Aaron Bird Bear, September 18 speaker
On whose lands do we live?, Aaron Bird Bear, Assistant Dean for Diversity Programs at the UW-Madison School of Education, and the guest speaker on September 18 asked. Picnic Point was an oak savannah and marshland, when the Indians inhabited the area. Village sites dotted the lakeshore, now the lakeshore nature preserve. Waaksikhomek, the word for the Indian Mounds, means “Where the Man Lies.” Teejop means Four Lakes. The Betling Goose figure can be seen on earth works on the campus near the Dejope residential hall. The hall features 11 of the American Indian Nations of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin and UW-Madison are 1.4% of the human story and 98.6% of our story occurred before US citizens occupied the land. The Menominee have been in Wisconsin forever, the HoChunk moved here. Aaron Bird works with Native American students on graduate retention. Less than 400 native Indians study on campus.
Our thanks to Aaron Bird Bear for his fascinating presentation and for his wonderful work on the UW-Madison campus.