Indigenous Land
Title: On Tribal Grounds – You Are On Indigenous Land
Created: 2019
Medium: Graphic Design
Software: Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop CC
Dimensions: 48″x36″
Article
“The Chicago area is located on ancestral lands of indigenous tribes, such as the Council of the Three Fires–comprised of the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations–as well as the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac, Fox, Kickapoo, and Illinois Nations. These tribes had thriving trade networks in the
Great Lakes area prior to European contact. Post-European contact, the tribes maintained trade arrangements with both the French and British. Some roadways in Chicago reflect the trade roads followed by these tribes.
Reciprocal trade relationships between the tribes and Europeans helped maintain the tribal hold on the Illinois area around Lake Michigan throughout the 1700s. The arrival of Europeans on the continent had led to marked losses among the tribes of the Great Lakes area through the introduction of new diseases and the push of Eastern tribes westward. War and starvation further decimated tribal populations.
The War of 1812 significantly affected the relationship between the Indigenous tribes in the Great Lakes area with the British and the United States. The Treaty of Ghent, which was written between the British and the United States following the war, felt like a betrayal to the tribes who had fought alongside the British against the United States government, and with economic shifts toward agriculture and industry, the Americans and British no longer felt the need to maintain economic and military relationships with the tribes of the Great Lakes area.”
– ALA (American Library Association, Indigenous Tribes of Chicago
Download
Download the 8.5″ x 11″ poster (.pdf), On Tribal Grounds – You Are On Indigenous Land.
Close-Ups
On Tribal Grounds
On Tribal Grounds is a print project by Ihanktonwan Dakota artist David Bernie that addresses issues that Native American and First Nations communities face when non-Native people access Reservations and Reserves.
Creative Commons License
This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
