Past Gi-gikinomaage-min Events
George Martin
American Indian Community Forum
November 13, 2014 at the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Northern Health Center, 311 State Street SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan. The forum was the first public event held to launch the planning phase of the "Gi-gikinomaage-min: Defend Our History, Unlock Your Spirit" project. The goal of that effort is to ultimately interview American Indian elders to collect their experiences about living in Grand Rapids during the federal relocation period. A collaboration among GVSU's Kutsche Office of Local History, Native American Advisory Board, Office of Multicultural Affairs, and GVSU Special Collections and Archives, this project is supported in part by funding from the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Steve Perry, Advisory Council Member
Campus Dialogue 2014
The "Gi-gikinomaage-min: Defend Our History, Unlock Your Spirit" Project Campus Dialogue was held on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 from 6-8 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of the Mary Idema Pew Library on GVSU's Allendale Campus. Organized by the GVSU Kutsche Office of Local History, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Native American Advisory Board, GVSU Special Collections and Archives, and the Native American Student Association, this event was part of the university's Native American Heritage Month Celebration. Roughly 50 students, faculty, and staff attended the session, sharing their own experiences, asking questions, and making suggestions about the future direction of the project. The project is supported in part by funding from the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Beginning of the Exhibit
GVSU Exhibit Opening: "Walking Beyond Our Ancestors' Footsteps: An Urban Native American Experience"
The "Walking Beyond Our Ancestors' Footsteps: An Urban Native American Experience" exhibit opened for the first time on GVSU's Allendale Campus, Tuesday, November 3, 2015. This exhibition invites visitors to step into the gaze of a few of the Native Americans who have lived, worked, and studied in the greater Grand Rapids area over the mid-20th and 21st centuries and features contemporary artwork by local Native American artists.
American Indian Community Dialogue 2015
On Tuesday, November 17, 2015, the Gi-gikinomaage-min (We are all teachers): Defend Our History, Unlock Your Spirit Project team held its second annual American Indian Community Dialogue. As last fall, this meeting was held at the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Pottawatomi Northern Health Center in downtown Grand Rapids. The meeting gave the project team an opportunity to report back to the community about the work they have been carrying out over the past year. Community members provided suggestions to guide the project's work through 2016.
Jonathan Rinehart, GVSU Alum 2013
Campus Dialogue 2015
In November of 2015, the Kutsche Office unveiled the Walking Beyond Our Ancestors' Footsteps: An Urban Native American Experience exhibit. The Kutsche Office hosted, on Nov. 18th, 2015, another campus dialogue focusing on GVSU's role in shaping the 20th and 21st century experiences of Native Americans in and around Grand Rapids. This event was a part of the 2015 Native American Heritage Month celebrations and the Gi-gikinomaage-min Project. It was held in the Multipurpose Room of the Mary Idema Pew Library on GVSU's Allendale campus. The exhibit was on display until the 18th where it then moved to the Grand Rapids Public Library and finally to the Grand Rapids Public Museum. This was made possible by partnerships created with each entity on behalf of the Native America community.
Items on display
GRPM Native American Exhibit and Oral History Celebration
On May 17th, 2016 our Walking Beyond Our Ancestors' Footsteps exhibit came to a close of it's tour with an event we held at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. The event included many great speakers, and interviews done by Levi Rickert and Belinda Bardwell of June Mamagona Fletcher and Wagner Wheeler. Those in attendance were able to not only experience the interview process, but they were able to learn of the experiences growing up or living in the Grand Rapids area as a Native American of those interviewed.
Shane McSauby
Power of Your Story: A Celebration of Shane McSauby: November 7th
Power of Your Story: A Celebration of Shane McSauby: November 7th
The Kutsche Office and the Gi-gikinomaage-min Project celebrated Shane McSauby, a 2015 GVSU Alumni, a Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians citizen and one of two 2016 Sundance Native Filmmakers Fellow chosen in Indian Country. Shane shared his story as well as information on his future production: Mino-Bimaadiziwin, a film funded through his Sundance grant. He spoke to the importance of us as Native Americans to share our stories and experiences with our family and community by sharing in depth his own story. He made sure to thank his father and family members as part of his story. Pictures of this event can be found here.
We The 7th Part One and Part Two
Rising from generations of oppression. The Anishinaabe of today are fulfilling prophecies of the past. And fighting to protect our future. WGVU in partnership with the W. K. Kellogg foundation and GVSU's Gi-gikinomaage-min project, presents Mutually Inclusive two-part documentary: "We the 7th." A story of West Michigan's urban Native community and a journey to stand at the greatest Native gathering since Wounded Knee.
We hosted a Special Screening of this documentary for the Native community on Dec. 15th, 6 - 8 p.m., in the Seidman College of Business, 50 Front Ave. SW.
If you missed this event and the showing on PBS, a link to the documentary can be found HERE! Part Two can be found on the same page!
Gi-gikinomaage-min Project Showcased!
History Detectives 2017
What’s happening? If you’ve ever read or heard any local history story, chances are you’ve been left wondering more about something — maybe a detail you think would be great to have fleshed out and related. The Grand Rapids Public Library’s annual winter program, History Detectives, is the place to come learn about such details!
Where and when? The Grand Rapids Public Library's 10th Annual History Detectives program took place at the Main Library’s Ryerson Auditorium on Saturday, January 28, 2017. This all-day event ran from 9:30 a.m. — 3:45 p.m. Each session lasted 45 minutes.
Belinda Bardwell; Gi-gikinomaage-min Project Coordinator
Launched in November 2014, the Gi-gikinomaage-min project aims to document the urban Native American