Stories of Indigenous Oberlin started as a Winter Term project at Oberlin College & Conservatory in January 2023. Co-directed by Sundance (OC ’92, Muskogee), Jennifer Fraser (Professor of Ethnomusicology and Anthropology), and Megan Mitchell (Academic Engagement & Digital Initiatives Coordinator, Oberlin College Libraries), the project involved eight student participants and eight individuals from the community and campus who graciously shared their lives and stories of what it means to be Indigenous today.
Here you will find stories of displacement from ancestral lands, through forces of enslavement, assimilation, relocation, removal, and/or voluntary movements to seek a better future. You will find stories of Native spirituality and relationality, of connection to the earth, to people, to animals. You will find stories of great discrimination and prejudice experienced, and of fighting–sometimes peacefully, sometimes more forcefully–for basic human rights and justice. You will find stories of people who have fought the government for recognition of their own peoples, of peoples and communities located at a great distance from each other through enslavement, relocation, and dislocation. You will find stories of strength and joy and resilience, of family and community. Stories of discovery and reconnecting with Native identity. Their peoples are the Taíno, the Mohawk, the Muskogee, the St. David’s Island Pequot, the Genizaro, and the Kānaka Hawaiʻi (Native Hawaiian).
You will find stories from elders and from young people, and those in between. They are mothers, daughters, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, aunts, granddaughters, fathers, sons, and grandfathers. You’ll find stories of activists, dancers, photographers, writers, family historians, students, veterans, and warriors. You will find relationships between the narrators running through the stories along with deep connections to communities located elsewhere.
These are powerful, heartfelt stories that will stay with you. We invite you to listen, read and explore, to really hear Native voices and to view the photographs that illustrate and enrich their words. We encourage you to read connected stories and use the resources provided within to learn even more about justice for Native lives.
