History of Survivance: Upper Midwest 19th-Century Native American Narratives

Dakota Encampment

This image may not be reproduced for any reason without the express written permission of the Nicollet County Historical Society.

Nicollet County Historical Society, 1851 North Minnesota Avenue, St. Peter, MN 56082; http://www.nchsmn.org

http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm/ref/collection/nico/id/1614

http://54.245.164.12:3000/mdl/items/umn10280.tif

The traditional colonial narrative of Minnesota tells the tale of Indians, a homogenous and ultimately ill-fated indigenous population – doomed by lack of resistance to disease, doomed by an inherently violent culture, and doomed by their inability to adapt to change. It is frequently the story of savage Natives attacking defenseless White settlers with no warning, being defeated by a brave and outnumbered Army, and then disappearing into the untamed, faceless West.
 The full story, inclusive of Native perspectives, is necessarily more complex. In the following section are some images relating to colonial views of the Natives peoples of Minnesota.

Colonial Narratives

Ancient Legacies

Colonization

Conflict

Reservation Era

Survivance

This is a print by the artist and military officer Seth Eastman, who was stationed in Minnesota before statehood. The print shows Native Americans tapping trees and making sugar.

http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm/ref/collection/nico/id/1607

http://54.245.164.12:3000/mdl/items/umn10273.tif

Another similar image of Eastman’s from the same project is entitled Sugar Camp. A seasonal activity specific to the Woodlands-based Ojibwe people, the image depicts the tapping of maple trees by Anishinaabe women with spiles for sap, and the subsequent boiling down of the sap to produce maple sugar (ziinzibaakwad). Eastman adds a traditional birch bark home (wigwam) for anthropological interest. Anishinaabe people participate in the traditional annual manufacture of maple sugar to this day.

History of Survivance: Upper Midwest 19th-Century Native American Narratives

Indian Sugar Camp

Indian Sugar Camp