In July 1843, after years of negotiation and resistance, the State of Ohio cast the last Native American tribe from its borders. Though the Wyandot reserved their legal right to remain until 1844, theft and land speculation by white settlers made staying in their homes untenable. Nearly 700 tribal citizens walked 240 kilometers from the Grand Reserve in Upper Sandusky to Cincinnati, Ohio. There, they boarded steamboats bound for unknown, unfamiliar lands in Kansas, over 1,150 kilometers away.
Ohio has forgotten about the Wyandot, as well as the larger story of their Removal and resistance. Wingo began a partnership with the the Cultural Division of the Wyandotte Nation in 2021 to reconstitute the Wyandot(te)’s legacy and repair Ohio’s historical amnesia. Their work consists of two (in-progress) community-based public history projects: the Wyandot Removal Trail and the Wyandot Heritage Digital Archive.
These projects are about reclamation as much as it is about Removal. Ohio, and the Midwest more broadly, mythologizes its past by laying claim to various freedoms: free from tyranny, free from slavery, and since 1843, also free from Indians. In coproducing this project, the Wyandotte are reclaiming control of their history, but how do they ensure the long term sustainability of these important resources?
Wednesday, 9 October 2024
14.00 - 15.00
"Aquarium", 3rd floor MSH
and online