Night Flying Woman

Night Flying Woman Written by Ignatia Broker,

member of Minnesota's White Earth Ojibway tribe.

A storyteller and local teacher in both the Ojibway tradition and modern schools.

Founded the Minnesota Indian Historical Society.

Died in 1987.

Night Flying Woman This is the true story of

Oona, a great-great-grandmother to many Minnesota Ojibway, born during a lunar eclipse at a time when white influence in Northern Minnesota was just beginning to manifest.

Night Flying Woman tells the story of one family spread over several generations through the eyes of Oona.

Night Flying Woman When she is five, some of

the clan group decides to move away from their forest homeland to the Rainy Lake area, where fur traders and trappers are disturbing the land much less than farmers and loggers. Oona's family goes with part of the group to the Nett Lake area.

Night Flying Woman Soon, a white man shows

up with a paper that requires the people to move to the White Earth reservation.

Government policy at that time -- the 1840's – forced all northern Midwest U.S. Indians there into a kind of concentration camp.

Night Flying WomanNight Flying Woman

reveals how the culture was preserved in secrecy and was never fully lost - despite the abuse and propaganda Indian children endured at white boarding schools.

Acculturation

Acculturation Process in which members

of one cultural group adopt the beliefs and behaviors of another group.

Acculturation is usually in the direction of a minority group adopting habits and language patterns of the dominant group.

www.rice.edu/projects/HispanicHealth/Acculturation.html

Acculturation and you At some point, we have all

faced a degree of acculturation.

For example, when you come to school, you must give up:

Certain aspects of language. Problem-solving patterns. Technology Freedom to dress the way

you want.

Acculturation and Ojibway Traditional life was altered

through contact with non-Native Americans.

Fur trading resulted in the Ojibway becoming reliant on traded goods rather than the clothing, utensils, and weapons they had constructed.

The establishment of reservations restricted Ojibwa seasonal travel.

Ojibwa - History, Migration to the great lakes http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Le-Pa/Ojibwa.html#ixzz1jZsVDabu

Acculturation and OjibwayGovernment's

relocation policies dispersed tribe members.

By the late 1880s many Ojibway lived in one-room log cabins, frame cabins, or tar paper shacks rather than in wigwams.

Acculturation and Ojibway Wigwam construction

incorporated new materials: other forms of tree bark were more easily available than long strips of birch bark; blankets covered wigwam doors instead of animal skins; calico, cardboard, and tar paper replaced the rush matting.

Acculturation and OjibwayThe transition from

traditional living to permanent settlement in villages led to a reduced lifestyle and to a high incidence of communicable diseases, including tuberculosis and trachoma.

Acculturation and Ojibway By mid-1940s, only the

elderly were bilingual. Most Ojibway had adopted

modern clothing. Birch bark canoes were

largely replaced by wooden and later aluminum boats.

Few Ojibway practiced their traditional religion.

Acculturation and Ojibway Formalized educational

system removed children from their families.

Federal policy toward Native education emphasized Native American assimilation into U.S. society.

Acculturation and Ojibway Consequently, instruction in

vocational skills was promoted over the teaching of Native traditions.

In fact, Native traditions and languages were forbidden in the educational context provided by the government and mission schools.

Acculturation: maintaining old ways Wild ricing by canoe is still a

valued, even sacred, part of the culture, but the once bountiful harvest has been reduced and Ojibway must now compete with commercial growers.

Making maple sugar is still popular as well, although the sap may be collected in plastic bags rather than in birch bark baskets.

Acculturation: maintaining old waysOjibway gatherings often begin with a prayer and a ritual offering of tobacco as an expression of gratitude and respect to the Heavenly Spirit.

And in the end… This is a story of faith and perseverance: In spite of the changes

forced upon them, the Ojibway keep what is true to them. No laws can take away your beliefs.

Despite the hardships, the book ends on an optimistic note: Oona’s children and grandchildren are doing relatively well in the white world.

Most importantly, the stories are passed on. This is guaranteed in the form of the child at the end of the book: “I

should like to hear the stories of our people.” Her name is A-wa-sa-si: The circle has been closed. As long as children keep seeking this knowledge, culture is

preserved. That’s true for Ojibway and for every group.