Northern Michigan University will present its 23rd annual Sonderegger Symposium exploring Upper Peninsula topics from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10, in the Northern Center Ballroom. This year's theme is “Perspectives on 1820 and Beyond.” All sessions will relate to the Beaumier Center's current exhibit, “Claiming Michigan: the 1820 Expedition of Lewis Cass.”
Presentations are scheduled from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free and lunch will be served. The sessions will not only discuss the expedition and the peoples involved in the journey, but also look at the long-term impacts of the expedition on the formation of the State of Michigan and the United States.
This year's keynote address will be given by Bryan Newland, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs. He is a citizen of the Bay Mills Indian Community (Ojibwe), where he recently completed his tenure as tribal president. Prior to that, Newland served as Chief Judge of the Bay Mills Tribal Court. From 2009 to 2012, he served as a counselor and policy adviser to the Assistant Secretary of the Interior – Indian Affairs. He is a graduate of Michigan State University and the Michigan State University College of Law.
The symposium is sponsored by a donation from the Sonderegger family, the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center, and the Center for U.P. Studies. Here is the full schedule:
8 a.m.: Welcome and Introductions
8:15 a.m. “What Was Known about the Upper Peninsula & Lake Superior prior to the Cass Expedition," Dr. Russell Magnaghi, Professor Emeritus, History, NMU
9 a.m. “Cass and Schoolcraft: A complicated legacy," Daniel Truckey, Director/Curator, Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center
10 a.m. "'The Way that I Am, My Being': The Co-Option of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft's Poetry,” Sara Daniels, MFA Candidate/Creative Writing, NMU
11 a.m. Keynote Address by Bryan Newland, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior
Noon Lunch
1 p.m. “The Bonga Family: An Afro-Ojibwa Fur Trading Dynasty," Beth Gruber, Research Librarian, Marquette Regional History Center
2 p.m. “Treaty relationship between the Anishinaabe Three Fires Confederacy and the other nations of the Great Lakes Region," Dr. Martin Reinhardt, Professor, Center for Native American Studies at NMU
3 p.m. “Métis and Canadians and how their identities as a cultural diaspora emerged within the matrix of the fur trade," Dr. Sebastien Mallette, Associate Professor, Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University
4 p.m. “Mine Songs: Sounding an Altered Landscape," Sara Pajunen, folk musician and composer