Monday, January 31, 2011
Glory of the Morning: Refining the study of GOM
Glory of the Morning: Refining the study of GOM: "Participated in a weekend degree planning session to explore our goals and see if our degree plans match those goals. Gruesome and gre..."
Refining the study of GOM
Participated in a weekend degree planning session to explore our goals and see if our degree plans match those goals. Gruesome and great all at the same time. The greatest thing that emerged for me was the creation of my diagram entitled: Diagram of the transmission of historical and cultural information of the Ho Chunk Nation.
You see in my mind the first hand knowledge or Rankean hierarchal order of evidence doesn't rest with the historians or explorers or missionaries of GOM's day, it rests with the Ho Chunk people. Can I have an Ah-ho! The next layer of cultural history of GOM or any tribal history extends from GOM to the families or clans of Ho Chunk people. This is tribal or cultural history that is passed on from generation to generation and from family to family. This information then extends to the next layer which comprises historians (primarily through interpreters), explorers, or missionaries who penned their own individual accounts of what they experienced through their own cultural biases colorized by their own individual pursuits. These pursuits include furs, discovery of the NW passage, lead mining rights and of course land. Can I have another Ah-ho! The next layer represents our day. This information has found its way to our day through the careful and thoughtful preservation by numerous sources both native and non-native. However, for native or Ho Chunk people (such as myself as a descendant of GOM) the cultural history has been free flowing for generations. I first heard the story of GOM from my grandfather born in 1899 in a wigwam in a Ho Chunk village along the Turkey River. A researcher such as myself has the benefit of utilizing both carefully preserved written documents by earlier explorers, historians and missionaries, but more importantly I have historical and cultural information that has been free flowing throughout generations from the Ho Chunk people since GOM's time.
It has been a banner weekend!
You see in my mind the first hand knowledge or Rankean hierarchal order of evidence doesn't rest with the historians or explorers or missionaries of GOM's day, it rests with the Ho Chunk people. Can I have an Ah-ho! The next layer of cultural history of GOM or any tribal history extends from GOM to the families or clans of Ho Chunk people. This is tribal or cultural history that is passed on from generation to generation and from family to family. This information then extends to the next layer which comprises historians (primarily through interpreters), explorers, or missionaries who penned their own individual accounts of what they experienced through their own cultural biases colorized by their own individual pursuits. These pursuits include furs, discovery of the NW passage, lead mining rights and of course land. Can I have another Ah-ho! The next layer represents our day. This information has found its way to our day through the careful and thoughtful preservation by numerous sources both native and non-native. However, for native or Ho Chunk people (such as myself as a descendant of GOM) the cultural history has been free flowing for generations. I first heard the story of GOM from my grandfather born in 1899 in a wigwam in a Ho Chunk village along the Turkey River. A researcher such as myself has the benefit of utilizing both carefully preserved written documents by earlier explorers, historians and missionaries, but more importantly I have historical and cultural information that has been free flowing throughout generations from the Ho Chunk people since GOM's time.
It has been a banner weekend!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Glory of the Morning: Why GOM?
Glory of the Morning: Why GOM?: "The last two days I had to consider why I am going to study GOM and her contribution to Ho Chunk history and actually write a piece about my..."
Why GOM?
The last two days I had to consider why I am going to study GOM and her contribution to Ho Chunk history and actually write a piece about my pursuit for class. So, here is an excerpt:
My interest is to document Native American women's historical stories in an effort to preserve them for the benefit of the rising Native American generation, primarily young Ho Chunk women who continue to be underrepresented in many disciplines, have high high school drop out rates and teen pregnancy rates. These young women are the 5th generation of a people who were assimilated by the then dominant society and have lost or struggle with their cultural identity.
My interest is to document Native American women's historical stories in an effort to preserve them for the benefit of the rising Native American generation, primarily young Ho Chunk women who continue to be underrepresented in many disciplines, have high high school drop out rates and teen pregnancy rates. These young women are the 5th generation of a people who were assimilated by the then dominant society and have lost or struggle with their cultural identity.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Glory of the Morning: Accounts of GOM and the Fur Trade
Glory of the Morning: Accounts of GOM and the Fur Trade: "There are two eye-witness accounts of Glory of the Morning that are considered official or credible and they have been written by two non-In..."
Accounts of GOM and the Fur Trade
There are two eye-witness accounts of Glory of the Morning that are considered official or credible and they have been written by two non-Indians of course. One was written by an explorer named Jonathan Carver and the other was written by Kinzie of Waubun fame. The Carver account is favorable and plants the idea that GOM was indeed a chieftess, namely she would have been a peace chief according to Ho Chunk custom. The other is a less favorable account of GOM written by Kinzie a missionary. She describes GOM (thought controversial) or rather the mother of old Dekaury as an old woman who wanted to view herself in a looking glass. Though there is no clear death date of GOM, Kinzie's account would have put GOM at 100 years of age or more.
These two accounts are the primary accounts of GOM.
There are others that have been written which are primary sources, however there are secondary and other sources that discuss her or the Winnebagos (aka Ho Chunk). Amidst the readings of the Fur Trade, the early French Explorers, early missionaries, and paleo-Indinas I gleaned out several precious sources. One is that Mason describes Doty Island (others have too, Carver and Kinzie) as strategic, meaning that it was located in an area in which the people had protection and their enemies could not surprise them. Another is that the paleo Indians lived around these same places, as early as 500 BC. Very fascinating. The only book that I know that could explain their life would be the Book of Mormon, another Testament of Jesus Christ. Another precious source is that during the uptick of the fur trade, those in the business would enter into marriages in an effort to keep the fur trade open and in their favor. Mason cites that in an effort to obtain trade agreements exclusive some traders married chief's daughters. Very interesting. As the fur trade between the French and Ho Chunk, it became apparent to the Ho Chunk that the fur trade was good. It is not surprising to me that GOM would naturally enter into a marriage that would ensure her village's survival. As the fur trade ensued the Ho Chunk moved from wood and arrows to metal pots and guns almost overnight. Nicolet, a missionary even remarked on how quickly the Winnebagos took to the items of trade, particularly metal and guns. Within 100 years from the earliest contacts with the French (though some say it was with Nicolet or possibly Burle) Wisconsin Indians were predominantly using and had become dependent upon European goods. However, as the businessmen, missionaries and immigrants moved in and the fur trade fell into the hands of the British and then to the Americans just as the beaver population became scarce, the Ho Chunk were being squeezed out with less places to live, less places to hunt and plant food. Treaties with the every growing population of new Americans became a new way to ensure food and a place to live. Fortunately, GOM never lived to see the days of forced removals, land dispossessions and the ravages of alcohol being introduced to her people.
Fascinating!
These two accounts are the primary accounts of GOM.
There are others that have been written which are primary sources, however there are secondary and other sources that discuss her or the Winnebagos (aka Ho Chunk). Amidst the readings of the Fur Trade, the early French Explorers, early missionaries, and paleo-Indinas I gleaned out several precious sources. One is that Mason describes Doty Island (others have too, Carver and Kinzie) as strategic, meaning that it was located in an area in which the people had protection and their enemies could not surprise them. Another is that the paleo Indians lived around these same places, as early as 500 BC. Very fascinating. The only book that I know that could explain their life would be the Book of Mormon, another Testament of Jesus Christ. Another precious source is that during the uptick of the fur trade, those in the business would enter into marriages in an effort to keep the fur trade open and in their favor. Mason cites that in an effort to obtain trade agreements exclusive some traders married chief's daughters. Very interesting. As the fur trade between the French and Ho Chunk, it became apparent to the Ho Chunk that the fur trade was good. It is not surprising to me that GOM would naturally enter into a marriage that would ensure her village's survival. As the fur trade ensued the Ho Chunk moved from wood and arrows to metal pots and guns almost overnight. Nicolet, a missionary even remarked on how quickly the Winnebagos took to the items of trade, particularly metal and guns. Within 100 years from the earliest contacts with the French (though some say it was with Nicolet or possibly Burle) Wisconsin Indians were predominantly using and had become dependent upon European goods. However, as the businessmen, missionaries and immigrants moved in and the fur trade fell into the hands of the British and then to the Americans just as the beaver population became scarce, the Ho Chunk were being squeezed out with less places to live, less places to hunt and plant food. Treaties with the every growing population of new Americans became a new way to ensure food and a place to live. Fortunately, GOM never lived to see the days of forced removals, land dispossessions and the ravages of alcohol being introduced to her people.
Fascinating!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Glory of the Morning: Interview with Spoon Decorah, cousin of Spoon I
Glory of the Morning: Interview with Spoon Decorah, cousin of Spoon I: "I read an amazing account from the cousin of Spoon I, also named Spoon. Spoon I was GOM's grandson who signed the treaty of 1825 and S..."
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