Editor:

Everywhere in the world, indigenous societies that persisted for thousands of years knew and respected the land they occupied, including its wild inhabitants. March is Women’s History month, and here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan two 19th century women quietly honored both the Anishinaabe and European cultures. 

Jane Johnston (1800-1842) was born in Sault Ste. Marie to a Native mother and Scots-Irish father. Her native name meant “Woman of the sound the stars make when rushing through the sky.” She collected Ojibway legends and shared them with her husband, Henry Schoolcraft, who published them in a paper that eventually reached Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Inspired by the legend of the mythic hero Manabozho, Longfellow published “The Song of Hiawatha” in 1854. The book-length poem, written in the pleasing rhythmic pattern of the Finnish epic “Kalevala,” was wildly popular.

“Hiawatha” was panned by critics, but I have always loved its perspective. Longfellow wrote that all people have “longings, yearnings, strivings for the good they comprehend not.” I enjoyed the way Indians explained natural phenomena such as the Northern Lights (death dance of warriors) and a rainbow (heaven for flowers.) The last chapter of the poem describes the coming of the first European priests. Hiawatha told his people to listen to the “Black-Robed Chief,” whose message was compatible with their traditional beliefs. 

Eight years after “Hiawatha” was published, a 17-year old English woman who was raised in Ann Arbor spent one year as the teacher in the Ojibway school in L’Anse. Among the few possessions Rebecca Jewel Francis  brought with her were a Bible and “The Song of Hiawatha.” Her deep respect for her students and their way of life endeared her to her new neighbors, who made her a member of their tribe. Her son, J. Raleigh Nelson, told his mother’s story in the book whose title is the name the Ojibway people gave her, “Lady Unafraid.”

These two women worked to build bridges between cultures, and we can finish the project now if we temper our freedom and love of money with reverence and compassion. We can continue down the path of violence and deceit, or we can change course. Acknowledging mistakes is an important step, and another is to learn how to live here year-round without such a large carbon footprint.  We can embrace our differences and live together with respect, knowledge, humility and cooperation.

Carolyn C. Peterson

Houghton