ONIGUM — A feast and round dance last weekend in Onigum highlighted increasing collaboration between a northern Minnesota school district and its tribal neighbors.
That cultural bridge-building has made its way into the classroom in the Walker-Hackensack-Akeley School District, which recently added an Ojibwe language and culture class to the high school curriculum. The district overlaps with the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe’s reservation, and 30% of the student population identifies as American Indian.
Janelle Johnson, director of American Indian Education for WHA Schools since 2022, said these topics have been offered in study halls or as part of other classes in the past. But this is believed to be the first time a stand-alone course would offer credit toward a student’s high school graduation.
“I think some of our students feel like outsiders,” Johnson said. “That's why cultural and language education is so important because they can see themselves represented in the curriculum. And they can learn about things that maybe have been lost or haven't been passed down from generation to generation.”
The feast and round dance are some of those traditions. Co-hosted by the school district and the Onigum Local Council of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, the Saturday, Feb. 17, event started with walleye bites, wild rice, frybread and blueberry compote.
Johnson explained that eating together at an event is a longstanding practice.
"Whenever we gather, in Anishinaabe or Native culture, we always have food,” Johnson said. “Whenever we take a plant or a food from the earth, we give thanks.”
The round dance did not originate in Ojibwe culture, but the Ojibwe have added their own spin on the traditional dance typically hosted in the winter months. Originating with tribes in the Great Plains, songs customarily performed have themes of love, loss and humor. One song in Onigum on Saturday night called for peace.
Everyone is welcome to join in a round dance, which is a type of side-step dance in a large circle, with a group of singers equipped with hand drums in the middle.
Leech Lake Tribal Chairman Faron Jackson Sr. opened the event, acknowledging the coming together of community.
"We are all people of color,” he said. “That’s how we interact with one another on Leech Lake. We’re all in this together.”
The expansion of Ojibwe studies in Walker-Hackensack-Akeley and inclusive cultural events are part of a larger effort toward unity and peace. An incident — which Johnson described as “racial harassment” the year before she arrived at WHA Schools — began a community initiative to bridge cultural differences.
“To put it simply, there is some division that I think stems from cultural and racial differences,” she said.
After the incident, the school brought in cultural experts for restorative work with staff, leading to the creation of the Fall Healing Walk, which is now an annual event.
As WHA’s American Indian education program expands, Johnson hopes to see plenty of applicants for the new course offering. Language revitalization is a passion of Johnson’s, and she said she is responding to what the community wants, with WHA administration on board.
For the moment, Johnson is teaching the course herself, after she pursued a teaching track through the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board that started with an endorsement from her tribe.
“It's not a sustainable thing to do — to be the director and teaching — but I wanted to prioritize it and get started because the community wanted it,” Johnson said.
Johnson said other Native teachers interested in teaching a language and culture course can begin with their home tribe.
“One of the first steps is to contact the tribal nation that they belong to for an endorsement to be able to teach American Indian language, culture and history,” Johnson said. “We need more language and culture teachers. It's a growing field. With the state legislation passed in May, more funding is going towards American Indian education.”
Education efforts expand beyond the school population as well. Last year, as part of her multi-faceted job, Johnson applied to host the Why Treaties Matter exhibit from the Minnesota Humanities Center. The Walker exhibit was open to students, staff, and other schools and the community, too.
“It was a lot of local knowledge for students, staff and community to learn from the Native perspective,” Johnson said.
