Just Too Much of an Indian: Bill Baker, Stalwart in a Fading Culture

by Vennum, Thomas

• ISBN13: 9781934690055
• ISBN10: 1934690058
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-08-15
• Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Pr

Summary

In this rare and insightful book, Thomas Vennum captures the essence of one Ojibwe life. Through memories and letters, Bill Baker comes alive and teaches us what we have almost forgottenthe meaning and practice of Ojibwe traditions. The story unfolds in the context of many of the events and movements relevant to Indians in the twentieth century: the boarding school disasters, land allotments, world wars, AIM, the takeover of the Winter dam, the spear-fishing controversy, and the reality of tribal factions. Woven throughout are essential native practices: wild-ricing, sharing the fruits of hunts, naming ceremonies, burials, powwows, and native crafts such as beading and drum making. Especially poignant is the portrayal of reservation iife, the reality of which many Americans cannot or will never see.

Author Biography

Thomas Vennum is senior ethnomusicologist emeritus of the Office of Folklife Programs, Smithsonian Institution. His previous works include The Ojibwe Dance Drum, Wild Rice and the Ojibway People, American Indian Lacrosse, and Lacrosse Legends of the First Americans. He lives summers on Madeline Island, Wisconsin, and winters in Tucson, Arizona.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vii
War-Dance Songs in the Dead of Winter	p. 1
Only the O-o-old Girls	p. 18
Go Home, White Man!	p. 51
Dancing around the Red Wooden Cross	p. 91
A Continually Heard Bird	p. 121
Giant Fish, Naked Missionaries, and the Return of a Drum	p. 150
World Record Muskies among Watery Graves	p. 184
Ojibwe Spoon Playing	p. 218
Wisconsin Northwoods Spotted Buffalo	p. 250
Big, Fat, Hairy Things	p. 283
Chief Sandhill Crane (aka Calvin Coolidge)	p. 314
Where's Beverly? Where's the Bread?	p. 331
Postscript: Giving Back a Drum	p. 360
Acknowledgments	p. 381
Ojibwe/English Glossary	p. 382
Index	p. 384
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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