The Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at Northern Michigan University has launched a new website, "Walking Together - Finding Common Ground," as a companion to an exhibition by the same name that is touring Indigenous communities throughout the Upper Peninsula and the Midwest. The site includes historical information about Indigenous experiences in the Michigan Native American Boarding Schools, as well as interviews with boarding school survivors.
The project was developed by the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan in conjunction with the Great Lakes Peace Center and the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center. It involved several years of research, writing and planning.
A part of the project is the touring exhibition, “The Seventh Fire.”
"The title comes comes from the Seven Fires Prophecies, which were given to the Anishinaabe people over 1,500 years ago," said Dan Truckey, director of the Beaumier Center. "They foretold the catastrophic events that would befall their people over the next several centuries. This display features a timeline of the history of the Anishinaabe people, as well as videos that show the many different perspectives on decolonization and Anishinaabe culture, including foodways, education, sovereignty, and the challenges of living in a colonized world."
Truckey said "The Seventh Fire" was developed over several months by a dedicated committee of individuals from the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center, NMU Center for Native American Studies, Great Lakes Peace Center, Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan and the Native American Student Association. It was funded, in part, by the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
View the website at nmu.edu/walking-together/.
Media Contact: Dan Truckey, dtruckey@nmu.edu or 906-227-1219.