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National Native American Heritage Month started great in Marquette during the Northern Michigan University inaugural Indigenous Perspective Symposium.
Throughout the month many may learn more about Native American tribes in the region through a variety of events. Keweenaw Bay Indian Community CEO Brigitte LaPointe-Dunham says her experience at the event reaffirmed her feelings about her culture’s resilience and adaptability. She adds that other events in the region have brought awareness to indigenous issues such as 41 North Film Festival’s recent screening of Bad River.
Later in November KBIC and the Sault Ste Marie Tribal of Chippewa Indians will collaborate for a winter powwow at Northern Michigan University.
Having something like that in the public and people from all over are allowed to attend it, I think, it opens a lot of people’s eyes and just really highlights how, people that are here now have that history behind them. They have to understand how we all fit together to resist the force of removal back in the day. And it’s still some things that affects us today and what we continue to fight for. We continue to fight for our sovereignty, our land rights, environmental protection, and our treaty rights. And having something like that in a public space just really makes people aware. – Brigitte LaPointe-Dunham, CEO, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community
On November 23rd the NMU Native American Student Association, KBIC, and Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians will host the Learning to Walk Together Powwow at the Northern Center Grand Ballroom. The event is one of the first Powwow gatherings the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians has collaborated together to plan. Powwow events offer native Americans from throughout the Upper Peninsula an opportunity to meet with others, dance, and celebrate Anishinaabe culture, and invites anyone in the community interested in learning more about local native American tribes. Find more information about the Learning to Walk Together Powwow here.
