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Sound Recordings
Oral history interview with Brandon Thoms
- Author / Creator
- Available as
- Physical
Details
Checking for availability...
- Creator
- interviewed by Dakota Elliott
- Format
- Sound Recordings
- Language
- English
- Contributors
- Publication
-
- 2014
- Physical Details
-
- 1 CD-R (sound ; 4 3/4 in.)
- OCLC
- ocn925480308
- Impact and Effects of Spear Fishing Oral History Collection.
- In the 1980s Wisconsin communities were battling over Native American treaty rights. The treaties, which had been reaffirmed in 1983, allowed Ojibwe Native Americans to hunt, fish, and gather on their ceded lands outside of their reservations. It caused an uproar with neighboring non-Native communities who were not permitted to do the same. The Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe people and residents in nearby Minocqua and other towns fought over the treaty rights, in some cases, by violently protesting at boat landings during spearfishing season. Spearfishing revealed racism between Natives and non-Natives in Northern Wisconsin and put students at Lakeland Union High School right in the middle of it. / The small northwoods town of Minocqua, Wisconsin is home to Lakeland Union High School (LUHS). As the name implies, the school is a union made up of four different grade schools throughout the area, one of which is Lac du Flambeau Grade School. Lac du Flambeau (LDF) is a town located on the Lac du Flambeau Indian Reservation, only miles from Minocqua and LUHS. As a 2010 graduate from LUHS, I grew up hearing about the school's problems and I saw the racial conflicts first hand. My research is focused on the high school's racial environment in the late 1980s. It demonstrates that the high school students were not immune from the racism happening among the communities of Minocqua and LDF. The spearfishing conflict made racial tension worse within the high school because students were exposed to the racial tensions among adults. Although much has been written regarding the economic, cultural, and racial impact of the spearfishing conflict, no one has analyzed how the racism impacted high school students. Through oral interviews with former Native and non-Native students and teachers, research in newspaper articles about the conflict and school environment, and extensive secondary reading, I found that the conflict created a hostile environment for Native American students at LUHS -- Summary from UW-L Celebration of Research and Creativity Program dated April 3, 2015
- Indian Reorganization Act (Wheeler-Howard Act, 1934), changes ca 1960s--Lac Du Flambeau, relations with surrounding community, Minocqua, Wisconsin--Living in Minocqua, Attending Lakeland High School, 1987--Lakeland high school, conflicts between white and Native American students, 1980s--Racial animosity due to spearfishing regulations, ca late 1980s--Experience with spearfishing, reservation support to practice spearfishing--Protesting Native American spear fishermen at boat landings, 1986/87--Victimization at Lakeland High School, violent words and actions--Protest marches led by anti-treaty organization PARR (Protect America's Rights and Resources), 1988--Teachers unwilling to defend Native American students, Lakeland High School--Violence against Native American traditions, ceremonial drum destruction--Parent protesters influence students to bully Native students, death threats, Lakeland High School--Media portrayal and police presence, boat landings protests--Use of traditional remedies to calm Native Americans during protest, tobacco, sage, sweet grass, and cedar--Lac Du Flambeau lawsuit against the organization Stop Treaty Abuse-Wisconsin, Inc., 1992--Joint committee study, health and state of lakes, findings prove no damage caused by spear fishing, Report Title = "Casting Light Upon the Waters: A Joint Fishery Assessment of the Wisconsin Ceded Territory," 1991, Document produced by: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC), (http://dnr.wi.gov/wnrmag/html/stories/2005/aug05/treaty.htm), 1990