Gaa-izhiwebakin Anishinaabewakiing

Origins, homelands, and encounters

Time immemorial | Anishinaabe creation and homelands [Anishinaabe / Regional]
Anishinaabe oral traditions describe creation, relationships with the natural and spiritual worlds, and responsibilities to the land and all living beings. These teachings are not assigned dates in the Western calendar.

Time immemorial | Seven Fires and migration traditions [Anishinaabe / Regional]
Anishinaabe migration teachings recount a westward journey guided by prophecies toward the place where food grows on water, connecting communities across the Great Lakes and the significance of manoomin (wild rice).

Before European colonization | Indigenous civilizations flourish [Native American / National]
Indigenous nations across the Americas maintain diverse systems of government, agriculture, trade, knowledge, and spiritual practice for millennia before sustained European colonization.

1492 | Columbus reaches the Caribbean [Native American / National]
Christopher Columbus lands in the Bahamas, beginning a new era of sustained European colonization and its profound demographic, political, and environmental consequences for Indigenous peoples.

1600s | Sustained French-Anishinaabe relations [Anishinaabe / Regional]
French traders and missionaries develop sustained relationships with Anishinaabe communities. Indigenous nations remain powerful diplomatic and economic participants in Great Lakes trade and politics.

1600s–1700s | Anishinaabe presence across the western Great Lakes [Anishinaabe / Regional]
Ojibwe communities maintain and expand settlements, alliances, and trade networks in the upper Great Lakes and present-day Minnesota. Relations with neighboring nations include diplomacy, trade, kinship, and warfare.

1763 | Pontiac’s War and Royal Proclamation [Native American / National]
A broad Indigenous resistance movement challenges British military expansion. Britain’s Royal Proclamation seeks to regulate colonial settlement and purchases of Indigenous lands.

Expansion, treaties, and reservations

1787 | Northwest Ordinance [Native American / National]
The United States establishes a territorial governance framework promising respect for Indigenous lands, despite subsequent expansion and dispossession.

1803 | Louisiana Purchase [Native American / National]
The United States purchases France’s territorial claims west of the Mississippi without extinguishing Indigenous sovereignty or securing Indigenous consent.

1824 | Office of Indian Affairs established [Native American / National]
The federal government establishes an Office of Indian Affairs within the War Department, later central to treaty administration and federal Indian policy.

1825 | Treaty of Prairie du Chien [Anishinaabe / Regional]
The United States and representatives of several Native nations, including Ojibwe and Dakota leaders, negotiate boundaries and diplomatic relationships in the upper Mississippi region.

1830 | Indian Removal Act [Native American / National]
Congress authorizes federal removal policy, leading to forced displacement of many eastern Native nations.

1832 | Worcester v. Georgia [Native American / National]
The U.S. Supreme Court recognizes the Cherokee Nation as a distinct political community beyond the reach of Georgia state law.

1837 | Treaty of St. Peters [Anishinaabe / Regional]
Ojibwe leaders cede lands in present-day Minnesota and Wisconsin while reserving hunting, fishing, and gathering rights in the ceded territory.

1838–1839 | Cherokee Trail of Tears [Native American / National]
Forced removal of Cherokee people to Indian Territory causes thousands of deaths. Other southeastern Native nations experience devastating removals.

1842 | Treaty of La Pointe [Anishinaabe / Regional]
Lake Superior Ojibwe leaders cede lands while reserving important hunting, fishing, and gathering rights that remain legally significant.

1850 | Sandy Lake tragedy [Anishinaabe / Regional]
A federal attempt to pressure Lake Superior Ojibwe people into relocation through the annuity system causes hundreds of deaths at Sandy Lake and on journeys home.

1852 | Chief Buffalo’s Washington delegation [Anishinaabe / Regional]
Chief Buffalo and other Ojibwe leaders travel to Washington to oppose removal and advocate for permanent Great Lakes homelands.

1854 | Treaty of La Pointe: Fond du Lac and Grand Portage reservations [Anishinaabe / Regional]
The September 30 treaty cedes extensive lands in northeastern Minnesota and establishes reservations for the Fond du Lac and Grand Portage Bands. It also recognizes rights connected to the ceded territory.

1855 | Treaty with the Chippewa: Leech Lake and Mille Lacs reservations [Anishinaabe / Regional]
The February 22 treaty cedes extensive lands in north-central Minnesota and establishes reservations including Leech Lake and Mille Lacs, profoundly shaping the region’s land base and Ojibwe political history.

1862 | U.S.–Dakota War [Native American / National]
War erupts in Minnesota amid treaty violations, hunger, and settler encroachment. Afterward, 38 Dakota men are executed at Mankato and most Dakota people are forcibly removed from Minnesota.

1863 | Red Lake and Pembina treaty [Anishinaabe / Regional]
Red Lake and Pembina Ojibwe leaders negotiate a major land cession with the United States. The treaty is central to the history of the Red Lake land base and predates the Nelson Act.

1866 | Bois Forte treaty and reservation [Anishinaabe / Regional]
The April 7 treaty provides for reservation lands for the Bois Forte Band, including the Nett Lake area, following negotiations over lands in northern Minnesota.

1867 | White Earth Reservation established [Anishinaabe / Regional]
The March 19 treaty with the Mississippi Ojibwe establishes the White Earth Reservation, including White Earth Lake and Rice Lake. It also involves further cessions of lands in the Bemidji region.

1871 | Formal federal treaty-making ends [Native American / National]
Congress ends the practice of making new treaties with tribal nations but preserves the legal force of existing treaties.

1879 | Carlisle Indian Industrial School opens [Native American / National]
Carlisle becomes a model for the federal boarding-school system, which seeks to assimilate Native children and suppress their languages and cultures.

1887 | General Allotment (Dawes) Act [Native American / National]
Congress authorizes the division of tribal lands into individual allotments and sale of so-called surplus lands, contributing to massive Indigenous land loss.

1889 | Nelson Act and Red Lake land cessions [Anishinaabe / Regional]
The Nelson Act targets Ojibwe reservation lands in Minnesota for cession and allotment. Negotiations under the act define a reduced Red Lake land base, but the act did not originally establish the Red Lake Reservation, which already existed. Red Lake later resists allotment in ways distinct from other Minnesota Ojibwe reservations.

1890 | Wounded Knee massacre [Native American / National]
U.S. soldiers kill hundreds of Lakota people, including women and children, at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota.

1898 | Battle of Sugar Point [Anishinaabe / Regional]
At Leech Lake, Ojibwe people resist a U.S. Army expedition sent to arrest Bugonaygeshig and others. The battle becomes an enduring symbol of Ojibwe resistance.

1906 | Burke Act [Native American / National]
Congress expands federal authority over the transfer of allotted Native lands into unrestricted ownership, accelerating land alienation.

1924 | Indian Citizenship Act [Native American / National]
Congress grants U.S. citizenship to Native Americans born within U.S. territorial limits who were not already citizens; voting barriers remain in some states.

1928 | Meriam Report [Native American / National]
A federal study documents widespread failures in Indian education, health, and administration and helps motivate reform.

1934 | Indian Reorganization Act [Native American / National]
Congress curtails allotment and provides new mechanisms for tribal self-government, though its models of governance remain contested.

1936 | Minnesota Chippewa Tribe constitution [Anishinaabe / Regional]
Bois Forte, Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, Leech Lake, Mille Lacs, and White Earth organize under the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe constitution. Red Lake remains a separate government.

Self-determination, activism, and BSU

1944 | National Congress of American Indians founded [Native American / National]
Tribal leaders establish a national organization advocating tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, and policy reform.

1953 | Termination policy and Public Law 280 [Native American / National]
Federal policies seek to terminate recognition of some tribes and transfer certain jurisdiction to states, including Minnesota, with important exceptions.

1956 | Indian Relocation Act [Native American / National]
Federal programs encourage relocation from reservations to cities, creating opportunities for some and hardship and displacement for others.

1968 | American Indian Movement founded [Native American / National]
Native activists found AIM in Minneapolis to challenge police brutality and discrimination and advocate for treaty rights and sovereignty.

1969 | Indian Studies and Ojibwe programs begin at BSU [91心頭利]
Bemidji State develops Indian Studies and Ojibwe language education, creating an institutional foundation for Indigenous academic programming.

1969–1971 | Occupation of Alcatraz [Native American / National]
Indigenous activists occupy Alcatraz Island, bringing national attention to Indigenous sovereignty and federal obligations.

1970 | BSU Indian Studies Center and Native student organizing [91心頭利]
The university establishes an Indian Studies Center, and Native students build the organization that becomes the Council of Indian Students.

1972 | First BSU student powwow [91心頭利]
The Council of Indian Students organizes the university’s first on-campus powwow, beginning an enduring cultural and community tradition.

1972 | Trail of Broken Treaties [Native American / National]
Native activists travel to Washington, D.C., present demands for treaty enforcement, and occupy Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters.

1973 | Wounded Knee occupation [Native American / National]
A 71-day occupation at Wounded Knee draws international attention to Lakota grievances, treaty rights, and Indigenous activism.

1975 | Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act [Native American / National]
Congress authorizes tribal governments to administer many federal programs through contracts, strengthening tribal self-determination.

1978 | American Indian Religious Freedom Act [Native American / National]
Congress establishes a federal policy favoring protection of traditional Indigenous religious practices.

1978 | Indian Child Welfare Act [Native American / National]
Congress adopts protections for Native children, families, and tribal nations in child-custody proceedings.

1979 | Oshkaabewis publication begins at BSU [91心頭利]
The Oshkaabewis publication begins at Bemidji State and later develops into a journal supporting Ojibwe language documentation and scholarship.

2003 | American Indian Resource Center opens at BSU [91心頭利]
The new AIRC opens on the BSU campus, with funding support from Leech Lake, White Earth, Red Lake, and the state bonding bill.

Treaty rights and contemporary Indigenous futures

1983 | Lac Courte Oreilles v. Voigt [Anishinaabe / Regional]
A federal appeals court affirms continuing Ojibwe off-reservation hunting, fishing, and gathering rights under nineteenth-century treaties.

1984 | Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission established [Anishinaabe / Regional]
Ojibwe tribes establish GLIFWC to assist with treaty-rights implementation, conservation, enforcement, and education.

1988 | Indian Gaming Regulatory Act [Native American / National]
Congress creates a federal framework for gaming on Indian lands, with major implications for tribal government revenues.

1990 | Native American Languages Act [Native American / National]
Congress establishes federal policy supporting the preservation and use of Indigenous languages.

1990 | NAGPRA enacted [Native American / National]
Congress establishes legal procedures for repatriating Native ancestors and certain cultural items from federal agencies and federally funded institutions.

1999 | Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band [Anishinaabe / Regional]
The U.S. Supreme Court confirms that the Mille Lacs Band’s 1837 treaty usufructuary rights were not extinguished by later events.

2003 | BSU American Indian Resource Center opens [91心頭利]
Bemidji State dedicates the American Indian Resource Center as a gathering place and center for student support, cultural programming, and community partnerships.

2007 | UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [Native American / National]
The United Nations adopts a declaration affirming Indigenous rights to self-determination, culture, language, and land; the United States announces support in 2010.

2016 | Standing Rock water protectors [Native American / National]
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and allies challenge the Dakota Access Pipeline, drawing worldwide attention to water protection, sacred places, and consultation.

2017 | BSU tribal college partnerships [91心頭利]
Bemidji State expands transfer pathways and partnerships with four northern Minnesota tribal colleges.

2021 | Deb Haaland becomes Interior Secretary [Native American / National]
Deb Haaland of Laguna Pueblo becomes the first Native American to serve as a U.S. Cabinet secretary.

2022–2024 | Federal Indian boarding-school investigation [Native American / National]
The Department of the Interior publishes investigative reports documenting the federal Indian boarding-school system and its impacts.

2024 | Revised NAGPRA regulations take effect [Native American / National]
New federal regulations strengthen tribal consultation and procedures for repatriation of Native ancestors and cultural items.

January 2027 | BSU Ojibwe teacher preparation expands [91心頭利]
Bemidji State develops a Bachelor of Science pathway in Ojibwe Education to prepare more Ojibwe language teachers and support community language revitalization.

Present day | Sovereignty and language revitalization continue [Anishinaabe / Regional]
Anishinaabe nations continue to govern their communities, exercise treaty rights, care for their homelands, and sustain language and cultural revitalization through families, schools, and community initiatives.