Always a People: Oral Histories of Contemporary Woodland Indians

Forty individuals, from 17 different tribes, representing 11 nations, tell their stories in Always a People. Like other Native Americans, the Woodland Nations have tenaciously clung to their sense of community despite 150 years of government policies aimed at destroying their culture. As descendants of people who shaped the history of the North American continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, the narrators reveal a close affinity to the land from which most of them have been forcibly removed. The 11 nations represented in this volume are Miami, Potawatomi, Delaware, Shawnee, Peoria, Oneida, Ottawa, Winnebago, Sac and Fox, Chippewa, and Kickapoo.While all of the tribes have their own particular history, there are shared patterns of experience. All see themselves as people who do not fit the stereotypes often associated with "Native Americans." They speak of the urgency for making room for multiple voices drawn from many traditions.