Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2016) |
45°52′59″N 91°19′13″W / 45.88306°N 91.32028°W
Ojibwe: Odaawaa-zaaga'iganiing | |
---|---|
Total population | |
7,275[1] (2010) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
United States ( Wisconsin) | |
Languages | |
English, Ojibwe | |
Related ethnic groups | |
other Ojibwe people |
The Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe (Ojibwe: Odaawaa-zaaga'iganiing) is one of six federally recognized bands of Ojibwe people located in present-day Wisconsin. It had 7,275 enrolled members as of 2010.[1] The band is based at the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation in northwestern Wisconsin, which surrounds Lac Courte Oreilles (Odaawaa-zaaga'igan in the Ojibwe language, meaning "Ottawa Lake"). The main reservation's land is in west-central Sawyer County, but two small plots of off-reservation trust land are located in Rusk, Burnett, and Washburn counties. The reservation was established in 1854 by the second Treaty of La Pointe.[2]
The Lac Courte Oreille ceded land under a
Reservation
Lac Courte Oreilles is a land which is almost entirely covered by a forest and several lakes. To the northeast and east of Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation is
Today, both the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation and Chequamegon National Forest are recovering from the clear-cutting conducted by the lumber companies. Numerous lakes are within the borders of Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation or border it, including Ashegon, Blueberry, Chief, Cristner, Devils, Green, Grindstone, Gurno, Lac Courte Oreilles, Lake Chippewa, Little Round, Little Lac Courte Oreilles, Pokegama, Rice, Scott, Osprey, Spring, Summit, and Tyner lakes.
Within the Reservation borders is the protected Grindstone Creek State Wildlife Management Area. Wild rice, called manoomin in Ojibwe language, grows on many of the waterways on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation. Citizens of the Reservation still harvest it in the traditional way and it is one of the staples of the community.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the combined reservation and off-reservation trust land have a total area of 124.35 square miles (322.07 km2), of which 108.36 square miles (280.65 km2) is land and 15.99 square miles (41.4 km2) is water.[3]
Reservation demographics
Lac Courte Orellies is one of several reservations that has a relatively large non-Native population within its borders. Broken treaty promises allowed settlement by white squatters and the US allowed them to stay.
As of the
According to the
Government and economy
The band is federally recognized as a tribe and has its own elected government, consisting of a chairman and tribal council. Members are elected from enrolled members of the tribe and elected to serve four-year terms with elections staggered every two years. [7]
It owns and operates a
The reservation hosts an "Honor the Earth"
History
The
The
In the 17th century, "The arrival of French fur traders to the area provided the Chippewa with a market for their hunting skills, and in exchange, the Chippewa received guns, knives, cloth, liquor, and other manufactured goods. The acquisition of these products changed their lives and disturbed the nomadic nature of their patterns of existence. The French fur traders were readily accepted by the Chippewa because of the way they embraced the Chippewa culture. They learned the language and married Chippewa women."[9]
During 1661-62, the French fur traders Radisson and Groseilliers journeyed four days from Madeline Island to a Huron Indian village, believed to be near the present village of Reserve on the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation. The French received permission to use the Indian lands for passage.[2]
The French and their Indian allies gained control of the lands east of Lake Michigan: what are now known as New York, southern Ontario, and parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania. That changed in 1680 after Anishinabe warriors were sent to the east to war on the white invaders and their Indian allies. By 1700, Anishinaabe soldiers had driven the whites back to the eastern coast, where they had large fortified settlements. Anishinaabe soldiers subjugated the Indian allies of the whites, who are known historically as the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Anishinaabe people absorbed them into their population in New York and southern Ontario.[citation needed]
During the 17th and 18th centuries, control of northern Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota was hotly contested by the Santee Sioux (Dakota) and the Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe/Anishinaabe). By the close of the 18th century, the Ojibwe had pushed the Dakota out of Wisconsin and much of northern Minnesota to areas west of the Mississippi River. Although the 1825 First Treaty of Prairie du Chien recognized only a small portion of present-day Wisconsin as Dakota land, throughout the 18th and well into the 19th centuries, the Dakota and Ojibwe continued to launch military expeditions into each other's territories. The Battle of the Brule, which took place in October, 1842 was a battle between the La Pointe Band of Ojibwe Indians and a war party of Dakota Indians, with the Ojibwe being victorious.
Later on in the 18th and early 19th centuries, more wars were fought between the Anishinaabeg and European Americans. English colonists had taken over rule from the French in eastern Canada and also established dominance up to the Appalachian Mountains in the Thirteen Colonies below the Great Lakes. At the end of the 18th century, those colonies achieved independence as the United States of America. Its settlers had already invaded Indian country west of the Appalachians, and more moved west. The US defeated an alliance of tribes in the Northwest Indian War, opening the area north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi to more settlement by European Americans.
The War of 1812 between the US and Great Britain was entered into by the Great Lakes Anishinaabeg on the side of Britain in an effort to defend their land. After the war, they signed treaties with the United States, but these were not honored. American settlers continued to encroach on their territories around the Great Lakes. In 1854, the second Treaty of La Pointe with the US established what is now the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation, in addition to other reservations for Ojibwe in this region.[2]
In the late 19th century, with increased European-American settlement, the United States wanted to relocate all Native Americans from Michigan and Wisconsin to west of the Mississippi River, proposing to consolidate them on the
Communities
Lac Courte Oreilles reservation has several communities within its borders; most are predominately Native American in population. Little Round Lake is the largest community within the reservation, with a population of 1,081 in the 2010 census. Native Americans make up 90% of the community's population.
None of the Lac Courte Oreilles communities has developed to the level of a city or town. Most of the population of Reserve is scattered, although the heart of the community is a more dense village. The community's housing units are located in the woods.
- Chief Lake
- Little Round Lake
- New Post
- Northwoods Beach
- Reserve
Notable tribal members
- Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwewoman warrior
- David Wayne "Famous Dave" Anderson, entrepreneur
- Diane Burns, poet
- News from Indian Country. He is known for late 20th-century reporting on the unsolved murder of AIM activist Anna Mae Aquash, related to murders of FBI agents at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. His work contributed to the re-opening of her case by federal and state officials in the late 20th century and the prosecution of people for her kidnapping and murder. He publicly withdrew his support for Leonard Peltier, an AIM activist previously convicted and sentenced to prison in relation to the deaths of two FBI agents.[10]
- Jim Denomie, visual artist
- Nenaa'angebi (Beautifying Bird), twin son of Ozaawindib, and a prominent leader of the Ojibwe in the 19th century
- Chief Zhaagobe (Six), twin son of Ozaawindib and also a chief of the Ojibwe in this area in the 19th century.
See also
References
- ^ a b Tribes of Wisconsin (PDF). Madison: Wisconsin Department of Administration Division of Intergovernmental Relations. July 2022. p. 49. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Our History". Lcotribe. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
- ^ a b "2020 Gazetteer Files". census.gov. US Census Bureau. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
- ^ a b "2020 Decennial Census: Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land, WI". data.census.gov. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
- ^ "Selected Economic Characteristics, 2020 American Community Survey: Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land, WI". data.census.gov. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
- ^ "Selected Social Characteristics, 2020 American Community Survey: Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land, WI". data.census.gov. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
- ^ "Government". Lcotribe. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
- ^ Bill Miller (October 1, 1993). "Native Tongues". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
- ^ "Our History". Lcotribe. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
- ^ Deborah Kades, "Native Hero", Wisconsin Academy Review 2005, accessed 9 June 2011
- ^ Mashkode-manoominikaani-zaaga'igan (Prairie Rice Lake) is Prairie Lake of Chetek, Wisconsin.
- ^ History, p. 320
- Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land, Wisconsin, United States Census Bureau
External links
- "Lac Courte Oreilles", Tribal government website
- Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Schools, Official website
- LCO Casino website
- Honor the Earth Pow Wow, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Schools], Official website
- Lac Courte Oreilles Times, LCO-owned and operated, community Newspaper