As blog readers may recall, a group of artists, educators, and scholars have been discussing Myaamia and Peewaalia ‘Miami and Peoria’ painted hides held in a museum in Paris, France, and thinking about revitalizing the meaning and practice of this artistic form. In early August of 2022, a group got together in Miami, Oklahoma. The…
Author: camshriver
Cam is a historian of early America specializing on Miami Tribe and Great Lakes ethnohistories and empires in North America.
The Peace of Montreal, 1701
Chichicatallo* stood, an old and venerated Myaamia akima ‘chief,’ in front of hundreds of onlookers. Interpreters listened, and then a babble of languages filled the air as they translated his words into Wyandot and Seneca, Ojibwe and Mohawk. It was August 4, 1701. That was 321 years ago.[1] Days later, Chichicatallo signed the Great Treaty,…
Lacrosse in Historical Sources
As winter turns to spring, Myaamiaki ‘Miami people’ and their friends put down the threads of winter stories. With the other hand, they pick up lacrosse sticks. Peekitahaminki–lacrosse–is an ancient game in Indian Country, including among Myaamiaki ‘Miami folks.’ There are old records from the colonial period in which Europeans recorded their observations of Miami…
The Underground Railroad in Myaamionki
A while ago, an interesting blog post brought my attention to a fascinating and, at least to me, new aspect of Myaamia history: the Underground Railroad in Indian Country. I admit, I had never considered that the flight north to freedom for the formerly enslaved required movement through Myaamionki ‘Miami Territory.’ When I think about…
Boarding Schools
Warning: this post contains distressing details. Recent news coming from Canada, particularly from the grounds of Kamloops Indian Residential School, Marieval Indian Residential School, St. Eugene’s Mission School and just recently the Kuper Island Residential School, has illuminated a sobering truth: for many Indigenous children, school was a place of suffering, trauma, and death. U.S….
Four Versions of a Little Turtle Speech at Greenville, 1795
Four Versions of a Little Turtle Speech at Greenville, 1795 *and a conversation about them The following four primary sources all reveal aspects of a critical message delivered by the Myaamia leader Mihšihkinaahkwa ‘Little Turtle’ during the summer of 1795 at negotiations in Greenville in the Ohio territory. For the context, see our previous two…
The Treaty of Greenville (1795) – Part II
aweentioni weešihtooyankwimyaamiaki neehi eeweemakinciki mihši-maalhsakiWe Make PeaceThe Myaamia and Our American Relatives (Part II) The 1795 Treaty of Greenville both established a peace and negotiated a transfer of lands. In Part 1, George narrated the beginning of the treaty negotiations in the early summer of 1795. When we left off, Mihšihkinaahkwa ‘Little Turtle’ and the…
Ciinkwia Minohsaya ‘Painted Thunderbird Robe’ Series
We have partnered with a team of scholars to bring you a new series of interpretations of this Ciinkwia Minohsaya ‘Painted Thunderbird Robe.’ In this short discussion, our team explores a series of key questions as they seek to contextualize this beautiful work of art in time and place, as well as within the culture…
Thoughts on COVID Neehseehpineenki ‘COVID-19’ and Past Epidemics
Epidemic contagion is a cornerstone of how we think about the period of Native American encounters with European and African newcomers, roughly 1500-1850. As we live through a global pandemic, we are once again faced with life-changing, or life-taking, circumstances. The request for the new word neehseehpineenki ‘COVID-19’ begs the question: How important was disease…
The Lost Treaty of Fort Meigs; or, Why Didn’t the Myaamia Sell Their Rights to Land in Northwest Ohio?
By Isaac Stephani and Cam Shriver Note: This blog post stems from original research conducted by undergraduate student Isaac Stephani in Dr. Cam Shriver’s Intro to the Miami Tribe class at Miami University in spring 2019. In late September of 1817, the Treaty of Fort Meigs, also known as the Treaty of Maumee Rapids, was signed….
Aacimotaatiiyankwi 