluff, up against the oddly shaped rocks that topped the hill and protected the community from the cold winter winds. In Skunk Hill, archeologist Robert A. Birmingham traces the largely unknown story of this community, detailing the role it played in preserving Native culture through a harsh period of US Indian policy from the 1880s to 1930s. The story’s central focus is the Drum Dance, also known as the Dream Dance or Big Drum, a pan-tribal cultural revitalization movement that swept the Upper Midwest during the Great Suppression, emphasizing Native values and rejecting the vices of the white world. Though the community disbanded by the 1930s, the site, now on the National Register of Historic Places with two dance circles still visible on the grounds, stands as testimony to the efforts of its members to resist cultural assimilation.
Native American Communities in Wisconsin, 1600–1960 : A Study of Tradition and Change by
The first comprehensive history of Native American tribes in Wisconsin, this thorough and thoroughly readable account follows Wisconsin's Indian communities--Ojibwa, Potawatomie, Menominee, Winnebago, Oneida, Stockbridge-Munsee, and Ottawa--from the 1600s through 1960. Written for students and general readers, it covers in detail the ways that native communities have striven to shape and maintain their traditions in the face of enormous external pressures. The author, Robert E. Bieder, begins by describing the Wisconsin region in the 1600s--both the natural environment, with its profound significance for Native American peoples, and the territories of the many tribal cultures throughout the region--and then surveys experiences with French, British, and, finally, American contact. Using native legends and historical and ethnological sources, Bieder describes how the Wisconsin communities adapted first to the influx of Indian groups fleeing the expanding Iroquois Confederacy in eastern America and then to the arrival of fur traders, lumber men, and farmers. Economic shifts and general social forces, he shows, brought about massive adjustments in diet, settlement patterns, politics, and religion, leading to a redefinition of native tradition. Historical photographs and maps illustrate the text, and an extensive bibliography has many suggestions for further reading.
The Walleye War : the struggle for Ojibwe spearfishing and treaty rights by 
Folklore of the Winnebago Tribe by Here is a list of just some of the books about Native American's in Wisconsin.
Indian Mounds of Wisconsin by
More mounds were built by ancient Native Americans in Wisconsin than in any other region in North America- between 15,000 and 20,000, at least 4,000 of which remain today. Most impressive are the effigy mounds, huge earthworks sculpted in the shapes of thunderbirds, water panthers, and other forms, not found amywhere else in the world in such concentrations. This second edition is updated throughout, incorporating exciting new research and satellite imagery. Citing evidence form past excavations, ethnography, the traditions of present-day Native Americand in the Midwest, technologically advanced ground penetrating radar and LiDAR imaging, and recent archaeological findings, authors Robert A. Birmingham and Amy L. Rosebrough argue that effigy mound groups are cosmological maps that model belief systems and relations with the spirit world. Included is an expanded list of public parks and preserves where mounds can be respectfully viewed, such as the outstanding Kingsley Bend mounds near Wisconsin Dells maintained by the Ho-Chunk Nation or Man Mound Park near Baraboo, the only extant human-shaped effigy mound in the world.
Ho-Chunk Powwows and the Politics of Tradition by
Table of Contents: Introduction: into the arena -- When worlds collide: culture and catastrophe in the nineteenth century -- Gifts and profits: on the origins of the powwow -- "Time works changes, even to the people of the Red races": the rise and fall of the commercial powwow -- Something more than patriotism: war, veterans, and the return of the powwow -- Calling the people together: powwows in the era of nation-rebuilding -- Producing a space for culture: powwows in the early twenty-first century -- Conclusion: experimenting with the expectations of tradition.
Seventh generation earth ethics : native voices of Wisconsin by
"Wisconsin's rich tradition of sustainability rightfully includes its First Americans, who along with Aldo Leopold, John Muir, and Gaylord Nelson shaped its landscape and informed its "earth ethics." This collection of Native biographies, one from each of the twelve Indian nations of Wisconsin, introduces the reader to some of the most important figures in Native sustainability: from anti-mining activists like Walt Bresette (Red Cliff Ojibwe) and Hillary Waukau (Menominee) to treaty rights advocates like James Schlender (Lac Courte Oreille Ojibwe), artists like Truman Lowe (Ho-Chunk), and educators like Dorothy "Dot" Davids (Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians), along with tribal geneologists, land stewards, and preservers of language and culture. Each of the biographies speaks to traditional ecological values and cultural sensibilities, highlighting men and women who helped to sustain and nurture their nations in the past and present. The Native people whose lives are depicted in Seventh Generation Earth Ethics understood the cultural gravity that kept their people rooted to their ancestral lands and acted in ways that ensured the growth and success of future generations. In this way they honor the Ojibwe Seventh Generation philosophy, which cautions decision makers to consider how their actions will affect seven generations in the future-some 240 years. "
Picturing Indians : photographic encounters and tourist fantasies in H.H. Bennett's Wisconsin Dells by
Today a tourist mecca, the area now known as the Wisconsin Dells was once wilderness--and a gathering place for the region’s Native peoples, the Ho-Chunk, who for centuries migrated to this part of the Wisconsin River for both sustenance and spiritual renewal. By the late 1800s their numbers had dwindled through displacement or forcible removal, and it was this smaller band that caught the attention of photographer Henry Hamilton Bennett. Having built his reputation on his photographs of the Dells’ steep gorges and fantastic rock formations, H. H. Bennett now turned his camera upon the Ho-Chunk themselves, and thus began the many-layered relationship unfolded by Steven D. Hoelscher in Picturing Indians: Photographic Encounters and Tourist Fantasies in H. H. Bennett’s Wisconsin Dells. The interactions between Indian and white man, photographer and photographed, suggested a relationship in which commercial motives and friendly feelings mixed, though not necessarily in equal measure. The Ho-Chunk resourcefully sought new ways to survive in the increasingly tourist-driven economy of the Dells. Bennett, struggling to keep his photography business alive, capitalized on America’s comfortably nostalgic image of Native peoples as a vanishing race, no longer threatening and now safe for white consumption. Hoelscher traces these developments through letters, diaries, financial records, guidebooks, and periodicals of the day. He places Bennett within the context of contemporary artists and photographers of American Indians and examines the receptions of this legacy by the Ho-Chunk today. In the final chapter, he juxtaposes Bennett’s depictions of Native Americans with the work of present-day Ho-Chunk photographer Tom Jones, who documents the lives of his own people with a subtlety and depth foreshadowed, a century ago, in the flickers of irony, injury, humor, and pride conveyed by his Ho-Chunk ancestors as they posed before the lens of a white photographer. Winner, Book Award of Merit, Wisconsin Historical Society, Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for Regional Interests, selected by the Public Library Association
More Books
Rez life : an Indian's journey through reservation life by
Celebrated novelist David Treuer has gained a reputation for writing fiction that expands the horizons of Native American literature. In Rez Life, his first full-length work of nonfiction, Treuer brings a novelist's storytelling skill and an eye for detail to a complex and subtle examination of Native American reservation life, past and present. With authoritative research and reportage, Treuer illuminates misunderstood contemporary issues of sovereignty, treaty rights, and natural-resource conservation. He traces the waves of public policy that have disenfranchised and exploited Native Americans, exposing the tension that has marked the historical relationship between the United States government and the Native American population. Through the eyes of students, teachers, government administrators, lawyers, and tribal court judges, he shows how casinos, tribal government, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have transformed the landscape of Native American life. A member of the Ojibwe of northern Minnesota, Treuer grew up on Leech Lake Reservation, but was educated in mainstream America. Exploring crime and poverty, casinos and wealth, and the preservation of native language and culture, Rez Life is a strikingly original work of history and reportage, a must read for anyone interested in the Native American story.
Native People of Wisconsin, Revised Edition by
"So many of the children in this classroom are Ho-Chunk, and it brings history alive to them and makes it clear to the rest of us too that this isn't just...Natives riding on horseback. There are still Natives in our society today, and we're working together and living side by side. So we need to learn about their ways as well." --Amy Laundrie, former Lake Delton Elementary School fourth grade teacher An essential title for the upper elementary classroom, "Native People of Wisconsin" fills the need for accurate and authentic teaching materials about Wisconsin's Indian Nations. Based on her research for her award-winning title for adults, "Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Survival," author Patty Loew has tailored this book specifically for young readers. "Native People of Wisconsin" tells the stories of the twelve Native Nations in Wisconsin, including the Native people's incredible resilience despite rapid change and the impact of European arrivals on Native culture. Young readers will become familiar with the unique cultural traditions, tribal history, and life today for each nation. Complete with maps, illustrations, and a detailed glossary of terms, this highly anticipated new edition includes two new chapters on the Brothertown Indian Nation and urban Indians, as well as updates on each tribe's current history and new profiles of outstanding young people from every nation.
Indian nations of Wisconsin : histories of endurance and renewal by
From origin stories to contemporary struggles over treaty rights and sovereignty issues, Indian Nations of Wisconsin explores Wisconsin's rich Native tradition. This unique volume--based on the historical perspectives of the state's Native peoples--includes compact tribal histories of the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Oneida, Menominee, Mohican, Ho-Chunk, and Brothertown Indians. Author Patty Loew focuses on oral tradition--stories, songs, the recorded words of Indian treaty negotiators, and interviews--along with other untapped Native sources, such as tribal newspapers, to present a distinctly different view of history. Lavishly illustrated with maps and photographs, Indian Nations of Wisconsin is indispensable to anyone interested in the region's history and its Native peoples. The first edition of Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal, won the Wisconsin Library Association's 2002 Outstanding Book Award.
American Indians in Milwaukee by
Milwaukee is an Algonquin word meaning "the gathering place." Wisconsin's 11 American Indian tribes have long gathered in the city, contributing to its name and origins. American Indians continue to assist in Milwaukee's growth through nationally recognized innovations in education, gaming, and cultural representation. The city's "founding mother," a Menominee Indian, continued trading partnerships with the area's native residents until Indian removal in the 1830s. Over the next century, Indians returned to Milwaukee as visitors, creating villages at the state fair and lakefront grounds. By the 1930s, Indians again called the city home and expressed their common heritage through Pan-Indian organizations. Later the new ideals of the national Red Power movement helped transform those organizations into successful city institutions such as the Indian Community School, Potawatomi Bingo and Casino, and Indian Summer Festival.
Like a deer chased by the dogs : the life of Chief Oshkosh by
Anyone who has spent any amount of time in the Lake Winnebago region is familiar with the image of Chief Oshkosh in his tall beaver hat, coat with tails, and his steel-eyed gaze. The city of Oshkosh, a beer company, and numerous other business concerns have used his name and image. Even a bronze statue of a tall muscular Indian stands in Menominee Park over his supposed grave. But who was the real Chief Oshkosh of the Menominee? Folklore concerning his raucous drinking behavior has come down over the past hundred and fifty years and is sometimes difficult to separate from fact. He has been both vilified and praised for the treaties he signed with the federal government. Interviews, recollections, observations and published accounts are complied into a complete picture of the real man. Distributed for the Oshkosh Public Museum
