Gi-gikinomaage-min Interviews

Jeffrey Chivis interview (audio and transcript)

Jeffrey Chivis is a member of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, and is originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Chivis graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Grand Valley State University (GVSU), and obtained his master’s…
June Mamagona Fletcher interview (audio and transcript)

June Mamagona Fletcher is a member of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians (Gun Lake). She was born in Detroit, Michigan and has lived in Dorr and Grand Rapids, Michigan. She holds an MBA from Grand Valley State Unviersity as…
Leroy Hall and Jason Quigno interview (audio and transcript)

Leroy Hall is a member of the Saginaw Chippewa tribe, who resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Leroy grew up in a number of Michigan communities, including Merritt, Mount Pleasant, and Grand Rapids. He attended college at Bay de Noc Community Collee…
Wag Wheeler interview (audio and transcript)

James Wagner "Wag" Wheeler was born in eastern Oklahoma to Cherokee parents in 1935. In his life in Salisaw, Oklahoma, Wheeler worked as an accountant and administrator until becoming the Executive Director of Oklahoma Indian Opportunity. After the…
Hunter Genia interview (video and transcript)

Hunter Genia is a member of the Saginaw Swan Creek Black River Band of Chippewa. He was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and holds degrees in criminal justice and social work. In this interview, he discusses his family history, the Grand Rapids Native…
Christine Marcus Stone interview (video and transcript)

Christine Marcus Stone is a painter of Navajo, Scottish, and English descent, who was born in Tuscon, Arizona and moved to Michigan at a young age. In her interview, she disucsses her arts education, her personal and family history, and the Grand…

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Title

Gi-gikinomaage-min Interviews

Creator

Grand Valley State University. Native American Advisory Council
Grand Valley State University. Kustche Office of Local History

Description

Interviews with members of Grand Rapids' urban Native American population collected as part of the Gi-gikinomaage-min Project: Defend Our History, Unlock Your Spirit.

Translated from Anishinaabemowin, the original language of this area, Gi-gikinomaage-min means "We are all teachers." This is the name our project team choose to convey to the Native American community that through our stories and experiences, we are all teachers to someone. As we share those stories, we are allowing for our next generations to experience the past.

Grand Rapids’ Native American community grew dramatically in the last half of the 20th century as a result of a little-known federal program that still impacts American Indian lives today. Called the Urban Relocation Program, it created one of the largest mass movements of Indians in American history. The full scope of this massive social experiment and its impact on multiple generations of Native Americans remains largely undocumented and unexplored.

Date

2015/2016

Source

Gi-gikinomaage-min Project

Rights

In Copyright

Subject

Indians of North America
Indians of North America--Michigan
Indians of North America--Education
Potawatomi Indians
Bode'wadmi
Ojibwa Indians
Anishinaabe
Navajo Indians
Dine'e
Cherokee Indians
Tsagali
Aniyunwiya
Archaeology
Mound-builders
Hopewellian culture
Indian arts--North America
Personal narrativse
Grand Rapids (Mich.)

Publisher

Grand Valley State University. Special Collections & University Archives

Identifier

DC-10

Format

audio/mp3
video/mp4
application/pdf

Type

Sound
Moving Image
Text

Language

eng