Year one of our Mellon Foundation-funded project brought hundreds of Jiwere-Nut'achi/Otoe-Missouria tribal members and southeast Nebraska residents together to learn more about the history and culture of the Tribe, celebrate the Tribe’s return to their homeland, and plan for future commemorations.
Kick off
Project team members gathered in January 2024 at Mahoney State Park to learn more about the project, get to know teammates, and to conceptualize ideas in our five advisory teams: Sharing the Story, Creating Land-Based Commemorations, Visualizing Reconciliation, Changing the Narrative, and Building Relationships.
Lecture series
Our Centering Indigenous Voices in Museums series featured three Indigenous experts who shared their imaginative ideas for respectfully engaging with tribes. Watch the Feb. 12 conversation between Margaret Jacobs and Patricia Norby at go.unl.edu/norby.
Making connections
The project team visited a number of sites and built connections with organizations in and around Lincoln. Our partners are eager to work with us to provide new signage or other commemorations that properly honor the Otoe-Missouria’s long history in and ongoing connection to southeast Nebraska.
Great Plains conference
The Center for Great Plains Studies’ 49th annual Great Plains conference examined the story lines of the Great Plains. It asked questions such as: how are the Plains and the people who live here portrayed, characterized, and commemorated? Who is included in these stories and who is left out? More than 200 people attended the conference in Lincoln.
Contemporary Indigeneity 2024 opens
The Great Plains Art Museum sought Native American artists addressing any issues and themes relevant to the contemporary Indigenous experience on the Great Plains. A panel of Native American art professionals reviewed the submitted work and made selections based on the artwork’s aesthetic merit and contribution to the field of contemporary art. Contemporary Indigeneity was open from September 6–December 20, 2024.
City Council decision
On Sept. 16 the Lincoln City Council unanimously voted to permanently designate Sept. 21 as Otoe-Missouria Day. Council Chair Sändra Washington introduced the resolution after a few years of the city issuing an annual singular proclamation marking the day. Kevin and Margaret testified in support of the bill.
Reflections of Our People, Our Ways, Our Land exhibition
This exhibition featuring 24 works of Otoe-Missouria artists will open next year at Great Plains Art Museum. Otoe-Missouria artists, ranging from traditional to contemporary and working in any medium, were selected to co-create an art exhibition reflecting on healing, reconciliation, and reconnecting to the land. The artists selected met in September for a workshop led by Otoe-Missouria artists Dr. Jessica Moore Harjo and Kennetha Greenwood.
Building an audience
The external newsletter (sent quarterly to about 200) and the internal newsletter (sent to project team members as needed) are published regularly. The Sharing the Story team launched a podcast titled Talking in the Footsteps of our Ancestors and posted their first episode with host Johnnie Jae.
Deer Woman Productions completed the first year of a three-year production journey on the documentary about the project, focusing on relationship-building. The team conducted in-depth research to develop main characters and plots through collaborations with crew members, Otoe artists, cultural keepers, and project partners. Two significant shoots were conducted during Otoe-Missouria Day in Lincoln, Neb., and at the Otoe Summer Encampment in Red Rock, Okla. The Otoe-Missouria Tribe solidified their collaboration with Deer Woman Productions by issuing a proclamation in support of the film. The team is reviewing footage, brainstorming a sizzle reel, and color-grading stills for a distribution deck.
Otoe-Missouria Day
The project hosted the third annual Otoe-Missouria Day in Lincoln on Sept. 20-21, 2024. Events started off with a tailgate at the Lincoln Indian Center followed by a Nebraska football game during which the tribe was featured in a halftime video and on-field presentation. UNL junior Lena' Black and Otoe-Missouria Chairman John Shotton were celebrated on field along with other tribal members. The following day Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center hosted Otoe-Missouria Day festivities, which included an elders' talking circle, a handgame, dinner, and music.
Education connections
Team members taught classes on the History of the Otoe-Missouria People and Contemporary Indigenous Art for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Team members also presented about the project at the National Indian Education Association conference, Ponca City High School, Gage County Historical Society, and more.
In fall 2024, UNL’s Architecture 410 Studio Design Class students worked with our project to design commemorative, multi-use spaces on some of the sites the project has identified, including Wilderness Park, Nine-Mile Prairie, Reller Prairie, and Spring Creek Prairie.
The first year of the project ended with an open meeting for all project members to give feedback, celebrate the first year, and create goals for the next two years.
