Meet the people involved with the Walking in the Footsteps of our Ancestors project.
Co-Directors
Christina Faw Faw Goodson (Otoe-Missouria), Co-Primary Investigator and Co-Director, is an educator, historian, and linguist interested in helping her community build sustainable, effective education programs which seek to strengthen language use, historical and cultural knowledge, and civic engagement. It is also a priority of Goodson’s to connect traditional ecological knowledge and Indigenous knowledge to STEAM fields so that future generations can cope with the rapidly changing climate and world around us.
Goodson holds an M.A. in Applied Linguistic Anthropology from the University of Oklahoma and a B.A. in History and Native American Studies from Dartmouth College. She has served as the Title VI Indian Education Director for Frontier Public Schools in Red Rock, Okla., and as Language Coordinator and Instructor for the Otoe-Missouria Tribe. Christina currently works as a Tribal Education Specialist for the National Indian Education Association.
Goodson was born in Stillwater, Okla., to Tamara Faw Faw and Jeff Goodson. She is a descendant of the Owl Clan (Otoe-Missouria) and Wolf Clan (Iowa) from her maternal lineage. She considers herself a translator and educator, first and foremost, occupying roles that many of her ancestors have occupied time and time again in the historical record. She spent her childhood traveling and living amongst the lands of her people but also her relatives—the Kansa, Osage, Omaha, and Ho-Chunk—in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. She makes her home with her partner, Alvin, and their dog, Sugar, on her tribal lands in Red Rock, Okla. She is an active member of the Jiwere-Nut’achi Ich’e Wokigo (Otoe-Missouria Language Department) as a community facilitator and instructor.
Dr. Margaret Jacobs is the Director of the Center for Great Plains Studies and the Charles Mach Professor of History at UNL. She is the author of four books and over three dozen articles, most of which focus on the history of Indigenous child removal by the governments of the United States, Canada, and Australia. In 2021, she published After One Hundred Winters: In Search of Reconciliation on America’s Stolen Lands. She is the co-founder and co-director of Reconciliation Rising with journalist Kevin Abourezk and the Genoa Indian School Digital Reconciliation Project with UNO History and Native American Studies professor Dr. Susana Grajales Geliga.
Team Leaders
Cory DeRoin is Project Coordinator for the Building Relationships group and a proud member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe and active member of the Bear Clan. DeRoin has served tribal communities in different capacities, for the entirety of his career, and there is no duty that he takes more seriously than those that uplift tribal communities culturally, spiritually, and economically. Read more.
Kevin Abourezk, a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, is a journalist and Deputy Managing Editor of ICTNews.org, which features Native American news and information. In his 25-year career, he has written about Native American people and stories and has received many national awards. He received a master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of South Dakota.
Johnnie Jae, co-leader of the Sharing the Story group, is an Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw multimedia journalist, artist, speaker, advocate, and most importantly, a community builder. Their belief in the power of representation is a driving force. It propels them to work diligently, creating pathways for more authentic Native representation while amplifying Indigenous voices and addressing critical issues facing Native communities. Read more.
Dr. Jessica Moore Harjo, co-leader of the Visualizing Reconciliation group, Ph.D., Weomepe, Otoe-Missouria, Osage, Pawnee, Sac & Fox, is an interdisciplinary artist, graphic designer, and entrepreneur. Dr. Harjo received her Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Oklahoma State University, and her Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy in Design from the University of Minnesota. Read more.
Katie Nieland is the Associate Director and Communications Coordinator for the Center for Great Plains Studies and co-leader for the Sharing the Story group. At the Center since 2013, she focuses on communicating the story of the Great Plains through different disciplines, storytellers, and media. She’s also involved in the Center’s programming, carrying out conferences, lectures, and more. Read more.
Ashley Wilkinson is the director and curator of the Great Plains Art Museum at the Center for Great Plains Studies and the co-leader of the Visualizing Reconciliation group. Prior to joining the Great Plains Art Museum in late 2018, Wilkinson held various curatorial positions at the Sheldon Museum of Art at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Read more.
Executive Council
The Executive Council contains members of the administration for the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma, UNL, and the City of Lincoln.
Coordinating Council
The Coordinating Council contains at least one member of each advisory group. This council convenes to make recommendations to the Executive Council.
Advisory Groups
Changing the Narrative
The Changing the Narrative group works to analyze narratives currently embedded in our commemorative landscape and to develop new historical interpretations and tell fresh stories that re-Indigenize this region.
Creating Land-Based Commemorations
The Creating Land-Based Commemorations group aims to reconnect the Otoe-Missouria to one of their homelands, to increase opportunities for non-Native people to learn more about Indigenous uses of and reverence for the land, and to promote healing and reconciliation through engagement with the land.
Visualizing Reconciliation
The Visualizing Reconciliation group works to raise the visibility of Indigenous peoples in our region and to emphasize the persistence of Indigenous culture through the dynamic medium of contemporary art. Their projects include an upcoming exhibition of Otoe-Missouria artists at the Great Plains Art Museum.
Building Relationships
The Building Relationships group works to strengthen connections between southeast Nebraskans and Otoe-Missouria tribal citizens through events, partnerships, and ongoing relationships.
Sharing the Story
The Sharing the Story group works to inform the public about this project through a documentary film, podcast, and other storytelling methods.