November is Native American Heritage Month, and the Center for Native American Studies at Northern Michigan University has a variety of events planned throughout the month and slightly beyond to celebrate.
A screening of Warrior Lawyers: Defenders of Sacred Justice will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8, in the Art and Design Building room 165. This is a one-hour documentary about the lives of contemporary Native American role models in Michigan, and focuses on personal and professional lives of American Indian attorneys, tribal judges and their colleagues. There will be opening remarks, followed by a post-film panel discussion and audience Q&A led by the filmmaker Audrey Geyer, as well as attorneys from Warrior Lawyers, Rich Vander Veen and Karrie Biron. The screening is free and open to the public.
An “Importance of Native American Representation in Media” event is at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, in the Maple Classroom, and is led by April Lindala, a professor of Native American Studies at NMU. Two short films will be shown to demonstrate the differences in representation. Drinks and snacks will be provided. For any questions, contact R.A. Jordan at jobrown@nmu.edu.
The Sonderegger Symposium, which for many years has addressed Upper Peninsula topics, will be held at NMU from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10, in the Northern Center ballrooms. This year's theme is Perspectives on 1820 and Beyond and is based on the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center's current exhibit, Claiming Michigan: The 1820 Expedition of Lewis Cass. The sessions will not only involve the expedition and the peoples involved in it, but also the long-term impacts of the expedition on the formation of Michigan as a State. The event is free and open to the public, and lunch is provided for all attendees. For those who can't attend but would like to see a livestream of the event, click here for a link to the stream.
A free screening of the film Bones of Crows takes place at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, at Whitman Hall Commons. The film follows the character Aline Spears, a Cree woman who survives the Canadian Indian residential school system who goes on to become a code-talker for the Canadian Air Force in World War II. The film is grounded in historical truth, and weaves together underrepresented moments in Canadian and Indigenous history.
The final activity is the annual Learning to Walk Together Powwow on Saturday, Dec. 2. Grand entries are scheduled at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the Northern Center Grand Ballroom. More information to be announced, and any questions can be directed to nasa@nmu.edu. The event is free and open to the public.