Editor’s note: In recognition of November being Native American Heritage Month, reader Joel Rosenbaum shared this story:
By Joel Rosenbaum
The grandfather of David Fadden (see here for a recent profile on David Fadden), Ray Fadden, was always talked about with a great deal of respect in my family, where I grew up in Massena, N. Y., not far from the Native American reservation (Akwesasne) in Hogansburg, N. Y.
November is Native American Heritage Month. Visit DEC’s Native American Heritage Month page to learn more about the agency’s cooperation with Indigenous people on natural, cultural, and subsistence resources.
Edutopia’s Lessons Learned in Teaching Native American History by a non-native middle school teacher, chronicles some important lessons she has learned from teaching Native history for many years. She suggests to be humble: we can always, and should always, continue to listen and learn from the many Native voices speaking, writing, and sharing their history. Use tools, such as a Native lands map to find information on local Indigenous people and research their past and current struggles and achievements. Native-Land also has a great section on Land Acknowledgments, including reasons to move beyond these acknowledgements and how to ensure they are just a first step. Land Acknowledgments are also discussed by Native academics in “The Conversation”.
The faces in David Kanietakeron Fadden’s paintings grab you immediately, they are full of joy and kinetic energy. I was able to interview David at the Six Nations Iroquois Cultural Center in Onchiota, New York, where many of his paintings are currently on exhibit. David, who is an Akwesasne Mohawk and whose name Kanietakeron means Patches of Snow, helped me understand how attaining this skill to portray such emotion had been a process. He remembers the moment that he was leaving the Metropolitan Museum of art, and nearly out the door when he saw in one of the last rooms, a portrait of Benjamin Franklin. Although David had already been painting for many years, he felt that portraying expression and human anatomy were eluding him. When he saw the paint strokes, reflections of color on the skin, and softness of Franklin’s portrait at the Met, he described the moment as “jaw dropping,” and it inspired him to learn how to accomplish the same. For David, painting faces full of life and expression is fundamental to his art and evident in the work he has on exhibition at Six Nations.
North Country Community College, along with Paul Smith’s College and the Zonta Club of the Adirondacks are co-sponsoring a free virtual screening of “Without a Whisper – Konnon:Kwe.”
Telling the untold story of how indigenous women influenced early suffragists in the fight for freedom and equality, the film is by Akwesasne resident Katsitsionni Fox. The film will be available for viewing November 9-15, and a question and answer session with Fox will take place on November 12 at 7 p.m.
Back in 1848 before the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, European colonial women severely lacked rights, while the Haudenosaunee women had strong political and spiritual authority in every aspect of their lives. Communication between early colonial suffragists and Haudenosaunee women in New York State contributed to shaping their thinking, laying the groundwork for the struggle for equality to come.
“Without a Whisper – Konnon:Kwe” Follows Louise Herne- Mohawk Bear Clan Mother, and Professor Sally Roesch Wagner as they explain the narrative about the origins of women’s rights in the united states.
Registration for both the virtual screening and the Q&A is available by visiting https://form.jotform.com/202884609227158 or www.nccc.edu/live.
On a dark and scary Friday night this coming Oct. 30, the Ndakinna Education Center is proud to present the Twenty-Second Annual SCARY STORY NIGHT. This evening of spooky Native tales will be hosted by the well-known storytelling trio of Joseph, James, and Jesse Bruchac. Due to Covid-19, this year we will be broadcasting the performance via Zoom.
North Country Live, a series of live webinars created over the summer in order to offer insight into topics such as wellness, personal finance, and Adirondack history, will be returning this fall with a focus on Indigenous Voices of the Adirondacks. Through three online programs, the North Country Live Fall Series will bring to light the history and traditions of the Mohawk Tribe at Akwesasne, and the challenges they have faced amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The programs are free, but require participants to register in advance at this link to receive an invitation to the session.
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