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The Little E a r t h O r a l H i s t o r y Project Macalester College, Geography Department - Urban Social Geography Course Project - Spring 2008 The Little Earth Oral History Project Table of Contents Origin of the Little Earth Oral History Projet 5 by Dan Trudeau, Assistant Professor of Geography, Macalester College Interview with Jolene Jones 7 Conducted by Hayley Koenig and Shivaun Watchorn on April 2, 2008. Reflection by Shivaun Watchorn 25 Reflection by Hayley Koenig 26 Interview with Jane Wilson 27 Conducted by Callie Thuma and Claire Reuning on April 16, 2008. Reflection by Callie Thuma 37 Interview with Theresa Dunkley 39 Conducted by Liz McCreary and Hannah Gelder on March 29, 2008. Reflection by Hannah Gelder 51 Reflection by Liz McCreary 52 Interview with Mary 53 Conducted by Andrew Graham and Robert Heyman on April 30, 2008. Reflection by Andrew Graham 65 Reflection by Robert Heyman 66 Interview with Lori Ellis 67 Conducted by Claudia Leaung and Kim DeLanghe on April 14, 2008. Reflection by Kim DeLanghe 89 Reflection by Claudia Leung 90 3 The Little Earth Oral History Project Origin of the Little Earth Oral History Project by Dan Trudeau, Assistant Professor of Geography, Macalester College This project started with a simple conversation. In October of 2007, my assistant, Claire Reuning, and I sat down to talk to Bill Ziegler about the history of Little Earth of United Tribes. We were working on a neighborhood history of Phillips and we learned that the archival records for Little Earth are sparse. So we went straight to the source in Little Earth to learn about its history. The conversation with Bill was enlightening; it provided a wealth of information that answered our admittedly basic questions and sparked new questions. Bill also noted that his knowledge of Little Earth’s history was mostly second hand and that much of the history could be learned through talking to many of the long time residents. At that moment we all saw an opportunity: here was a chance to make history. Documenting the history of Little Earth would both enrich the history of the Phillips Neighborhood and provide a record for the current and future residents of Little Earth. Hence, this project was born. I decided to make an oral history for several reasons. The most straightforward reason is that the history of Little Earth is relatively recent. It thus can be learned from people who are currently living and whose lives have been spent there. But there are other idealistic and practical reasons too. On the idealistic side, oral history can be democratic. Many history books are written by privileged individuals who ultimately speak for their subjects. In contrast, oral history allows people to narrate their lives and experiences in their own words and from their own perspective. Related to this point, oral history is authentic. People literally make their own history in terms that are meaningful to them. For these reasons, oral history is interesting. It is interesting to do and it is interesting to read and listen to. And that is one of the practical benefits of oral history – it engages the very people whose lives and experiences are documented in the historical record. In December of 2007 I received permission from the Little Earth Residents Association to begin the Little Earth Oral History project. And in February of 2008, ten students from Macalester College joined me in the process of conducting an oral history of Little Earth. The students and I worked over the course of the semester to lay the groundwork for the project and recorded the first five interviews. This booklet documents the transcriptions of these interviews and the students’ personal reflections on the interviews they conducted. The attached compact disc has the recordings of the interviews. These materials are made available by permission of the interviewees and by the hard work of the interviewers who have faithfully transcribed the recordings. Including the interviewers’ personal reflections may at first seem odd, but I hope you will come to seem that as an important part of the oral history. In the spirit of making history democratic, it is important to include the interviewers’ voices too. The interviewers are already present in the interviews—they are the voices to ask questions and give prompts to evoke richer answers. But the interviewers are not identified nor are their lives explored in the interview in any substantive way. In order to acknowledge their participation in making history, I wanted the student interviewers to contribute in a notable way. The students have thus written a reflection that makes public their thoughts about their interview and what they learned from the interviewer. I hope these enrich your appreciation of the other voices in this oral history. This booklet marks a beginning. The project has documented the perspective of individuals who have lived at Little Earth for 20 or more years. There are certainly many other long time residents whose voices can contribute to the history of Little Earth. I will continue the project to record their voices. As the project grows, I expect to make digital versions of the interview transcripts and recordings available through Little Earth’s website. Furthermore, I also expect to make paper and CD versions of these materials available through the Hennepin County Historical Society. 5 The Little Earth Oral History Project Interview with Jolene Jones Conducted by Hayley Koenig and Shivaun Watchorn on April 2, 2008. HAYLEY: Okay, so starting the interview with JOLENE: Yeah. My dad worked. My mother had a Jolene Jones. The first question is what is your full master’s in social work. She was a student when I was name? young. She went to the University of Minnesota. JOLENE: Jolene Lee Jones. HAYLEY: Where do your siblings live now? HAYLEY: When were you born? JOLENE: Most of them live in Minnesota. JOLENE: 1962. HAYLEY: Are you married? HAYLEY: And where? JOLENE: Yes. JOLENE: In Minneapolis. HAYLEY: Do you have children? HAYLEY: How would you describe your JOLENE: Yes. ethnicity? HAYLEY: How many? JOLENE: American Indian. JOLENE: I have one son. HAYLEY: Are you affiliated with a tribe? HAYLEY: How old is he? JOLENE: Yes. JOLENE: He is 29. HAYLEY: Which tribe? HAYLEY: Where does he live now? JOLENE: Alseoh band of Ojibwa. Lac Courte Oreilles. JOLENE: He lives here in Little Earth. HAYLEY: What are your parents’ names? HAYLEY: Who do you live with now? JOLENE: My mom’s name is Harriet Williams and JOLENE: I live with my two grandchildren and my my dad’s name is Raymond White. niece. HAYLEY: And what were their tribal affiliations? HAYLEY: What languages did you speak at home as a child? JOLENE: My mother’s from White Earth, Minnesota, and my dad’s from Elseo, in Wisconsin. JOLENE: English. HAYLEY: And then I have some questions about HAYLEY: How many years of formal education the family you grew up with. Where did you live have you had? when you were growing up? JOLENE: Some college. JOLENE: Mostly South Minneapolis. HAYLEY: Where did you go to school? HAYLEY: Can you tell me anything about your JOLENE: High school, I went to Heart of the siblings and parents? Do you have any siblings? Earth. For college and that, I went to OIC for JOLENE: Yes, I have a lot of siblings. the training stuff, training for [inaudible] and that. For regular college I went to MCTC [Minneapolis HAYLEY: Okay. Did your parents work? Community and Technical College]. 7 The Little Earth Oral History Project HAYLEY: Do you work? they had pow wows, and I know they had, I think they were managing it themselves at one point in JOLENE: Not currently, no. time. HAYLEY: Have you worked in the past? HAYLEY: Can you describe a day in your life at JOLENE: Yes. Little Earth now? HAYLEY: Where have you worked? JOLENE: Sure. On Mondays, I come over here, check my emails, and take care of business. Then JOLENE: Little Earth, Indian Health Board, the I go to the elders’ room and we sew. We make Indian Center. dance regalia for the kids. I do that on Mondays and Tuesdays. Then basically go home, cook HAYLEY: What did you do at Little Earth? dinner, get the kids ready. But it’s wintertime too. JOLENE: I was the resident service advocate. In the summertime I spend a lot more time outside, walking around, visiting with neighbors, saying hi, HAYLEY: Now we’re going to focus more “How’d you do through the winter?” You know. specifically on your experience at Little Earth. [Laughter] Where did you live before moving to Little Earth? HAYLEY: Are you close with any of your JOLENE: The last place we lived before moving neighbors? to Little Earth was Cedar Square West, down on Cedar. I don’t think they’re called that anymore, I JOLENE: Mmhmm. Yeah. don’t know what they’re called, but they used to be SHIVAUN: Do you have a lot of neighbors who called Cedar Square West. have lived here a long time as well? HAYLEY: Where else have you lived? All over JOLENE: Not as many as I did about a year ago, Minneapolis? but yeah, a lot of neighbors. And when you’ve lived JOLENE: Yeah. here a long time, you know who’s lived here a long time. You’re like, “Hello,” and you know their kids HAYLEY: How did you hear about Little Earth? and you’ve watched them grow. JOLENE: My mother moved here when I was like, SHIVAUN: What happened a year ago to change 11 years old.

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